Lawmakers offered pork, private meetings as budget gets personal (Mike Gormley/Associated Press)
Budget Wrangling Persists, Centered in the State Senate (Danny Hakim/New York Times)
Shadow boxing over budget; Bruno attacks Democratic no-shows as Spitzer courts GOP senators privately (Jim Odato/Albany Times Union)
So Much for Reform; Budget process stalls as deadline approaches (editorial/Syracuse Post-Standard)
Funding hike possible for local communities (Utica Observer-Dispatch)
More on the debate over health spending:
Spitzer's cuts would hurt elders (op-ed/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
Fix Medicaid funding without gouging nursing homes in N.Y. (op-ed/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
State health care policy needs overall rehabilitation (commentary/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
More on the debate over spending in schools:
No agreements on school funding (Dan Janison/Newsday)
Charter school cost aid sought; Spitzer urged to boost funding for districts hit hardest by rise of publicly funded facilities (Liz Benjamin/Albany Times Union)
On another fiscal-policy issue:
Spitzer urged to collect cigarette tax (Carolyn Thompson/Associated Press)
We missed it yesterday, but it's still worth noting today:
Dr. Spitzer's Medicaid cure (Bill Hammond column/Daily News)