Gregoire, leaders gird for budget-cutting
Bleak times: Gov. Chris Gregoire and a bipartisan panel of legislative leaders say the 105-day session that convenes next Monday will inevitably feature massive state budget spending cuts as Olympia deals with an unprecedented $4.6 billion budget gap. The Democratic governor, who recently unveiled a no-new-taxes budget, said the voters sent a clear and unmistakable signal with their tightfisted votes in November that they want an all-cuts budget. That tracked with what Republican leaders of the House and Senate told…