>Higher taxes yield to budget cuts in states
Forty-six states began a new fiscal year Friday after lawmakers spent the spring hashing out budgets that largely avoid big tax increases in favor of budget cuts and curbs on pay and benefits for public employees.
While budget woes continued to dominate statehouses, issues such as abortion, immigration and voter identification also drove legislative action. And lawmakers continued to wrestle with soaring state obligations to help fund Medicaid, which pays for health care for low-income Americans. (Eaton and Maher, The Wall Street Journal)