State budget problems grow

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sharpened his attack Wednesday against his fellow Republicans as he declared that California's budget shortfall has grown to $14.8 billion for the current fiscal year - several billion more than the shortfall legislators already have been unable to solve.AP in the Daily News.

"We are heading towards a financial Armageddon. We can already see it coming," Schwarzenegger said.

The governor said the state deficit will get even worse in the 2009-10 budget; an administration official said the gap could be as high as $40 billion over the next 18 months.

A clearly frustrated Schwarzenegger called on legislative leaders to meet this week, calling the state Legislature's failure to act so far a "shameful performance."