Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Jerry Brown may be quietly developing a plan to drastically cut the state’s budget and then ask state voters to raise taxes in the June election, the Los Angeles Times reports, citing anonymous sources. Brown reportedly believes that the only way to gain Republican support for putting tax measures on the ballot is to severely slash state services first. The move would require that the Legislature approve a budget this spring, and it would give voters a stark choice: either agree to higher taxes or have state services cut dramatically. Yesterday, Brown hosted a budget summit in Sacramento, and said the state’s budget deficit could grow to $28 billion, but didn’t offer a plan for solving it, the Chron and CoCo Times report.