Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has no easy fixes as he tries to close a state budget shortfall estimated at more than $15 billion.

Many state programs are likely to face deep cuts when he releases his revised spending plan on Wednesday for the fiscal year that begins July 1. When he announced his original budget in January, the governor was criticized for failing to set priorities by proposing a 10 percent across-the-board cut.

Schwarzenegger already has backed away from some of the proposals in his $141 billion January budget, even as he has said the state's spending gap could climb as high as $20 billion. The gap is due in part to falling revenue in the wake of a faltering economy and the downturn in the housing market.

Administration officials said Tuesday that Schwarzenegger's revised budget will abandon a plan to release 22,000 low-risk prison inmates early. Projections showed that a declining inmate population will save the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation about $300 million, roughly $100 million less than originally estimated.

The administration declined to say why the governor did not opt to build those additional savings into his latest budget proposal and use the prison-release plan as a bargaining chip with Democrats, the majority party.

Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature remain far apart in their philosophy on closing the budget deficit. While Democrats have floated plans to increase taxes or fees on everything from strip clubs to music downloads, Republicans signed an oath pledging to block any tax hikes.

A budget deal requires support from two-thirds of members in both houses of the Legislature.

The new speaker of the state Assembly, Karen Bass, said it is her top priority to solve the budget shortfall. During her swearing-in ceremony Tuesday, she urged her fellow lawmakers to respond to the economic crisis as they would a natural disaster.

"When there is a disaster like that, an earthquake or a fire or a flood, leaders put their ideologies aside and step up and say, 'People are suffering - what do we do to alleviate the pain?'" the Los Angeles Democrat said.

She also has floated the idea of raising income taxes on the wealthy and levying sales taxes on services.

Earlier this year, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office recommended eliminating or reducing a dozen tax loopholes to generate $2.7 billion in revenue.

Schwarzenegger has sent mixed signals on bringing in new revenue. He has said he opposes tax increases but said he would consider proposals to close loopholes.

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Schwarzenegger said a good negotiator never takes anything off the table at the beginning.

"I want to have an open mind, and I want to listen to all of the reasoning behind those proposals. Or is it just all rhetoric out on the street?" he said.

Schwarzenegger initially forecast a $14.5 billion deficit for the 18-month period starting last January, a figure that quickly grew to an estimated $16 billion.

Lawmakers met in special session and cut that figure to about $7.4 billion for the next fiscal year by authorizing more borrowing, delaying some payments and making cuts and other budget changes.

School districts have sent out about 14,000 pink slips to teachers who could lose their jobs if the Legislature keeps the governor's original proposal to cut $4.4 billion to education.

Lawmakers are supposed to approve a new budget each year by June 15, a little more than two weeks before the start of a new fiscal year. They have only rarely met that deadline.

Chinese communities around the country are mobilizing to help victims of the catastrophic earthquake that has destroyed countless buildings and killed thousands in China's Sichuan province, where many Chinese immigrants have roots and family ties.

Soldiers hiking over landslide-blocked roads reached the epicenter of China's devastating earthquake Tuesday, pulling bodies and a few survivors from collapsed buildings. The death toll of more than 12,000 was certain to rise as the buried were found.

Soldiers hiking over landslide-blocked roads reached the epicenter of China's devastating earthquake Tuesday, pulling bodies and a few survivors from collapsed buildings. The death toll of more than 12,000 was certain to rise as the buried were found.

Spending hours in a gas station line. Filing a story by text message, a few words at a time. Arriving in unfamiliar territory to report on a fast-moving story.

Chinese communities around the country are mobilizing to help victims of a catastrophic earthquake that destroyed countless buildings and killed thousands of people in China's Sichuan province, where many immigrants have roots.

Revered broadcaster Ron Stone, who spent more than 30 years in television news in Houston, died of cancer on Tuesday.

Within 24 hours of China's deadly quake, some 20,000 troops converged on the disaster area to help dig out the dead and injured, and military planes and trucks ferried in another 30,000 reinforcements.

The toll of the dead and missing soared as rescue workers dug through flattened schools and homes on Tuesday in a desperate attempt to find survivors of China's worst earthquake in three decades.

Oil prices shot to a new record near $127 a barrel Tuesday on concerns that Iran may consider cutting crude oil production. Gas prices, meanwhile, rose to a new record over $3.73 a gallon Tuesday, and their advance shows little sign of slowing with Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of the summer driving season, just 10 days away.