Local media is reporting that Governor Tim Pawlenty has said most government jobs that become vacant should go unfilled.

Earlier this month the state Finance Department announced that tax collections slipped in January.

Lawmakers in St. Paul are facing a $373 million budget deficit by the middle of 2009. The predicted shortfall is expected to grow in the next budget forecast.

State general fund revenues for the 2008-09 biennium are now forecast to total $32.542 billion, $530 million less than projected in November and $1.270 billion less than end-of-session estimates. Expenditures are now expected to exceed November’s projections by $64 million and end-of-session estimates by $130 million. When combined with a $33 million reduction in dedicated reserves, this leaves a projected $935 million deficit for the current biennium, $562 million more than forecast in November. The deficit is 2.7 percent of total general fund spending.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty named his former law partner, Eric Magnuson, to replace Russell Anderson as the chief justice on the state Supreme Court.

Anderson announced last week he would retire in June. Magnuson will become the first chief justice without previous experience on the Supreme Court since 1944.

In Minnesota, judges don't require legislative confirmation.