King County's $70M budget crisis: Cuts in courts, law enforcement warned

Local News | King County's $70M budget crisis: Cuts in courts, law enforcement warned | Seattle Times Newspaper, June 6, 2008:

Responding to a nearly $70 million estimated budget shortfall in King County, local criminal-justice leaders said Thursday they plan to move thousands of property-crime, forgery and drug cases to lower-level courts and cut investigations of fraud, Internet crimes and cold cases.

Belt-tightening might also eliminate Drug Court, family-court services and mental-health court services, officials said at a news conference at the King County Courthouse.

This is a big deal. I recommend reading the full article.