Pa. Reopens for Business

Nearly a week and a half into the fiscal year, Pennsylvania lawmakers agreed on a new budget late last night, ending a partial government shutdown. More than 24,000 state employees idled for a day by the impasse between the governor and legislature will return to work, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, reopening state parks and motor-vehicle bureaus shuttered by the furloughs.

"All sides can say they have achieved some of their goals," Gov. Ed Rendell said in announcing the plan, which does not raise taxes—a must for Republican legislators—but addresses the Democratic governor's centerpiece issue, transportation. Still up in the air is the state's energy policy, which the legislature will take up in a special session this fall. (More Pennsylvania stories.)