Ear to the Ground-State News Roundup

• A special interest group in California is calling for a hike in the alcohol tax to ease the state's budget woes.
  
  
• After successfully raising the tax on cigarettes in '07, Wisconsin regulators are looking to put the squeeze on Cheesehead smokers yet again. A vote on a statewide smoking ban may come up this week.
  
  
• DuPage, IL county voters: resigned to higher taxes? A piece in the Chicago Daily Herald would have you believe so.
  
  
• Indiana lawmakers prepare to buckle down and respond to calls for property tax relief as the session gears up.
  
  
• The state senate majority's plan for tax cuts in New York might be a contentious one as opponents call the plan a 'big idea' with little details.