SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Governor Jerry Brown pressed California lawmakers in his state-of-the-state address on Monday to let voters decide on his budget plan, saying any attempt to block a special election would be irresponsible in light of protests in Egypt and Tunisia.

California, the most populous U.S. state, faces a $25 billion deficit caused by the combined effects of recession, high unemployment and turmoil in financial and housing markets. Its deficit is the largest of any of the 50 U.S. states in absolute dollar terms.

Weak U.S. state finances are a growing concern in Washington, with some in Congress mulling legislation that would allow states to declare bankruptcy, adding to the turmoil in the U.S. municipal debt market.

Brown, a Democrat, wants to fill the gap with a split of $12.5 billion in spending cuts and $12 billion in tax hikes that voters would need to approve, a compromise that neither Democrats nor Republicans legislators like -- which might make it politically palatable.

He urged lawmakers to help him prepare a ballot measure for a special election in June, in order to ask voters to extend tax increases scheduled to expire this year and back the cuts.

"The only way forward is to go back to the people and seek their guidance. It's time for a legislative check-in," Brown said in a 14-minute speech.

The governor also said California had a duty to let the people vote in light of struggles in Egypt and Tunisia, where crowds have taken to the street to force political change.

"It would be irresponsible for us to exclude the people from this process" in California, he said.

Republicans immediately rejected the idea of tax increases and said voters had already spoken in previous elections.

STRUCTURAL REFORM

"I do not support a special election," State Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway told reporters after the speech. But she signaled room for compromise and said Republicans were talking to Brown, who lingered after the speech to talk to legislators.

"Maybe the dance has just begun," she said, indicating that pension reform was a key Republican goal. "If we can do some actual structural reform it makes the dialogue on the other items people hope to accomplish maybe a little easier."

Brown signaled a willingness to work on easing regulations and reforming pensions, saying public employees' retirement plans must be fair to workers and taxpayers alike.

"Those are two very big bones to toss Republicans to get them off the porch," said Bill Whalen, a fellow at the Hoover Institution and former aide to former Republican Governor Pete Wilson.

Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg, a Democrat who has thrown his support behind Brown, predicted that legislators would meet the governor's target for a budget framework and would back the special election for June.

"We will not miss the timetable," he said.

Recent attempts to raise taxes have been soundly defeated but a poll of voters last week showed support for Brown and his budget proposal.

Under Brown's plan, revenue from the tax extensions, proposed spending cuts and other measures would help balance the state budget in the near term and bolster the state government's finances in future years.

Without the revenue, lawmakers and the governor would have to find another $12 billion in spending to cut.

(Editing by Mary Milliken and Bill Trott)

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The Midwest braced for a massive and potentially dangerous winter storm on Monday with forecasts of up to 2 feet of snow and strong winds that could make travel virtually impossible.

The Rockies got an early blast from an ice storm that glazed the Denver metropolitan area on Monday, snarling traffic and forcing delays at Denver International Airport, followed by snowfall and plunging temperatures.

Denver's high for Tuesday was forecast at 1 degree below zero Fahrenheit, with a low of minus 17 degrees and wind-chill values at 30 below predicted for overnight Tuesday.

But the nation's midsection was expected to bear the brunt of the latest winter storm.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning and hazardous weather outlook for the Chicago area, calling for frigid temperatures, wind gusts as high as 50 miles per hour and heavy snow on Tuesday.

The storm could be the biggest since a 1967 blizzard paralyzed the city, Chicago officials said.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn issued a state disaster declaration on Monday ahead of the storm, and at least two other states, Oklahoma and Missouri, declared emergencies in advance.

In Kansas, where icy roads were blamed for one traffic death on Monday and numerous other accidents, the governor said state offices would be closed on Tuesday due to weather.

Officials were making similar preparations as far East as Washington, D.C., where the U.S. Office of Personnel Management urged federal employees to consider working from home on Tuesday and Wednesday.

United and Continental Airlines were allowing travelers affected by the weather in the Midwest and Northeast to change flights without fees from January 31 through February 3.

The weather system was expected to bring ice storms Monday night through early Wednesday to a region stretching from the Ozarks in Missouri and Arkansas across the Midwest and Ohio Valley and into New York, according to weather.com.

Snow and fierce winds were forecast to hit the southern Plains on Monday night and push northward into the Great Lakes on Tuesday.

In the South, severe thunderstorms with damaging wind gusts will race eastward from eastern Texas to Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to weather.com.

"When everything is said and done, the storm may well impact a third of the population of the United States; approximately 100 million people," meteorologist Tim Ballisty wrote on weather.com.

Officials urged residents to stock up on food and medicine in advance of the storm in Chicago, which faced the possibility of flooding from 25-foot waves expected on Lake Michigan.

Chicago snowfall totals of over 18 inches are possible Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon, especially near Lake Michigan, according to the National Weather Service, and city officials cited forecasts of as much as 2 feet. The Weather Service called the storm "dangerous, multifaceted and potentially life-threatening."

"Conditions will rapidly deteriorate from north to south across the region Tuesday afternoon with travel likely becoming virtually impossible at times Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning," the Weather Service warned.

The city of Chicago planned to deploy its entire fleet of 274 snow plows and to fit garbage trucks with extra plows.

In Kansas Monday afternoon, icy roads were cited as a factor in numerous car accidents, including one in which a 61-year-old woman died when she lost control of her vehicle near the town of Kensington, the highway patrol said.

An Arctic air mass moving into the Rockies was expected to push wind chills to 20 below zero and lower across central and eastern Idaho Monday night and Tuesday.

Ranching communities in the Upper Snake River Plain and Snake Highlands on the Montana border braced for wind chills of 45 degrees below zero. The National Weather Service advises that livestock could be exposed to life-threatening conditions if left outside. That region has large cattle operations.

(Writing by Mary Wisniewski; Additional reporting by Laura Zuckerman, Keith Coffman and Kevin Murphy, Editing by Steve Gorman and Greg McCune)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Twenty-four people, including two members of the New York City Council, were arrested on Monday at a protest over plans to close two dozen city schools, authorities said.

Charles Barron and Jumaane Williams, City Council members from Brooklyn, were arrested along with 22 other adults after the group formed a human chain across Chambers St. in downtown Manhattan outside the city's Department of Education headquarters.

The group, some of whom wore signs saying "Fix schools, don't close them," was protesting plans to close 25 schools ahead of this week's meetings of the Panel for Educational Policy.

"It's not our fault that John F. Kennedy (school) is below standard. It's the Department of Education's fault," said one student, who claimed that the school was "set up" to be closed years ago when officials started "dumping" low performing and special needs students there.

The arrested protesters were being held on charges of disorderly conduct pending issuance of summonses or court appearances, police said.

The acts of civil disobedience followed an earlier rally by students of schools targeted for closing, along with parents and education activists.

The demonstration was the latest of a series of protests in recent weeks over the proposed school closings, which unions say are the most ever in New York City.

The Panel for Educational Policy is an oversight group with a majority of members appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose offices assumed control of the school system in 2002.

Critics of the plan to shut what the city calls failing schools say it masks a move to usher in more charter schools.

Such schools receive public money but are exempt from certain rules that apply to other public schools due to higher accountability in standards set by their charters. The schools often have long waiting lists.

Deputy schools chancellor Marc Sternberg defended the planned closings last week, telling a city council member: "When we feel the supports we've given to a school are not getting the job done ... we are going to consider every intervention possible."