The Associated Press is reporting that a deal has been reached between legislative leaders and Gov. Ed Rendell to end the state's 80-day-old budget stalemate.

Pennsylvania had been the only state without a budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2009. The last budget ended up $3.25 billion in the red.

Gov. Ed Rendell is scheduled to announce the agreement at an 8 p.m. news conference from the Governor's Reception Room in the State Capitol.

From the wire service:

Negotiators struggled all summer to resolve a partisan dispute over whether to fill the state's multibillion-dollar budget hole with new or higher taxes, cuts in state programs or a combination of the two.

A week ago, Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature announced a $27.95 billion budget deal that included $1.2 billion in recurring revenues — mostly new taxes — but Rendell threatened to veto it unless significant changes were made.

Rendell, leaving the Capitol earlier Friday, told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg that he had "good news. It's not the budget I would have chosen, but it fits my two markers."

The plan still requires approval from the Legislature, where minority House Republicans are adamantly against new taxes, but Republicans who control the Senate and House Democratic leaders confirmed they would join Rendell at the announcement.