Gov. Haley Barbour is scheduled to release his budget recommendation today.

During a conference call recently from Iraq where he was visiting Mississippi National Guard troops on active duty there, he repeated the mantra that because of sluggish tax collections during the economic downturn, his budget recommendation "will be anything but business as usual."

There has been speculation that Barbour might recommend the merger of some universities and perhaps recommend school district consolidation as part of his budget proposal.

Keeping the Mississippi University of Women as one of the state's publicly funded universities is a battle some alumni say they are ready to fight, The Clarion-Ledger reports.

A non-affiliated group known as Friends of the W is gearing up to oppose a possible government push to merge MUW with Mississippi State University. The group joins together two opposing MUW alumni groups, according to The Commercial Dispatch newspaper. They held the first of two meetings Sunday in Madison with another scheduled for later this month in Columbus.

The Legislative Budget Committee, which includes Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant and Speaker Billy McCoy, also is working on a budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1. That budget proposal is expected to be released in mid December.

Follow news on Gov. Barbour's budget recommendations at NEMS360.com today.