Photograph of Bloomberg, in Israel and in front of rockets fired from the Gaza into Israel, by Ariel Schalit/AP

The big news: Ways to help small businesses and spur job growth. The NY Times reports that he will "announce an ambitious effort to create 400,000 new jobs over the next six years"—with a "focus on small businesses, capital investment projects and so-called green-collar jobs." The Post adds that unincorporated business tax will be eliminated or reduced: "The 4 percent tax is an expensive irritant to the business community since small-biz owners pay it on top of the personal-income tax."

The city faces a budget deficit of over $4 billion next year, and that's part of Bloomberg's pitch as to why he should be mayor again—he can lead the city through the tough times! (Even before last fall's Wall Street downturn, Bloomberg warned of "scary" budget numbers.) Of course, if he isn't reelected, this might be his last state of the city. Bloomberg told reporters yesterday, "I like challenges, and this is certainly going to be a great challenge. Anybody that thinks it's going to be easy is wrong."

NY1.com will stream Bloomberg's speech at 1 p.m.