Cannot call any Endpoints - error is Connection to http://localhost:8000 refused

I have been using SoapUI Pro for 2 years now and haven't had many issues with it but I am really stuck now.  I have been working in SoapUI off and on all day. This afternoon, I find I can't call any of my endpoints or any webservices at all. I get the same error even though I am NOT trying to connect to a localhost web service. SoapUI is now completely unusable. How do I correct this problem?

This is the meat of the error:

• ERROR:org.apache.http.conn.HttpHostConnectException: Connection to http://localhost:8000 refused

Full stack trace

• Wed Mar 04 16:30:59 MST 2015:ERROR:org.apache.http.conn.HttpHostConnectException: Connection to http://localhost:8000 refused
• org.apache.http.conn.HttpHostConnectException: Connection to http://localhost:8000 refused
• at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.support.http.SoapUIMultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager$SoapUIClientConnectionOperator.openConnection(SoapUIMultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager.java:279)
• at org.apache.http.impl.conn.AbstractPoolEntry.open(AbstractPoolEntry.java:149)
• at org.apache.http.impl.conn.AbstractPooledConnAdapter.open(AbstractPooledConnAdapter.java:121)
• at org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector.tryConnect(DefaultRequestDirector.java:561)
• at org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultRequestDirector.execute(DefaultRequestDirector.java:415)
• at org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.execute(AbstractHttpClient.java:820)
• at org.apache.http.impl.client.AbstractHttpClient.execute(AbstractHttpClient.java:754)
• at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.support.http.HttpClientSupport$Helper.execute(HttpClientSupport.java:233)
• at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.support.http.HttpClientSupport.execute(HttpClientSupport.java:323)
• at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.submit.transports.http.HttpClientRequestTransport.submitRequest(HttpClientRequestTransport.java:290)
• at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.submit.transports.http.HttpClientRequestTransport.sendRequest(HttpClientRequestTransport.java:220)
• at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.WsdlSubmit.run(WsdlSubmit.java:119)
• at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Unknown Source)
• at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
• at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
• at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
• at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
• Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect
• at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.connect0(Native Method)
• at java.net.DualStackPlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Unknown Source)
• at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(Unknown Source)
• at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(Unknown Source)
• at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
• at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
• at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(Unknown Source)
• at java.net.Socket.connect(Unknown Source)
• at org.apache.http.conn.scheme.PlainSocketFactory.connectSocket(PlainSocketFactory.java:123)
• at com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.support.http.SoapUIMultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager$SoapUIClientConnectionOperator.openConnection(SoapUIMultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager.java:262)