The Illinois stalwart is cutting hundreds of jobs in the midst of the state’s worst-in-the-Midwest manufacturing climate.

A small but growing number of cases are brought by the prisons department each year against inmates to recoup the cost of their imprisonment, an effort intended to help fund operations that makes convicted felons feel a financial pinch for their crimes — in addition to the time they do.

Some two dozen states, led by such progressive bastions as California, Illinois and Oregon, have enacted or are considering legislation that would create public options for private workers who don’t have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans. The White House is now waiving federal law to enable states to create new taxpayer-guaranteed retirement benefits. Last week the Labor Department issued guidelines that clear the regulatory thicket for states to establish government retirement plans for workers in the private economy.

“The NYT editorial board has come as close as it can to the devastating realization that blue model governance is breaking down.”