It’s Illinois State Budget Season once again. Time for our annual hoping (not much of that in recent years) and fearing (sadly, with good cause in recent years). It will be especially harrowing this year with a new Governor in the mix. Currently, he, the Senate Democrats, and the House Democrats, are a long ways apart on their negotiation positions. It is very difficult to project what will happen, or how long it will take them to come to agreement. Besides the potential for funding cuts, a major fear is a compromise that would include an increase in minimum wage without a corresponding increase in funding to help cover it. The lack of increases over the past decade, not to mention the cuts we’ve already endured in recent years, would leave us in a position of having to make unappetizing choices. So, we’ll pass on the popcorn while, with trepidation, watch the show.