The tumbrels rolled and Gov. Pawlenty manned the guillotine pretty much as promised. The Strib's Pat Lopez delivers that paper's breakdown of the governor's unprecedented unallotment plan, with several well-scripted quotes from irate DFLers. The best, not too surprisingly, comes from Tom Rukavina. Lopez writes, "Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, accused Pawlenty of 'lying through his teeth' about the true effect of his cuts. 'The governor is going after seniors, renters, the poor, disabled and mentally ill to pay for the budget deficit he created when he vetoed the Legislature's balanced budget. It might help protect his national conservative credentials, but it weakens the Minnesota we all value and cherish.'" Yikes. Someone won't be getting invited over for burgers on the deck.

Mary Jane Smetanka leads a team of Stribbers in a piece about the likely affects of the unallotments. With much of the pain for cities pushed into 2010, the Strib gang quotes Gary Carlson of the League of Minnesota Cities saying that "cities now will have to decide whether to raise taxes to make up for lost state aid. They've already seen a rise in property tax delinquencies. That's true for counties, too."

Chen May Yee gets the affect-on-health-care story for the Strib. She notes that "hospitals that serve the poor, such as Hennepin County Medical Center, will be disproportionately affected. HCMC will be hard hit by additional rate cuts for nonprimary care -- which includes emergency room, laboratory and radiology services -- as well as a temporary suspension of additional payments for dental care in Medical Assistance."

Lori Sturdevant delivers the first sense of the Strib's official view of the process, and the governor can't be pleased. Although she takes the perspective that many of the affected feared worse than they got, "More than $1.9 billion of the unallotment package consists of moving spending and tax collections around, not actually reducing spending. And not raising state taxes. That, after all, is the point of the exercise for Pawlenty. It was his unwillingness to swallow even a smidgeon of a state tax increase -- and the DFLers' unwillingness to send him a budget without one -- that set up the conditions that appear to open the door to unallotment. Local property taxes are guaranteed to rise because of Pawlenty's action. But the trigger on those taxes will be pulled by elected officials other than those who work at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in St. Paul."

A team of PiPress reporters has a handy -- hang it off your fridge door -- rundown on "Where the axe falls." On the General Assistance Medical Care issue, the PiPress writes, "GAMC serves the poorest Minnesotans, and its elimination is expected to skyrocket local hospitals' costs for treating uninsured patients. The withheld medical plan payments would eventually be reimbursed. Moving up the elimination of the General Assistance Medical Care program gives the 2010 Legislature less time if it wants to negotiate a rescue deal with the governor."

MPR's Tim Post looks at the likely affects on education and gets this comment from one college administrator, referring to the accounting shift that will delay payments. "[The administrator]  says he'll have to borrow the rest to make his annual operating budget of $30 million, a move the will cost the school $120,000 in interest. '[That amount] would pay for two, three teachers that we could otherwise have in front of our kids. Instead we'll be spending it on financial institutions so that we can meet the obligations that we have.'"

WCCO-TV places far too little value on Pat Kessler's "Reality Check," which has been nearly non-existent for much of the spring. But he was back last night with a piece on tax myths. Kessler notes that in contrast to much of what we hear about "high taxes," it's been quite a while since either income or sales taxes increased much, if at all. However, he reminds viewers, "the biggest tax hike in Minnesota in the last 10 years is the one that hits us where we live. Literally. Local property taxes across the state have gone up more than 60 percent."

Over at City Pages, Emily Kaiser picks up an item that declares Twin Cities drivers the 5th "least courteous" in the country. Not as bad as New York and Dallas, but nothing close to the polite hippies in Portland, Oregon. The survey was based on "who overreact and lose their temper, aggressive drivers, cutting into lanes, tailgating, speeding and horn honking." I suppose that would include ranting at Nervous Nellies who brake for raindrops.