We've been warned about it all weekend, and today is the day that Gov. Tim Pawlenty releases his supplemental budget containing what Tim Pugmire of Minnesota Public Radio calls "painful" cuts. Specifically, according to the Associated Press, it will "preserve programs for the military, veterans, public safety and K-12 education. He says all other areas can expect cuts"

Pugmire's piece already has a response to the as-yet-unveiled budget, from Sen. Linda Berglin, chair of the Senate's Health and Human Services Budget Division: "Anytime somebody tells me they're going to propose a budget that doesn't cut K-12 education, which is 40 percent of the budget, and I'm the next 30 percent, I got to figure it's all coming out of my budget. And it's going to be pretty ugly."

Don Davis, writing for Forum Communications, likewise offers pre-emptive responses, including this pessimistic prediction from House Majority Leader Tony Sertich: "I'm still not convinced he can make those cuts." Why the captiousness, Tony? Why the pessimism? Surely we're all reaping the benefits of Pawleny's "never raise taxes" policy. Ignoring, of course, our deepening deficit, the legions of Minnesotans who no longer have fundamental social services they can rely on (which Pawlenty is hinting he may slash even further), the Minnesota homeowners who have seen their property taxes skyrocket, and the Minnesota schools that have had to borrow to stay afloat. It's pretty obvious that Pawlenty simply hasn't slashed the budget deeply enough to fix these problems.

MinnPost's own Sharon Schmickle takes a look at an example of the wisdom of this fiscal conservative in a piece on just how thoroughly Pawlenty's policies have drained the coffer, including any "rainy day" savings they might once have had. Her thesis: "Minnesota faces real danger that its entire public sector — from the neighborhood schools to the state government offices — will be forced to operate for the foreseeable future with little or nothing in the way of a safety net unless state officials can find a way to turn around their fiscal wreck."

But you know the case: Government is bloated and wasteful, and slashing the budget forces it to scale down and become more efficient. So next on the block, according to Steve Brandt of the Star Tribune, are those wasteful firefighters. A number of rookie fightfighters found their jobs on the line during the last budget season as a result of Pawlenty paring back the budget, but, thanks to some inventive wrangling on the Minneapolis City Council, now find themselves in what Brandt calls a "bubble" — unsure how long their jobs will last. But, really, there's so much waste in government, what could these rookies offer? "McClellan, a Minneapolis firefighter, has the endurance and training to do chest compressions all the way to the hospital." Oh.

Well, at least the wheels of justice keep spinning at a steady clip. Unless, of course, you need something from the State Crime Lab. As reported by Dean Spiros of the Star Tribune, the crime lab is underfunded and understaffed, leaving cases hanging for months. Well, we're in a crunch. Can't we just wait? Not according to Anoka County Sheriff Bruce Andersohn: "People are being incarcerated when they shouldn't be incarcerated. There's a moral cost. And there's the financial cost. We're holding people who otherwise could be prosecuted and either sent to federal prison or to a treatment facility." Yow. Well, so what? The crime's been committed. What's the worst that can happen? "Not to be overlooked, he said, are those suspects who continue to commit crimes while law enforcement waits on test results." Oh.

Well, at least in this, an unusually snowy winter, our roads are being kept plowed. Oh, wait -- the Associated Press has a story on how slashing the budget has affected Minnesota cities that includes this detail: "Street maintenance was hit hardest: 65 percent of cities cut back in that area, according to the study." Jessica Mador of MPR details how the piles of snow have been frustrating local drivers, and includes an especially inventive suggestion for dealing with the stuff from somebody named Monica Wainio: "I think we should take some of this snow and somehow get it to Vancouver."

Bob Shaw of the Pioneer Press tells an unhappy story from this ailing economy, detailing how the ranks of the Twin Cities homeless are being swollen, often with families who were self-supporting until "a pink slip here, an injury there, an unplanned pregnancy or a foreclosure" sent them into a tailspin. "We just want somewhere to go," says one young couple with children. "We just want to not wonder where our next meal is coming from." But Shaw points out that homeless shelters have historically been underfunded and chronically full, and their funding has been slashed, leaving people scrambling to find temporary housing in church basements. Perhaps the problem is just that the funding for these programs hasn't been slashed enough.

Well, in the midst of depressing news, there's at least one story of a politician who was able to get somebody the health care they needed, and in an especially dramatic fashion. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman was driving around Friday night when a couple flagged his car down. Their child was experiencing seizures, so Coleman told them to hop in and drove them to the hospital. What was Coleman doing driving around? The Pioneer Press, KARE11 and the Star Tribune don't say, so we're just going to assume he was following in the footsteps of his predecessor, St. Paul Mayor Charlie McCarty, and was fighting crime.

With the Olympics on, Minnesota media mavens are engaged in their typical scramble of trying to find local connections. Bob Collins from MPR asks how we even determine who should be considered "one of us," and the scare quotes are his, so we assume he's quoting from the movie "Freaks" (warning: actual sideshow performers). The answer, of course, is if we can claim them, they're ours, but even with the most conservative of estimates, Minnesotans represent about 10 percent of Team USA, according to Collins' compatriot, Tom Crann. WCCO's John Lauritsen locates the most unexpected local connection so far: John Sandel, chiropractor to the Olympiads, and we can't be alone in thinking that would make for a terrific television show. Maybe he could also fight crime.