impasse

It's been bad enough having a front-row seat for Illinois' budget standoff and the many problems that having no budget agreement has caused. Having the Daily Show's correspondent Jordan Klepper arrive with a camera crew to weigh in on the issue is helping to make us a national punchline.

The photo is just a "stock image," but it could very well be a shot of Illinois comptroller Leslie Munger's desk. We've gone a year without a state budget, and July 1st marks the beginning of a new fiscal year. Without a new budget, Illinois will stop paying lottery winners, along with a host of others.