Our budget fallout tracking project has so far identified nearly 15,000 individuals already affected by the state budget impasse -- either social service providers who have been laid off because of the fiscal uncertainty, or clients of those private agencies who have lost their services as a result.  With a bird's eye view, our map illustrates what the inaction in Springfield has already cost the state.

As we've busily tracked down this information over the course of the week -- with the help of tips from over a hundred readers -- we've not had time to couple this meta-reporting with the "view from the ground."  Thankfully, the Daily Herald picked up some of the slack yesterday, reporting on one developmentally-disabled woman who lost access to valuable services this month:

With an IQ of 36, Laura Hill doesn't have the mental capacity to remember that Illinois politics have taken away the only life she knows. So the 42-year-old Rolling Meadows woman must revisit the sadness anew each morning as her mother explains that the Clearbrook workshop in Palatine where Laura has loved performing simple jobs for the past 22 years is no longer open to her because Illinois legislators took away her funding.

Read the whole thing. (UPDATE: Via Mechanics, the Post-Dispatch's Pat Gauen also has a heartbreaking column on this topic.)

Meanwhile, the Reader's Whet Moser yesterday questioned the logic of implementing an early prison release program (which Gov. Quinn is considering) while eradicating rehab and mental health programs run by private social service providers. 

And this morning in a Sun-Times op-ed, State Sen. Toi Hutchison (D-Olympia Fields) calls for the General Assembly to get behind Sen. James Meeks' tax plan:

No matter who makes it to the governor's mansion in 2010, in the absence of action today, he or she will have to do one thing: raise taxes, just like Republican Governors Ogilvie, Thompson and Edgar.

House Bill 174 is the only solution on the table in Springfield. Nearly $2 billion in budget cuts, more than $500 million in property tax relief, stable funds for education, increased tax exemptions for working families and a long-term solution to pay our bills on time.

Of course, as the articles below illustrate, it looks like Quinn is planning to punt on an income tax hike until the end of the year and pass a 5-6 month budget in the interim:

Quinn To Shelve Tax Increase Until Fall
Quinn Hoping Income Tax Delay Will Pay Off

What exactly will the partial budget look like?  That's not entirely clear yet.  Lawmakers return to Springfield on Tuesday to hash it out.