* Sometimes it’s deliberate. One Illinois…

Amid charges of deep staff cuts at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, it has referred far fewer cases to the Office of the Attorney General for enforcement under Gov. Bruce Rauner.

According to data provided by Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, the IEPA averaged 143 case referrals a year seeking enforcement of environmental laws in the second term of Rauner’s predecessor, Gov. Pat Quinn, but has averaged just 80 a year since Rauner took office in 2015.

In fact, IEPA typically referred between 200 and 300 cases a year to the state attorney general under Gov. George Ryan and in the first years of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s first term. That fell below 200 under Blogojevich and his successor, Quinn. But under Rauner case referrals have dropped below 100 each year. Through September of this year, the IEPA had referred just 59 cases to the attorney general for enforcement. […]

With the state in longterm financial distress, the IEPA has been one of the government agencies that have suffered most. According to a story earlier this year from the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, staff has been cut in half over the last 15 years, from 1,260 down to 635 last year, and 190 full-time staffers have been cut under Rauner. According to that story, the agency is budgeted for 768 positions, but remains “significantly understaffed.”

* Sometimes, government makes it tough on providers. Chalkbeat…

At the end of three hours of briefings Monday on advancing care for Illinois’ tiniest residents, an on-the-ground provider’s 3-minute plea shook awake a gathering of the state’s top early childhood leaders and reminded them why they were there.

“We are in a crisis and unable to get help,” said Carla Holtz, who in seven years has cycled through 147 staff members at her two day care centers in south central Effingham.

Turnover in that time among her 35 employees has been enough to staff the two centers more than four times over.

Speaking to the early learning council that directs how the state funds services for children from birth to age 5, Holtz said half of those departing sought better-paying jobs in other fields. Others headed to public school districts that pay better. Some she let go.

“Down here in the trenches, those of us who are cleaning the poop and plunging the toilets — we’re the ones who are not making it,” said Holtz, ticking off how well-intentioned Illinois directives make it tough to run a childcare business. She listed state policies like raising degree requirements for jobs that pay $8.50 to $10.25 an hour in her area, an endless stream of “health and safety” trainings, and lead and radon tests that cost her $1,000 apiece.

In a meeting that focused mainly on future ambitions, Holtz redirected attention to a present hazard: a critical shortage of qualified staffers to work in infant centers, daycare programs, and community-based preschools.

The issue threatens to undercut any sort of universal pre-K program, which governor-elect J.B. Pritzker pledged to pursue as a candidate.

* And sometimes it’s just disgustingly short-sighted. Tribune editorial…

Imagine you get robbed at gunpoint by someone you recognize. You go to the police, report the crime and provide the name of the criminal. And the officer says, “Please come back in 285 days, and we’ll arrest him.”

It would be crazy. But it wouldn’t be much different from what happens to rape victims who undergo forensic exams that provide DNA evidence from their rapists.

The rape kits are an invaluable tool in identifying attackers and bringing them to justice. But in Illinois, the average time it takes to process DNA evidence in crimes is 285 days — more than nine months. That’s 285 days that a particular rapist is free to savage more women; 285 days before the police can even start looking for him. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, start counting to 285 and see if you finish.

A crime-solving instrument is useful if it’s actually used. And in the case of rape kits, no one is using them for months after they become available. The delays are a callous affront to the women who have submitted to lengthy, intrusive forensic exams in the aftermath of their attacks — and a favor to their attackers.