Gov. Mark Dayton asked his commissioners to imagine how they would cope with the types of budget cuts Republican lawmakers envision.

As might be expected, the scenarios they paint are dire -- mass layoffs, ending core services, releasing prisoners, killing off job training programs, less help for families at risk of homelessness, fewer incentives for Guard recruits, drastic cutbacks in state park services or closure of state parks and the elimination of a bullet proof reimbursement program for police.

Read the, likely at least slightly hyperbolic, cut scenarios below:

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