A health care study could save taxpayer money and is a stupid place to cut. The job, in case anyone missed the news, is a one-year, $165,300 position at the Defense Department, where Baldacci was hired by Under Secretary of Defense Clifford L. Stanley to study military health care. Wilson, who chairs a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, raised questions about the hire during a congressional hearing this week, then wrote a letter to Stanley asking him to eliminate Baldacci’s job.

Teachers and government workers covered by the state’s retirement plan face a difficult choice if they’re near the present retirement age of 62.

That’s because if Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed changes to the system pass the Legislature intact, they may have to ante up about $8,000 more a year for health insurance between the time they retire and when they turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare.

Majority rule and fiscal soundness both were winners in the Capitol in Madison last week. The conflict pitting unionized public employees and their allies in the Democratic Party against majority Republicans in the Wisconsin Statehouse is over, at least for now.

That can include fines for not removing it, but perhaps there are ways to help.