Does not compute

Missouri usually puts computers to good use. Case.net, the state's computerized database for criminal and civil litigation, is a good example. A bad example of the state's high-tech prowess can be found at the Department of Revenue, where $17 million has been spent on a new computer system still waiting to go online 10 years after it was purchased.

The system could have prevented the state from mistakenly distributing nearly 22,000 license plate sets with numbers already in use.

The Department of Revenue hopes to have the system operating by next June, the end of the fiscal year.

What a shameful waste of taxpayer money.