The post and live blog below are a collaboration between Patch and HuffPost reporters.
Minnesota is encountering its second government shutdown in six years after Governor Mark Dayton (D) and state lawmakers failed to reach an agreement in negotiations to close the state's $5 billion budget gap late on Thursday night.
Richfield Patch reports:
...Dayton told MPR News on Friday that budget negotiations between himself and GOP lawmakers need a “breather.”
The governor said he is willing to listen to proposals and even meet with Republican leaders over the weekend but if no offers were made he would “reach out” to them sometime on Tuesday.
The governor met with DFL leaders around 9 a.m. [CST] Friday but details of the talks are being kept strictly confidential. According to KSTP-TV, Dayton has been in his office all day working on a compromise deal.
The situation unfolding is already taking a toll on public workers and residents across the state.
Reuters reports:
Parts of the government had already begun to shut down on Thursday ahead of the midnight budget deadline, including some websites and dozens of highway rest stops on one of the biggest travel days of the year.
The budget impasse means that some 23,000 of the roughly 36,000 Minnesota state employees will be furloughed and state parks and campgrounds closed ahead of what is usually their busiest stretch of the year for the July 4 holiday.
Reading services for the blind are being suspended due to the shutdown, the AP reports. According to St.LouisPark Patch:
The state shutdown will have a very real impact on the St. Louis Park Emergency Program’s food shelf, especially if the shutdown drags on.
Roughly 26 percent of the nonprofit food shelf’s regular food supply comes free of charge from a federal program that supplies USDA commodity items to states for distribution, said Kate Burggraff, who is the food shelf manager. With the shutdown in effect, that food won’t come STEP’s way, meaning the food shelf could see its average monthly food expense of between $5,000 and $6,000 double in July, which is generally a busy month to begin with.
Dayton and Republican lawmakers signaled on Friday they had no intention of holding discussions to resolve the ongoing budget dispute over the July 4 holiday weekend.
Below, a live blog of the latest developments to unfold in Minnesota.