Shutdown Roundup: Minnesota Zoo Gets Hearing in Midst of Budget Stalemate

There hasn't yet been a ruling on the petition for the Minnesota Zoo to remain open during the government shutdown, but zoo attorney Mike Hatch and Gov. Mark Dayton's attorney David Lillehaug on Friday afternoon presented arguments for and against, in front of Ramsey County Judge Kathleen Gearin.

“I know you aren’t going to have a zoo today," Gearin said at the end of the Friday hearing, saying she would take the arguments under advisement. "It may have to be tomorrow.”

A replay of the hearing and court documents filed are available on TheUptake's website.

Rulings on requests for funding submitted by other Minnesota nonprofit organizations are expected as early as Saturday. Those requests were heard Friday by former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice and Special Master Kathleen Blatz. 

In other shutdown happenings, Gov. Mark 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 Tuesday.

The governor met with DFL leaders around 9 a.m Friday but details of the talks are being kept confidential. According to KSTP-TV, Dayton was in his office all day working on a compromise deal.

After weeks of intense negotiations, capped by closed-door sessions through the waning minutes of June 30, Dayton and Republican lawmakers failed to agree on an operating budget for the 2011-13 biennium.

The proposed budgets from the governor and GOP lawmakers remain separated by $1.4 billion.

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