budget impasse

Governor Mark Dayton has plans to travel around Minnesota this week as the state's government shutdown continues, even as he says he's ready to return to budget talks with legislative Republicans.

Gov. Mark Dayton and top Republicans met again Wednesday without meaningful progress toward resolving the budget dispute that has shut down state government. House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch say the negotiations went backwards when Dayton made an offer for either an income tax increase for top earners or a cigarette tax increase.

Top Republican lawmakers are urging Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton to call a special session to avoid a government shutdown, even though the two sides remain stalemated on the budget. Dayton has sole power to convene a special session, but he has repeatedly said he won't do so until he and GOP lawmakers reach an overall budget deal.

Those campaign-style TV commercials clogging Minnesota's airwaves are brought to you by the budget stalemate at the state Capitol. It used to be that political ads were mostly confined to election years. But the simmering dispute over taxes and spending between Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders have inspired interest groups on both sides to take to the airwaves anew.

About 800 state workers who were expecting layoff notices this week in preparation for a possible state government shutdown are getting a nine-day reprieve.

State agency commissioners in the administration of Gov. Mark Dayton are preparing for a possible state government shutdown in case the governor and legislative Republicans can't settle on a state budget by the end of June.

Three Democratic lawmakers made a stop in St. Cloud today to talk about the end of the Legislative session and a special session that will be needed to approve a new state budget. Representative Larry Hosch of St. Joseph and Representative John Ward of Brainerd were joined by Assistant Senate Minority Leader Terri Bonoff of Minnetonka.