(UPDATED) Minnesota Shutdown Day 1: Gov. Dayton Says Negotiations Need a 'Breather'

Update: Friday, July 1 at 7 p.m.: 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 on Tuesday.

The governor met with DFL leaders around 9 a.m 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.

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. 

Update: July 1 at 3:10 p.m.: Richfield City Hall's Motor Vehicle Licensing Department is still open despite the government shutdown, according to Lucas Johnson, media coordinator for the city.

The city is still able to provide motor vehicle transactions and passport applications, but cannot issue fishing or watercraft licenses, he said.

The department will remain open until 5 p.m. Friday before it closes for the holiday weekend. It will reopen Tuesday at 8 a.m.

First Post: by Richfield Patch, Special Master Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Blatz began hearing petitions from a bevy of Minnesota’s nonprofit organizations requesting shutdown funding at 8 a.m. Friday morning.

The organizations were not included in the initial written by Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin on June 29.  

Blatz heard appeals this morning from organizations as varied as the Minnesota Aids Project, Partners for Affordable Housing, and the Minnesota coalitions for battered women (MCBW) and the homeless.   

The entire court docket can be found here and live streaming of the hearings is also available.

Blatz will not rule on any of the petitions she hears today. Instead she will consider the arguments made and the degree of authority she was given to expand the list of critical core services.

Blatz is expected to begin ruling on the petitions as early as Saturday, July 2.

This article will be updated if there is anything new to report about Friday's hearings or other things happening around Richfield as a result of the shutdown. If you are interested in knowing about the state shutdown's impacts to local nonprofits, click .