Minn. Nonprofits Seek Aid in Shutdown

As Minnesota leaders resumed budget talks Tuesday, dozens of social-service groups asked the court-appointed official in charge of state spending during the government shutdown to restore their funds, says the Associated Press.

Advocates for the homeless, child-care providers, hospital officials, and more trooped into a St. Paul courtroom to make their case before Kathleen Blatz, the former state Supreme Court chief justice charged with budget decisions since the government shut down on Friday.

A court order last week limited spending during the shutdown to “critical core government functions” essential to public health and safety, as Ms. Blatz reminded nonprofit leaders and others throughout the day.

“It’s not a comment on the value of your services,” she told representatives of a group that offers treatment and counseling services to Native American women. “It goes to the limits of the court’s power.”

Meanwhile, nonprofit groups are struggling not just with stretching their cash as government payments halted but with the potential legal fallout if they continue to deliver services under suspended contracts, MinnPost writes. And the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on efforts by charities, labor unions, and volunteers to fill gaps in social-service provision left by the budget impasse.