Minnesota Shutdown Keeps Rest Stops Shuttered

Truckers in Minnesota urged the mediator charged with determining where the government spends its limited budget to open up the state’s highway rest stops as a partial government shutdown dragged into its fifth day, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Trucking officials went before Edward Stringer, the court-appointed special master in the shutdown case charged with divvying up the state’s funds during the shutdown, AP said.

In addition to shuttering its rest stops, the government shutdown has kept the state from issuing any permits for trucks to haul oversize loads, keeping some loads from moving, trucking officials told the Duluth News Tribune.

The paper reported that the permit delays cost manufacturers between $600 and $800 a day, according American Trucking Associations.

State vehicle enforcement officials said that oversize loads attempting to enter the state would be turned away at the border.

The state government shutdown when the governor and legislature failed to agree on a new budget.