Essential state worker alone on the job

For a week now, about 22,000 Minnesota state workers haven't been allowed to report to work. Those workers who were deemed non-essential are still waiting for the governor and legislative leaders to come to a budget agreement, and let them get back to their jobs.

However, the 12,000 government employees who were deemed critical to the state's core functions are still on-duty during the shutdown.

Ben Benson is one of those workers. He is an IT network specialist at the Department of Administration's Material Management Division.

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