In Minnesota Friday, highway construction came to a halt, rest stops and state parks closed. And 22,000 state workers have been laid off. The reason: a protracted budget dispute between the state's Democratic governor and Republicans who control the legislature.

In the absence of talks between Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders, the shutdown was rippling into the lives of people like Sonya Mills, a 39-year-old mother of eight facing the loss of about $3,600 a month in state child care subsidies.

Is retiring astronaut Mark Kelly ready to launch a new career in politics?

"I'll go into more detail about that next week, when I visit Iowa and New Hampshire," Kelly joked Friday during a luncheon appearance at the National Press Club.

They took a flight aboard a C-130 Hercules, had a Meal Ready to Eat for lunch, and watched a live fire training session. Several civilian employers got a taste of military life at Camp Atterbury, Indiana this week as part of Boss Lift 2011. Dave Robinson, a resource manager for the Army Corps of Engineers in Harlan County, Kentucky, visited the Kentucky National Guard's 149th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade.

It's officially summer vacation time. But if you're a candidate running for president, you'll spend your summer shaking hands in early voting states. Here, a look at the required stops and must-see attractions in Nevada.

Las Vegas may be in the middle of a desert, but once you're on the Strip, you can pretend you're anywhere. Just pick a hotel: Paris, New York, Monte Carlo. Republican candidates generally go Venetian.

The feral pig problem is spreading in Kentucky. The animals aren’t native to the commonwealth, but were illegally brought into the state and let loose for hunting. They’ve been copiously reproducing ever since. In 2009, wild pigs were only in about 23 of Kentucky’s 120 counties. Now, they’re in 44, and spreading. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Mark Marraccini says the animals have few redeeming characteristics.

Some other countries have allowed air traffic controllers to nap during their breaks and some experts think that might help prevent any more cases of American air traffic controllers falling asleep when they should be directing planes.

Nike announced it has welcomed back NFL superstar Michael Vick to its roster of celebrity endorsers. Vick, the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, spent 20 months in federal prison on a conviction related to dog fighting.

During that case, Vick became highly unpopular and lost his $2 million endorsement deal with Nike in 2007. The sports apparel company even suspended the release of the Zoom Vick V sneakers.

But, now, they're back in business.

Zynga, the online game maker behind FarmVille and other popular Facebook pastimes, is going public, the latest in a crop of high-valued Internet IPOs expected after LinkedIn Corp. showed that the online networking craze is a hot commodity on Wall Street.

Today, the second round of the Federal Reserve's stimulus came to an end. In an interview with CNBC, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the second round of quantitative easing — or QE2 as it's come to be known — did very little.

Here's the key passage from the interview:

"It obviously had some effect on the exchange rate and the exchange rate was a critical issue in export expansion. Aside from that, I'm ill aware of any endeavor — anything that really worked.

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Morocco's government says voters there have overwhelmingly passed a series of constitutional reforms which will set new limits on the power of the monarchy. The landslide result was widely expected. As we reported, the reforms would keep Morocco's king as the head of state and ]the military, but the head of government would be a prime minister chosen from the largest party elected to the parliament. Members of the opposition say the changes don't go far enough and are vowing to continue their protests.