ST. PAUL — The Ramsey County judge overseeing state spending in the government shutdown has ordered continued funding for several Minnesota Historical Society operations and continued pension payments for former state executive officers but denied a request to fund insurance investigators at the Department of Commerce.

Kathleen Gearin’s Friday order confirms several recommendations from the special master who’s been hearing shutdown appeals.

Gearin says the Historical Society should get continued funding for property protection, enterprise technology protection and animal care at its Oliver Kelley Farm historical site. She also says 14 former constitutional officers including several former governors should keep getting retirement benefits. That costs about $37,000 a month.

But Gearin followed a recommendation by special master Kathleen Blatz that seven insurance-fraud investigators should not be classified as critical.