The latest local news, weather and high school sports in and around Columbia and Jefferson City

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- A partial shutdown of the federal government could begin Saturday morning.

It would affect an estimated 800,000 people and their jobs, along with many programs and services.

It's a story our Facebook viewers asked us to look into.

As a possible government shut down looms, many worry how this could affect them.

So, what should you expect to happen?

Many federal facilities would close, including national parks, museums, and monuments, like the St. Louis Arch.

While April 18th is still when tax returns are due, your refunds could stall if you didn't file electronically.

Home-buyers wouldn't get their papers processed and small businesses wouldn't get government loans.

The National Weather Service sent KRCG meteorologist Zac Evans an email explaining what would happen to them.

"Basically what the director of operations in Maryland said is, it's going to be business as usual,” Evans said. “Forecasters will be there to make sure everyone is safe and sound, issuing watches, and warnings that get relayed to us here at the station and the only real difference they said is some administrators will go on the furlough that's been on the news. but aside from that, it should just be business as usual."

Something else that won't change is your mail service.

I spoke with Jefferson City's Postmaster who said the postal service isn't affected since it's self-funded.

"We'll continue normal operations if the federal government shuts down,” Postmaster Don Knoth said. “It won't affect us at all."

But if you're planning on leaving the country and don't have your passport yet you could have a problem.

"Since that's taken care of by the federal government we will not be able to accept passports tomorrow,” Knoth said. “We've already canceled a passport fair we were going to hold tomorrow because of the uncertainty of what's going to happen at the end of the day."

Only emergency passport services would continue, normal processing would come to a halt.

If you're taking an Amtrak train somewhere, there's no need to worry.

Amtrak is federally subsidized and can operate for a time on ticket revenue.

Social security is another area people are worried about.

Since it's an entitlement program funded through payroll taxes rather than annual spending bills, social security is likely to keep sending out checks.

Although, the white house has warned a shutdown could affect new applicants.

Lawmakers have until midnight Friday to strike a deal and prevent a shut down.