By Taya White
Columbia Missourian, Nov 7, 2018

The response from several small businesses in Columbia to an increase in the state’s minimum wage was largely positive Wednesday. ...

“I’m strongly in favor of Prop B,” said Joe Chevalier, who owns Yellow Dog Bookshop on Ninth Street. “I already pay my employees above minimum wage.” ...

Out of 10 businesses contacted, only two said they were not in favor of the wage increase. ...

Downtown business owners and employees recognized the ripple effect of the wage increase on the Missouri economy.

“People making minimum wage, they’re...

By Rosie Belson
KBIA (NPR), Columbia, Nov 7, 2018

Proposition B on the Missouri ballot, which sought to raise the state's minimum wage, passed Tuesday by over 60 percent. ...

"We hope that this is enough to start destressing the lives of some of the lowest paid workers in the state," said Lew Prince, the state coordinator for the Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. ...

KBIA previously reported that 600 [now over 700] Missouri business owners and executives in publicly endorsing Missouri's Proposition B. Prince said that the wage increase had supporters from...

By Samuel King
KRCU (NPR), Southeast Missouri, Nov 7, 2018

A little more than a year after the Missouri General Assembly stymied Kansas City’s effort to raise the minimum wage, state voters said it’s time for an increase. ...

"I think they recognize that the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with our current society," said Pam Hausner, a campaign manager for Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. "Our buying power now is equivalent to what it was in 1960. So costs are going up but wages aren't. And that has to be remedied."

People who...

By  Wesley Brown
Talk Business & Politics, November 6, 2018

Arkansans strongly backed all three of the constitutional amendments that made this year’s ballot, which were measures requiring voters to show ID at the polls, raise the state minimum wage standards to $11 an hour and turning the Natural State’s low-key gaming operations into a high-stakes, tax revenue-generating gambling enterprise. ...

MINIMUM WAGE HIKE
Similarly, returns showed that Arkansans overwhelmingly supported Issue 5, which would increase the state minimum wage in Arkansas for most workers in the state from $8.50 per hour to $11 per hour...

By Samuel King
KCUR (NPR), Kansas City, Nov 6, 2018

A little more than a year after the Missouri General Assembly stymied Kansas City’s effort to raise the minimum wage, state voters said it’s time for an increase. Proposition B passed in Tuesday’s midterm election, meaning the minimum wage will gradually increase to $12 an hour by 2023. ...

"I think they recognize that the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with our current society," said Pam Hausner, a campaign manager for Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. "Our buying power now is equivalent to...

By Joe Rios
KTTS 94.7 FM Country, Nov 4, 2018

On Tuesday, voters in Missouri will decide whether to raise the state’s minimum wage with the Proposition B initiative. ...

Raise Up Missouri, who’s for a raise in the wage, says if you look at individual businesses and business leaders they will tell you they support a minimum wage and that there are over 600 small businesses across the state that endorse Proposition B. ...

Read more

Copyright 2018 Scripps Media, Inc.

By Heather Long
Washington Post, November 4, 2018

Voters in Arkansas and Missouri will decide Tuesday whether to significantly raise the minimum wage in their state. The two states, both of which went heavily for President Trump in 2016, offer a test case of whether there is appetite in solidly red states for a minimum wage above $10.

Arkansas will vote on whether to gradually raise its current minimum wage of $8.50 an hour to $11 an hour by 2021. Missouri voters are deciding whether to steadily increase the state’s minimum wage of $7.85 an hour...

By Jessica Karins
Kirksville Daily Express,  Nov 2, 2018

Missouri has not raised its minimum wage since 2006, and state lawmakers have knocked down municipalities’ attempts to increase it on the local level. That could change this Nov. 6 when Proposition B goes up for a vote statewide. ...

Over 700 small business owners and executives have signed on to endorse Proposition B through an organization called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.

[Lew] Prince, an organizer with the group, said the economic benefit of the proposition is clear. While small employers will have to pay more, so will...

By Laura Murgatroyd, Sarah Hallam and Michelle Stoddart
Columbia Missourian, Nov 2, 2018. Also in St. Joseph's News Press, Warrensburg Daily Star, Houston Herald, Bonner County Daily Bee.

Proponents of raising the minimum wage say that businesses should be required to pay their workers enough to afford basics like housing and food. ...

A petition by Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage has collected more than 500 [now over 675] signatures from business owners in Missouri in support of raising the minimum wage.

Dave Elman, owner of Fretboard Coffee, was one of those who signed...

By Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies
St. Louis Public Radio, KWMU-1, Nov 1, 2018

After years of starts and stops, activists in favor of raising Missouri’s minimum wage may finally find success this year with a ballot proposition that increases the state’s wage floor from $7.85 an hour to $12 an hour by 2023. ...

The committee seeking to raise the minimum wage, known as Raise Up Missouri, is touting support from a slew of business owners. That includes Dorothy Jones, who owns a custom clothing business in St. Louis.

“Raising Missouri’s minimum wage to...

By Kathryn Palmer
KBIA (NPR), Oct 31, 2018

On Nov. 6, Missourians will have a chance to decide if they want to raise the state minimum wage. Proposition B would increase the current $7.85 an hour minimum to $8.60 by next year. It would increase the state minimum wage 85 cents each year until it reaches $12 hour by the year 2023. So how might this affect Missouri’s low-wage workers and business owners?

Dave Elman, the owner of Fretboard Coffee in downtown Columbia thinks it would help.

Elman took a financial risk to open Fretboard...

Reported By Caroline Sweeney
KCTV5 News, Oct 31, 2018

Crane Brewery in Raytown has been around for three years and it’s part of a [contingent] of small businesses supporting Proposition B.

WATCH STORY

Editorial
Joplin Globe, Oct 29, 2018

Missourians working at the lower end of the wage scale make nowhere near a living wage. Your "yes" vote on Proposition B will let you start to change that. ...

Every time an increase in the minimum wage has been considered in the 80 years since it was established, naysayers have said jobs would disappear if employers were required to pay low-wage workers more. The naysayers are wrong. Nearly half the states in our nation have increased their minimum wage above the federal minimum without the foretold doom coming...

Op-Ed By Ron Rivers
New Jersey Star-Ledger, Oct 29, 2018

Earlier this month, Gov. Phil Murphy presented a comprehensive vision to grow and restore confidence in New Jersey's economy. Central to the governor's plan is raising wages for Garden State workers -- a noble idea.

As the founder and owner of a small business here in New Jersey, I not only understand the importance of paying workers a living wage, but I put that value into practice every single pay period.

At my company, Love2brew, we pay all of our employees at least $15 an hour - and...

By the Editorial Board
Springfield News-Leader, Oct. 27, 2018

...Proposition B

Addressing low wages in southwest Missouri has long been an issue of interest for the News-Leader editorial board. Poverty rates in the area are startling. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Springfield has a poverty rate of 25.9 percent.

Branson is 20.9 percent. Joplin, 18.5 percent. Bolivar, 20.9 percent. Monett, 28.9 percent. West Plains, 27.7 percent.

Raising the minimum wage will not eliminate poverty, but it will be a significant step toward lessening it. Studies have estimated that 25 percent of Missouri workers would see...