By Brenna Houck
Eater, Oct 25, 2018

Entering the feverish final weeks leading up to the November midterm elections, just about every candidate and measure feels reduced to a tribal partisan battle. Yet, one issue seems to increasingly be crossing party lines: minimum wage. This fall, voters in two states — Missouri and Arkansas — will decide whether or not to raise their respective state minimum wages. ...

In the Missouri fight, organizers have rallied the support of more than 450 local businesses, including outspoken companies from the food and beverage industry: 4 Hands Brewing Co. in St. Louis, the Rieger in Kansas City, Bambino’s Cafe in Springfield, and Mokaska Coffee Company in St. Joseph.

KTRS, St. Louis, Oct. 25, 2018

Nearly 200 St. Louis business owners are calling for voters to approve Proposition B, the ballot initiative to raise Missouri’s minimum wage.

On Thursday morning, a group of business owners joined state and local lawmakers during a press conference at Bridge Bread in south St. Louis to show their support. Those business owner discussed the reason they believe raising the minimum wage will help the economy.

Lew Prince, business campaign manager for Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said, “Businesses across St. Louis and Missouri are showing their...

By Frank Healy
WGEM News, Oct 25, 2018

Proposition B asks voters if they think the state’s minimum wage should be raised to $12.00 an hour by 2023.

It’s something small business owners in Hannibal have a big stake in.

“It’s really important I think that people have a living wage,” said Patricia Berg Yapp, owner of Belvedere Inn in Hannibal, adding that it’s just not possible to live on the current minimum wage, “$7.50 an hour multiple that by 40, you’re looking at about $15,000 a year when you take rent, heat gas, car...

By Celeste Bott
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct 25, 2018

For St. Louis officials, the discussion surrounding the state initiative known as Proposition B, which would gradually raise Missouri’s minimum wage to $12 an hour, triggers a bit of déjà vu. ...

Other businesses support the initiative, with 170 St. Louis employers signing onto a statement in support of Prop B. Several spoke to reporters on Thursday, contending that paying workers a little more actually boosts their bottom line.

“Paying fair wages is one of the smartest business moves I’ve ever made,” said Delmar Loop businessman...

By the Editorial Board
Kansas City Star, Oct 24, 2018

         WATCH VIDEO The Rieger restaurant owner Howard Hanna talks about Missouri minimum wage vote  

As long as there has been a minimum wage, which began at 25-cents an hour in 1938, its opponents have been arguing that businesses would fail if we set one at all, or ever raised it.

That has not happened. Instead, a U.S. Census Bureau study published in March found that over two decades, increases benefited most low-income workers, especially in the long term, and...

Op-Ed By Gabriele Ruggieri, Owner, Gabriel's Food + Wine
...I had the opportunity to make my dream of owning a restaurant come true. ...Raising Missouri's minimum wage will have a ripple effect, benefiting local businesses and our community. ...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial, Oct 22, 2018

PHOTO: Isaac McMurry and Mackenzie MacAfee work in the back to prepare food at Pizza Head in Tower Grove East on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018. Pizza Head owner, Scott Sandler, pays both McMurry and MacAfee well above the minimum wage and supports raising it.

The time has come for Missouri employers to get off the dime and start sharing their dollars. Minimum-wage workers are being forced to accept a pay scale that doesn’t come close to livable by today’s standards.

On Nov. 6, Missourians should vote yes on state...

By Leah Thorsen
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Oct. 22, 2018

Missouri voters will decide in a couple weeks whether to boost the state’s minimum wage, a proposal that comes as several large retailers already are committing to pay employees more, but that advocates say is necessary to improve the lives of thousands of hourly workers who won’t see such raises. ...

If the minimum wage measure passes Nov. 6, Missouri estimates that state and local government tax revenue could increase as much as $214 million. ...

A business owner who supports the ballot initiative is Scott...

Op-Ed By Blake Ralston, Owner, Ralston Agency
... Raising the minimum wage is an important type of insurance for businesses as well as workers. ...

By Steve Brawner, Talk Business & Politics
KUAR NPR, Little Rock, Oct 18, 2018

Voters will not get to weigh in on a proposed amendment to limit lawsuit damages but will vote on raising the state’s minimum wage after the Arkansas Supreme Court released two decisions Thursday

Fox 16, Little Rock, Oct 18, 2018. Also KARK NBC, Little Rock (Nexstar Broadcasting).

The Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled that a minimum wage issue will remain on the November ballot. Click here to read the full court opinion on Issue 5. ...

Arkansas business owners and the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce speak in support of Issue 5, the minimum wage initiative that today cleared a final hurdle to appear on the November ballot, because increasing wages will be good for businesses and the economy

Full news release below:
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Arkansas business...

By Gloria Lloyd, News Editor
with Stephanie Sandoval, Columbia Missourian
Call Newspapers (MO), Oct 18, 2018

... The minimum-wage measure, called Proposition B on the ballot, would gradually increase the lowest hourly pay in the state to $12 an hour in five years. ... When Raise Up [Missouri] submitted its signatures last spring, it showcased stories of struggling low-income workers trying to raise families to emphasize the need for a higher living wage. ...

Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage also publicly announced its support for the initiative when the signatures were submitted.

Over 200 [now nearly...

By Bethany Budde-Cohen, Owner, SqWires Restaurant & Annex
Letter to the Editor, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Oct 16, 2018

The commentary “Minimum wage hike will lead to unintended consequences” (Oct. 8) by a fellow at the Show-Me Institute tries to mask hostility to a minimum wage law, which it calls “an artificially imposed floor price,” by claiming that raising the minimum wage to $12 by 2023 under Proposition B will cost jobs and “harm the very people” it’s “supposed to benefit.” As a business owner, I can tell you that’s not true.

Rigorous research of actual minimum wage...

United Press International (UPI), Oct. 16, 2018

From marijuana in the Midwest to abortion and minimum wage in the South, voters across the United States have more than just hotly contested congressional races to consider in next month’s midterm election. ... Here are some of the highlights. ...

Minimum wage

While there are nationwide campaigns to raise the United States’ minimum wage to $15, two states in the South have ballot measures to raise theirs to a shorter extent.

Arkansas’ provision would raise minimum wage from $8.50 an hour to $11 an hour by 2021. The...

By Philip Joens
Jefferson City News Tribune, October 11, 2018

A proposal to raise Missouri's minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2023 is dividing businesses. ...

Not all businesses oppose Proposition B. More than 450 business representatives signed a list supporting Proposition B, according to Businesses For a Fair Minimum Wage, a group of business owners that support the measure.

Eleven Jefferson City business owners signed to indicate their support: Spectators Sports Bar & Grill owner Scott Drinkard, Love2Nourish owner Laurel Dunwoody, J.R. Pain Management owner Julie Ruengert, Antiquarium owner Lance Salmons, Premium Pets...