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Baltimore Sun: Democrats, unions launch push for statewide $15 minimum wage

By Scott Dance
The Baltimore Sun, Jan 15, 2018

A coalition of Democrats, union leaders and workers launched a campaign to raise Maryland’s minimum hourly wage to $15 on Monday, saying they chose to do so on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to carry on his message of justice and fairness.

They are proposing to reach that wage floor by 2023, a move they say would benefit about 570,000 workers, about a fifth of the state’s work force. They cited data from a United Way study released last year that showed that 35 percent of...

Colorado Springs Business Journal: Minimum wage increases again but impact up for debate

By Bob Stephens
Colorado Springs Business Journal, January 5, 2018

Controversy surrounded Colorado’s minimum wage increase even before it passed in the November 2016 election, and that hasn’t changed more than a year later as local business owners remain divided on the subject. About 55 percent of Colorado voters were in favor of Amendment 70, which incrementally raises the state’s minimum wage from $8.31 in 2016 to $12 by 2020. ...

Tracy duCharme has a different outlook on the minimum wage increase, arguing that a rising tide lifts all boats. Since 2009 she has owned Color...

Valley Advocate: Getting on the Ballot

By Meg Bantle
The Valley Advocate, Jan 2, 2018

... For labor activists, 2018 could be the year they get a measure for a $15 minimum wage before Massachusetts voters, which would mean the state would join California and New York, which have already passed $15 minimum wage legislation. ...

Some business owners in the Pioneer Valley and beyond support the minimum wage increase and have already started to make adjustments internally to afford the added cost.

At Real Pickles in Greenfield, Founder and General Manager Dan Rosenberg said that their starting wage is currently around $13 an hour...

Marketplace: A New Patchwork Of Minimum Wage Rules Means New Challenges For Business

By Mitchell Hartman
Marketplace, January 1, 2018 

As of today, 18 states and 20 cities have new higher minimum wage requirements. The changes affect roughly 4.5 million workers. The wage hikes run across the country, from Maine to California. Then you have cities doing their own thing, setting a higher local minimum wage than the state overall. That’s happening in Minneapolis, Tacoma, Flagstaff, Palo Alto, Albuquerque – the list goes on. ...

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Denver Business Journal: Colorado's minimum wage is going up on Monday

By Ben Miller
Denver Business Journal, Dec 29, 2017

Colorado's minimum wage is going up 99 cents per hour on Monday. In November 2016, Colorado voters approved Amendment 70, a plan to raise the wage for any non-tipped worker in the state from $8.31 per hour to $12 an hour in three steps by 2020. On Monday, the minimum wage will go up to $9.30 per hour. ...

“As a longtime fiscal conservative, I see raising the minimum wage as smart business and good government. ... Raising the minimum wage rewards work and levels the playing field by expecting businesses to compete fairly and not count on taxpayers to subsidize them.” said Edwin Zoe, owner of Zoe Ma Ma restaurants in Denver and Boulder, in a statement.

WIVB News 4 Buffalo: Business owners getting ready for minimum wage increase

By Chris Horvatits
WIVB News 4 Buffalo, December 29, 2017

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A new year brings a new minimum wage in New York State. On Sunday, the general minimum wage will increase from $9.70 an hour to $10.40 an hour. It’s part of an eventual increase to $15 an hour ...

Prish Moran feels differently. She’s “100 percent supportive” of a $15 minimum wage. She owns Sweet_ness 7 Cafe on Grant Street in Buffalo. Moran says she already pays her workers a higher wage.

“Not only for my own knowledge of the cost of living,”...

US News & World Report: Minimum Wage Bumps to Boost Pay for 4.5M in 2018

By Andrew Soergel
US News & World Report, Dec. 27, 2017

One of the primary selling points GOP lawmakers used to pitch their upcoming tax overhaul was the legislation's potential to boost take-home pay for the American middle class. But on Jan. 1, low-wage workers in more than a dozen states and in several individual cities will see their paychecks rise for an entirely different reason: minimum wage upticks that have become increasingly common as progressive groups push for more substantial government-mandated wage floors.

"Raising the minimum wage puts money in the pockets of workers who most need to spend it – boosting business and the economy from the bottom up," Holly Sklar, the CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said in a statement last week. ...

CNBC: The tortured truth behind Wells Fargo's 'Trump tax cut' minimum wage raise

By Eric Rosenbaum
CNBC, Dec 23, 2017

Let's make one thing clear: It's hard to beat "Show me the money." More money going to American workers in the form of bonuses and higher wages for the lowest-paid on the labor ladder are good things — minimum wage increases, in particular. Unlike the individual tax cuts that are set to expire in less than a decade and one-time bonuses, a wage increase is more money in the worker's pocket that's not going away. ...

A skeptic doesn't need to be a political partisan to wonder about...