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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

State Minimum Wage Bill Faces First House Hurdle Today

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Friday, March 16, 2007   

A bill to increase Minnesota's minimum wage faces its first House test today. Sponsor Tom Rukavina says it's a matter of economic justice and fairness.

"People that go to work for a living every day should be able to make a wage that, at least, attempts to keep up with inflation."

The bill would raise the state minimum wage to $6.75 an hour for small employers and a dollar more for larger ones by August 2008, then peg the wage to inflation. Rukavina believes the issue isn't just about part-time jobs or second-income jobs of choice.

"There are a lot of people in this state that work at minimum wage and go to work every day and work hard. You know, the arguments are that a lot of them are teenagers, which isn't true. A lot of them are folks that need to put food on the table. And, some of those teenagers are also in families that need the financial help."

Work should pay, and according to Rukavina, even those at the low end of the pay scale deserve a living wage.

Brian Rusche with the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition is scheduled to testify on the bill today. He says the faith community supports it, because it believes the economy should be shaped so workers can at least afford basic needs.

"It goes to the whole idea of the dignity of labor. Forty hours a week ought to allow a person to buy food, and clothe and house their family, and meet basic needs. And, we have prosperity in this country, and it should be shared, because we're all better off when people feel a strong stake in society."

Rusche believes everyone is better off when workers are treated fairly. Minnesota's minimum wage is now $6.15.

The companion Senate bill is SF 875. The hearing by the House Labor and Consumer Protection Division is at 10:00 a.m., Room 5 at the Senate Office Building.



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