skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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 Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

Momentum Building For $9.50 MN Minimum Wage

play audio
Play

Friday, February 7, 2014   

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Momentum is building behind raising the state minimum wage to at least $9.50 an hour and pegging it to the cost of living.

Mayors and city councils in the Twin Cities, Duluth and Hibbing are coming out in favor.

They, along with public officials from smaller communities, are joining Gov. Mark Dayton in pressing state lawmakers to raise the wage.

Danon Reives is a 34-year-old cook and dishwasher in Duluth who says that's real leadership that could make a difference in the lives of people like him.

"It's kind of like an everyday struggle,” he says. “Do I buy a pack of deodorant, or do I buy bread? Milk?

“Do I make my rent or do I eat? Do I hold onto this 50 cents or do I just go ahead and spend it?"

According to Minnesota's Raise the Wage Coalition, the increase would help more than 350,000 in the state, including nearly 140,000 children of the working poor.

Critics of increasing the wage say minimum-wage employees are mostly entry-level workers, often teenagers earning pocket money.

But according to state and federal figures, four out of five are 20 or older, and many are trying to support families.

Reives says when he was married, he and his wife were both working low-wage jobs to support their children.

"I was working two minimum-wage jobs at the time, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't,” he relates. “There was a few times the hot water got turned off. Had to sit there for a month heating up water through the coffee maker."

Reives says these days after child support he brings home less than $200 a week.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021