Will California’s $10-per-hour minimum wage push other states to act?, By Brad Knickerbocker, September 26, 2013, Christian Science Monitor: “California is on track to have the nation’s highest state minimum wage: $10 an hour. That would top the current highest state figure – $9.19 an hour in Washington State – as well as the federal minimum wage of $7.25, which is the level in all but 18 states and the District of Columbia. Business organizations fought the law, which Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed Wednesday. The California Chamber of Commerce calls it a ‘job killer,’ and the California Restaurant Association said it was a ‘blow to small businesses’ at a time when the state’s unemployment rate (8.9 percent) is well above the national rate (7.3 percent), making it one of the highest in the country…”
Day: September 27, 2013
School Food Nutrition
School cafeterias, vending machines trading sugar, fat for more healthful fare, By Lenny Bernstein, September 27, 2013, Washington Post: “Any parent who has fixed a nutritious school lunch only to find it untouched in a backpack the next morning will be heartened by new federal rules that will take effect in schools nationwide in the fall of 2014. That’s when laws will require school vending machines, stores and ‘a la carte’ lunch menus to provide only healthful foods. So if a child hits the cafeteria line for pizza, the cheese on that slice will be relatively low in fat and sodium and the crust probably will be made from whole grains. And snackers will find nuts, granola bars and water in vending machines instead of candy bars, potato chips and sugary sodas…”