The 15 US cities where poor neighborhoods are expanding fastest, By Allan Smith and Erin Fuchs, August 4, 2014, Business Insider: “Poverty is stuck at record levels in America, and it’s spreading in neighborhoods that are already blighted and impoverished, according to a new report from the Brookings Institution. So-called concentrated poverty spurs high crime rates and can worsen health, schools, and housing conditions, according to Brookings. While poverty was once viewed as an urban problem, more and more of America’s poor live in the suburbs…”
Day: August 4, 2014
Minimum Wage – Minnesota
Minnesota minimum wage hike takes effect, By Nick Woltman, July 31, 2014, St. Paul Pioneer Press: “Minnesota is seeing its first minimum wage increase in nearly a decade. Starting Friday, most of the state’s lowest-paid workers will receive $8 an hour. It’s the first of three annual increases that will push Minnesota’s wage floor from $6.15 an hour — among the lowest in the country — to $9.50 — one of the highest in the country — by 2016. Beginning in 2018, it will be indexed to inflation.The Legislature passed the wage hike in April, but it didn’t happen easily. A months-long political fight ended with votes more or less along party lines in the state Senate and the House of Representatives…”