The House Labor Committee voted against a bill today to increase the state’s minimum wage to 12 dollars an hour starting on January 1st. Business groups say a higher minimum wage will result in fewer jobs and higher costs that will be passed on to the consumer. Melissa Flourney, the co-founder of Ten-thousand Women, pointed out to the committee that 30 states have a higher minimum wage than $7.25.
Cut 9 (10) “…leaving Arkansas.”
The measure failed on a vote of seven to five. Slidell Representative Brian Glorioso voted against the measure, saying he would rather see investments in workforce training…
The minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since July of 2009.
The first long range forecast for the upcoming hurricane season is encouraging. Colleen Crain has the story…
Cut 1 (34) “…I’m Colleen Crain.”
Organizers of this year’s Strawberry Festival are putting an extra emphasis on safety and security this year after last year’s event was marred by a shooting. That’s already started, as four people have been banned from this year’s festival for making threats to the event. Ponchatoula Police have identified one of them as 19-year-old Amari Sexton.