Times Record (Fort Smith, AR), Nov 8, 2018

Over 68 percent of Sebastian County voters approved state Issue 5 on Tuesday that calls for a gradual minimum wage hike to $11 an hour by 2021. ...

“Arkansas business owners know the minimum wage has been too low for too long and needs a boost,” Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said in a news release. “They understand the connection between a strong wage floor and strong consumer demand, which is why they support Issue 5. Workers are also customers, and increased pay means increased consumer buying power, as well as lower employee turnover and improved productivity.”

By Heather Long
Washington Post, November 8, 2018

Photo Caption: Capi Peck, second from right, huddles with some of her kitchen crew right before the busy lunch period begins at Trio's Restaurant in Little Rock. Peck has owned Trio's for 32 years and was an outspoken supporter of the campaign to raise Arkansas' minimum wage to $11 an hour by 2021.

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas is likely to have the highest effective minimum wage in the country soon, setting up a grand experiment in whether a high minimum wage in a poor state can raise workers out...

By Suzanne Potter
Missouri News Service, Nov 8, 2018

(Springfield) -- Supporters of a higher minimum wage, clean elections and medical marijuana are looking at the next steps to implement the ballot initiatives, while warning politicians not to try to undermine them.

The minimum wage will now rise from $7.85 to $8.60 an hour starting Jan. 1, and will go up 85 cents a year until 2023, when it hits $12 an hour, with cost-of-living increases kicking in annually after that.

Lewis Prince, state coordinator for Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, says Proposition B...

By Ray Scherer
News-Press Now, Nov 8, 2018

Social service agencies and employers are among those already displaying a keen interest in how Missouri’s amended minimum wage law is implemented next year. ...

A Downtown business owner said placing more money in people’s pockets for spending in the economy can only reap the best of results.

“I think it’s going to be great in the long term for our community and our state,” said Dana Massin, owner of Manic Snail: Paper & Gifts, 618 Francis St.

Massin said she intends to hire staff in the...

By Erin DeJesus
Eater, Nov 7, 2018

Voters in Arkansas and Missouri resoundingly approved ballot measures that will increase minimum wage for low-paid workers, including those in the restaurant industry.

Missouri’s Proposition B, which passed with 62 percent of the vote, will gradually increase the state’s minimum wage from $7.85 per hour to $12 per hour by 2023. Arkansas’s Issue 5, which passed with 68 percent of the vote, will increase wages from $8.50 an hour to $11 an hour by 2021. ...

In a press release, Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a nonpartisan organization that advocated for both ballot measures, said the minimum wage boost would boost local economies. “Business owners in two red states came out strongly in support of raising the minimum wage,” she said. “That speaks volumes.”

By Taya White
Columbia Missourian, Nov 7, 2018

The response from several small businesses in Columbia to an increase in the state’s minimum wage was largely positive Wednesday. ...

“I’m strongly in favor of Prop B,” said Joe Chevalier, who owns Yellow Dog Bookshop on Ninth Street. “I already pay my employees above minimum wage.” ...

Out of 10 businesses contacted, only two said they were not in favor of the wage increase. ...

Downtown business owners and employees recognized the ripple effect of the wage increase on the Missouri economy.

“People making minimum wage, they’re...

By Rosie Belson
KBIA (NPR), Columbia, Nov 7, 2018

Proposition B on the Missouri ballot, which sought to raise the state's minimum wage, passed Tuesday by over 60 percent. ...

"We hope that this is enough to start destressing the lives of some of the lowest paid workers in the state," said Lew Prince, the state coordinator for the Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. ...

KBIA previously reported that 600 [now over 700] Missouri business owners and executives in publicly endorsing Missouri's Proposition B. Prince said that the wage increase had supporters from...

By Samuel King
KRCU (NPR), Southeast Missouri, Nov 7, 2018

A little more than a year after the Missouri General Assembly stymied Kansas City’s effort to raise the minimum wage, state voters said it’s time for an increase. ...

"I think they recognize that the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with our current society," said Pam Hausner, a campaign manager for Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. "Our buying power now is equivalent to what it was in 1960. So costs are going up but wages aren't. And that has to be remedied."

People who...

By  Wesley Brown
Talk Business & Politics, November 6, 2018

Arkansans strongly backed all three of the constitutional amendments that made this year’s ballot, which were measures requiring voters to show ID at the polls, raise the state minimum wage standards to $11 an hour and turning the Natural State’s low-key gaming operations into a high-stakes, tax revenue-generating gambling enterprise. ...

MINIMUM WAGE HIKE
Similarly, returns showed that Arkansans overwhelmingly supported Issue 5, which would increase the state minimum wage in Arkansas for most workers in the state from $8.50 per hour to $11 per hour...

By Samuel King
KCUR (NPR), Kansas City, Nov 6, 2018

A little more than a year after the Missouri General Assembly stymied Kansas City’s effort to raise the minimum wage, state voters said it’s time for an increase. Proposition B passed in Tuesday’s midterm election, meaning the minimum wage will gradually increase to $12 an hour by 2023. ...

"I think they recognize that the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with our current society," said Pam Hausner, a campaign manager for Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. "Our buying power now is equivalent to...

By Joe Rios
KTTS 94.7 FM Country, Nov 4, 2018

On Tuesday, voters in Missouri will decide whether to raise the state’s minimum wage with the Proposition B initiative. ...

Raise Up Missouri, who’s for a raise in the wage, says if you look at individual businesses and business leaders they will tell you they support a minimum wage and that there are over 600 small businesses across the state that endorse Proposition B. ...

Read more

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By Heather Long
Washington Post, November 4, 2018

Voters in Arkansas and Missouri will decide Tuesday whether to significantly raise the minimum wage in their state. The two states, both of which went heavily for President Trump in 2016, offer a test case of whether there is appetite in solidly red states for a minimum wage above $10.

Arkansas will vote on whether to gradually raise its current minimum wage of $8.50 an hour to $11 an hour by 2021. Missouri voters are deciding whether to steadily increase the state’s minimum wage of $7.85 an hour...

By Jessica Karins
Kirksville Daily Express,  Nov 2, 2018

Missouri has not raised its minimum wage since 2006, and state lawmakers have knocked down municipalities’ attempts to increase it on the local level. That could change this Nov. 6 when Proposition B goes up for a vote statewide. ...

Over 700 small business owners and executives have signed on to endorse Proposition B through an organization called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.

[Lew] Prince, an organizer with the group, said the economic benefit of the proposition is clear. While small employers will have to pay more, so will...

By Laura Murgatroyd, Sarah Hallam and Michelle Stoddart
Columbia Missourian, Nov 2, 2018. Also in St. Joseph's News Press, Warrensburg Daily Star, Houston Herald, Bonner County Daily Bee.

Proponents of raising the minimum wage say that businesses should be required to pay their workers enough to afford basics like housing and food. ...

A petition by Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum Wage has collected more than 500 [now over 675] signatures from business owners in Missouri in support of raising the minimum wage.

Dave Elman, owner of Fretboard Coffee, was one of those who signed...

By Jason Rosenbaum and Jo Mannies
St. Louis Public Radio, KWMU-1, Nov 1, 2018

After years of starts and stops, activists in favor of raising Missouri’s minimum wage may finally find success this year with a ballot proposition that increases the state’s wage floor from $7.85 an hour to $12 an hour by 2023. ...

The committee seeking to raise the minimum wage, known as Raise Up Missouri, is touting support from a slew of business owners. That includes Dorothy Jones, who owns a custom clothing business in St. Louis.

“Raising Missouri’s minimum wage to...