By Kate Rogers
CNBC, Nov 4, 2016

Workers in four states may be getting a raise post-Election Day, with initiatives to raise the minimum wage heading to a vote. Arizona, Colorado and Maine all have ballot measures to hike local wages to $12 an hour, while Washington State voters will consider [$13.50] an hour. All increases are to be phased in gradually by the year 2020. ...

In Boulder, Colorado, Judy Amabile, owner of Product Architects, Inc., said she's supporting the ballot initiative to hike wages to $12 an hour by 2020 from the state's current...

Robb Mandelbaum
Forbes, Nov 4, 2016

Richard Warner expects good things to happen at his two Bingo Burger restaurants if, as polls suggest, Coloradans vote next week to increase the state’s minimum wage. The measure would give the lowest-paid workers a raise from $8.31 on December 31 to $9.30 on January 1, and then an annual 90-cent bump until the minimum reaches $12 in 2020. Wagner already starts his employees in the $9.50 to $10 range — anything less tends to attract novice workers and “you can’t run a restaurant correctly if you have too many...

By Patricia Cohen
New York Times, Nov 4, 2016

The government, delivering the last major snapshot of the economy before Election Day, reported on Friday that employers added 161,000 workers in October, a performance that suggested a healthy outlook for the months ahead. The official unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent, from 5 percent. And average hourly earnings rose 2.8 percent year over year, a level not reached since 2008. ...

“It has been tough to hire good people,” ... said Scott Nash, the founder and chief executive of Mom’s Organic Market, which operates 17...

By Kalie Greenberg 
KKCO NBC11 News, Nov 4, 2016

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO)-- More than 300 Colorado businesses have decided to show public support for Amendment 70, which would increase the minimum wage.

"I believe your employees are the ones that get you to the dance. You've got to take care of them," said Bruce Benge, owner of Benge’s Shoes. "You’ve got to supply them with a decent wage and do as much for them as you can."

If passed, Amendment 70 would raise the minimum wage in intervals from $8.31 to $12 dollars an hour by...

Op-Ed By Edwin Zoe, Owner, Zoe Ma Ma Restaurants

Raising the minimum wage will reward work, encourage self-reliance, and strengthen the free market by expecting businesses to compete fairly and not count on taxpayers to subsidize them. ... It's good business and good government. ...

Op-Ed By Richard Warner
Pueblo Chieftain, Nov 1, 2016

I started my business to give people something different. We put a lot of care into creating a unique burger made with local ingredients that, I’m happy to say, customers love. Our employees are central to that experience.

Treating people with respect and paying them starting wages they can live on is not just the right thing to do — it’s good for my business and good for Colorado. That’s why I support Amendment 70 to gradually raise our state’s minimum wage to $12 by 2020...

By Katie Pelton
KKTV News 11, Nov 1, 2016

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) Should we raise the minimum wage across the state - that's one of the issues on your November ballot. We are talking with two business owners in Colorado Springs who are split on the issue.

The owner of the Old Town Bike Shop wants to see minimum wage spin forward.

"I strongly believe that it would help the economy overall," said owner John Crandall.

Under Amendment 70, the minimum wage would jump about a dollar, from $8.31 an hour to $9.30 an hour...

Op-Ed By Charlie Crystle, CEO, Lancaster Food Company
Our tagline is “Eat Better. For Good.” ... Among voters, there is great support for raising the minimum wage across the political spectrum. Pennsylvania and the federal government need to get with the times. ...

Op-Ed By Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, CEO, Earth Friendly Products
Our investment in employees shows in our bottom line. Our voluntary turnover rate is nearly zero, our productivity continues to increase, and our profits continue to climb. ...

By Mary Shinn
Durango Herald, Oct 29, 2016

An increase in the minimum wage could put financial pressure on many small businesses, but it may also give low-wage workers more buying power and put money back into the local economy. Voters are being asked to phase in an increase to the minimum wage from $8.31 to $12 an hour by 2020. The minimum wage for tipped workers would rise from $5.29 to $8.98 during those years. ...

Ore House co-owner Ryan Lowe sees a need for reform in the restaurant sector to help alleviate the...

By Robb Mandelbaum
Forbes, Oct 28, 2016

For ten years, Jeff Rogoff and Jenni Hayes have carefully tended to their small salads-and-pizza restaurant, Sazza, in the south Denver suburbs. Almost immediately, they faced the recession, but managed to stay in business serving local and sustainable ingredients — eventually they opened a small urban farm near the restaurant. Since 2011, Sazza has prospered, enough so that next spring Rogoff and Hayes plan to open a second restaurant on the north side of Denver, in a redeveloped airplane hangar at the edge of the city’s former Stapleton Airport...

By Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
Chicago Tribune, Oct 26, 2016

Suburban Cook County has joined Chicago in adopting a $13 hourly minimum wage... The Cook County Board voted Wednesday to gradually raise the minimum wage to $13 by July 2020, following the legislation's approval Tuesday by the board's Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. The move, which comes more than a year after Chicago implemented the first phase of a minimum wage increase, adds Cook County to the growing list of government bodies seeking to help lift people out of poverty by raising the wages of the lowest-paid...

By Erin O'Toole
KUNC (NPR) Colorado, Oct 26, 2016

Polar Bottle is a manufacturing company based out of Boulder, Colorado, focused on insulated, reusable water bottles made with sports-enthusiasts in mind. It's an unlikely proving ground for Colorado's minimum wage debate. But in 2011, the company decided to do what state voters are now voting on. The company raised the starting minimum wage for their employees to $12 an hour. Now, they say they have learned a few lessons.

To get the politics out of the way, one of the owners of Polar Bottle, Judy Amabile, is totally...

Politico Morning Shift, Oct 25, 2016

...
JOHN ELWAY HIT BY WAGE DEFENSE: A group backing Colorado’s ballot initiative to increase the hourly minimum to $12 by 2020 is tangling with onetime Broncos quarterback John Elway. In a television ad released Sunday, the Duke of Denver said “a harmful and unfair minimum wage increase” was being pushed by out-of-state interests. “I love this state,” he said, “and I’m worried about the games being played with our Constitution.” Colorado Families for a Fair Wage returned fire with a statement Monday from Judy Amabile, owner of Polar Bottle, a Boulder-based company...

By Curtis Wackerle
Aspen Daily News, October 25, 2016

The Aspen Skiing Co. has come out in support of a proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would raise the minimum wage in Colorado to $12 an hour by 2020. ...

A statement from the campaign to pass the amendment touted SkiCo’s endorsement, noting that it is one of 250 businesses that have publicly endorsed the plan. Matthew Hamilton, the company’s sustainability director, said in the release that increasing the minimum wage will help combat income inequality “while increasing our ability to recruit and retain...