Minimum Wage

The Midwest Newsroom analyzed the funders behind high-profile proposed ballot measures and the amount they’re spending. Abortion and sports betting campaigns are the leading targets for out-of-state money.

Missouri Chamber of Commerce interim President Kara Corches explained on Politically Speaking why her group is opposing the measure known as Proposition A.

The secretary of state’s office announced Tuesday that petitions for abortion rights, raising the minimum wage and legalizing sports betting had enough signatures to go on the ballot.

Records from Missouri election authorities show that the campaigns to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution and increase the minimum wage have both turned in more than enough valid signatures.

Republican-led statehouses, like Missouri’s, increasingly limit what rules municipalities can adopt — typically shutting down more progressive policies on issues like minimum wage and housing.

A group turned in more than 200,000 signatures backing the effort to eventually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages held a Jefferson City rally as it submitted 210,000 signatures to the Secretary of State.

More than $10 million — much of it from outside the state — has been raised to push proposals for abortion rights, sports wagering and to raise the minimum wage in Missouri.

As more daycare operators leave the field for better-paying jobs, families have fewer child care options, says the union that represents 15,000 providers in Illinois.

The U.S. Department of Labor is currently holding more than $5 million in wages owed to more than 7,000 Illinois workers, and the department has launched a new website in an effort to return it.