Free Republic

(The Center Square)—The Los Angeles City Council’s delay on a $30-an-hour minimum wage has some groups shaking their heads and others clapping their hands. The council last week voted to postpone implementation of the new minimum wage for hotel and airport workers. The vote was 9-6 and would move the timeline from 2028 to 2030. The vote came amid pressure from businesses threatening efforts to repeal the city’s gross receipts tax, which is a major source of revenue for Los Angeles. Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson has been quoted in various news reports as calling this a placeholder to keep talks...

Democrats successfully defended a conservative seat in rural Louisiana on Saturday night, as Chasity Martinez defeated Republican Brad Daigle by a dominant 62-38 margin—a massive 37-point overperformance compared to the 2024 presidential result. Republicans had hoped to score their first legislative pickup of any kind during Donald Trump’s second term, and they had good reason to think they might succeed in the 60th House District. Voters in the district, which includes part of Assumption and Iberville parishes (Louisiana’s equivalent of counties), had long backed state and local Democrats but had moved decidedly toward Republicans on the federal level in recent...