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...

Widening demonstrations sparked by Iran’s ailing economy spread Thursday into the Islamic Republic’s rural provinces, with at least seven people being killed in the first fatalities reported among security forces and protesters, authorities said. The deaths may mark the start of a heavier-handed response by Iran’s theocracy over the demonstrations, which have slowed in the capital, Tehran, but expanded elsewhere. The fatalities, two on Wednesday and five on Thursday, occurred in four cities, largely home to Iran’s Lur ethnic group. The protests have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody...