Pedestrian injured in crash on McGregor BoulevardFamily of Eagles: FGCU volleyball star graduates with Master’s Degree
FORT MYERS Pedestrian injured in crash on McGregor Boulevard The Fort Myers Police Department is investigating a crash that left at least one person injured Saturday night.
Family of Eagles: FGCU volleyball star graduates with Master’s Degree Saturday marked a special day for Florida Gulf Coast University as more than 1,800 students graduated. For one student-athlete, graduating from FGCU runs in the family.
lehigh acres LCSO: Man shot by car owner protecting property The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shooting in Lehigh Acres early Saturday morning.
NORTH FORT MYERS Lee County residents wait hours for D-SNAP assistance The supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) is at the Lee Civic Center all weekend, ready to help southwest Florida.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA First eaglet hatches in famous SWFL eagle nest Welcome E24! The third eaglet from the nest of M15 and F23 has hatched according to the Southwest Florida eagle camera.
Rock for Equality: SWFL non-profit hosts benefit concert for Palestine A Southwest Florida non-profit hosted a benefit concert on Friday night to help with humanitarian aid in Palestine.
Warm, breezy Saturday with a few showers possible The Weather Authority is forecasting a breezy, warm weekend in store across Southwest Florida, with the chance of a few showers, particularly on Saturday.
CAPE CORAL Active investigation underway in South Cape Coral Cape Coral police are investigating at a home on Southwest 49th Terrace in South Cape Coral early Saturday morning.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
FORT MYERS Pedestrian injured in crash on McGregor Boulevard The Fort Myers Police Department is investigating a crash that left at least one person injured Saturday night.
Family of Eagles: FGCU volleyball star graduates with Master’s Degree Saturday marked a special day for Florida Gulf Coast University as more than 1,800 students graduated. For one student-athlete, graduating from FGCU runs in the family.
lehigh acres LCSO: Man shot by car owner protecting property The Lee County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shooting in Lehigh Acres early Saturday morning.
NORTH FORT MYERS Lee County residents wait hours for D-SNAP assistance The supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) is at the Lee Civic Center all weekend, ready to help southwest Florida.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA First eaglet hatches in famous SWFL eagle nest Welcome E24! The third eaglet from the nest of M15 and F23 has hatched according to the Southwest Florida eagle camera.
Rock for Equality: SWFL non-profit hosts benefit concert for Palestine A Southwest Florida non-profit hosted a benefit concert on Friday night to help with humanitarian aid in Palestine.
Warm, breezy Saturday with a few showers possible The Weather Authority is forecasting a breezy, warm weekend in store across Southwest Florida, with the chance of a few showers, particularly on Saturday.
CAPE CORAL Active investigation underway in South Cape Coral Cape Coral police are investigating at a home on Southwest 49th Terrace in South Cape Coral early Saturday morning.
16 transported after 2 airboats crash in Collier County According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, two airboats crashed south of U.S. 41 east between mile markers 74 and 75, leaving well over a dozen people injured.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA New bill filed: Auto shop and law enforcement must work together to solve hit-and-run crashes There could be new detectives on the block, located in your nearest auto shop. A new state bill aims at trying to stop hit-and-run drivers from getting away.
CAPE CORAL New leash on life; Cape Coral shelter dog beats cancer with drug being tested for humans A drug now being studied in human trials to kill cancerous tumors, is already approved and helping animals.
CAPE CORAL City of Cape Coral planning a new interchange with I-75 The city of Cape Coral is in the early stages of planning a new interchange with I-75, an idea that has been discussed for more than a decade.
Tracking invasive species after hurricanes Hurricanes Helene and Milton didn’t just bring wind and rain, they brought new threats to southwest Florida’s ecosystem.
PUNTA GORDA Woman in Punta Gorda shooting charged with 2nd degree murder A woman in a homicide investigation on Nasturtium Drive in Punta Gorda has been charged with 2nd-degree murder.
Lee County mother continuing fight to get children a bus stop The school district already told her she lives too close to the school to qualify for a bus route but she has not given up.
Credit: CBS News. Workers in 20 states will get a pay hike on January 1 when the minimum wage increases, thanks to cost-of-living adjustments and other scheduled increases. Later in the year, another four states and Washington, D.C. will raise their baseline pay, which means that low-wage workers in almost half the nation could see higher pay next year. The pay hikes come as the federal minimum wage, which hasn’t seen an increase for more than 11 years, remains mired at $7.25 an hour — the longest span the baseline wage has gone without an increase since it began in 1938. At the same time, workers across the nation are struggling amid an economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to spread unabated. A higher minimum wage could help those workers regain their financial footing, especially so-called essential workers such as grocery clerks and home health aides, whose jobs have helped keep the economy humming during the crisis yet whose earnings are among the lowest. Critics claim higher minimum wages can hurt the labor market by depressing job creation — yet recent economic research hasn’t found support for that claim. Instead, advocates say a higher minimum wage helps the economy by putting more money in the pockets of workers who tend to spend it on local businesses and and services. The wage hikes in 2021 “are an indication that people understand how much the $7.25 federal minimum wage keeps people in poverty,” said Holly Sklar, the CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a network of business owners and organizations that advocates for a higher minimum wage. Sklar added, “Consumer spending drives our economy, and boosting the minimum wage is a powerful way to boost the economy.” $600 is also 83 hours working min wage full-time. Try surviving on that. The $7.25 min wage hasn’t grown since 2009. Cost of living since then is up 21%. In 1980, the minimum wage equaled $10.37 in today’s dollars. It’s not hard to stimulate the economy. Pay people more. — Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) December 24, 2020 Some businesses say higher wages pay off long-term by decreasing turnover and creating higher satisfaction on the job. “The direct costs of turnover are obvious — recruitment, interviewing, training,” Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, the CEO of ECOS, which makes ecological cleaning products, told CBS MoneyWatch. “The indirect costs are less obvious, but they’re significant, and I think highly underestimated.” After her company boosted its starting wage to $17 an hour in 2014, its voluntary turnover decreased 50% from 3% to 1.5%, she noted. “We have employees who have been with our company 20, even 30 years,” Vlahakis-Hanks added. Lost buying power Since the last federal minimum wage hike — to $7.25 an hour, starting July 24, 2009 — the cost of living has increased more than 20%, while the price of essentials such as housing and health care have increased even faster. That’s created financial pain for many low-paid workers, who increasingly are paying a bigger share of their earnings toward housing and other expenses. About half of all renters are “cost burdened,” meaning they pay more than 30% of their income toward housing, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. After paying their rent, people who earn less than $15,000 a year have about $410 left each month for food, transportation, health care and other essentials, the study noted. The minimum wage “came into being to help us recover from the Great Depression,” Sklar noted. “It has a dual purpose: mitigating poverty for workers and boosting consumer spending.” Which states are raising the minimum wage in 2021? Michigan is expected to keep its minimum wage at $9.65 on January 1, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a trade group. That’s because of a law that prohibits wage increases if the state’s annual unemployment rate for the preceding calendar year is higher than 8.5%. Through October, the jobless rate in the state has averaged 10.2%, which means it’s unlikely to drop below 8.5% before the end of the year, the trade group noted. Michigan otherwise would have increased its minimum wage to $9.87. Below are the names and new pay rates of states boosting their minimum wage in 2021: Alaska, to $10.34 an hour on January 1 Arizona, to $12.15 an hour on January 1 Arkansas, to $11 an hour on January 1 California, to $14 on January 1 Colorado, to $12.32 on January 1 Connecticut, to $13 on August 1 Florida, to $8.65 on January 1 Illinois, to $11 on January 1 Maine, to $12.15 Maryland, to $11.75 on January 1 Massachusetts, to $13.50 on January 1 Minnesota, to $10.08 for employers with an annual gross revenue of at least $500,000 and $8.21 for employers with less than $500,000, on January 1 Missouri, to $10.30 on January 1 Montana, to $8.75 on January 1 Nevada, to either $8.75 or $9.75 on July 1, with the higher rate effective for employers who don’t provide health insurance to workers New Jersey, to $12 on January 1 New Mexico, to $10.50 on January 1 New York State, to $12.50 on December 31, 2020, while Long Island and Westchester will increase to $14 on December 31, 2020 Ohio, to $8.80 on January 1 Oregon, to $12 on July 1, although it will increase to $13.25 for the Portland region and to $11.50 in non-urban counties South Dakota, to $9.45 on January 1 Vermont, to $11.75 on January 1 Virginia, to $9.50 on May 1 Washington state, to $13.69 on January 1 Washington, D.C. will increase its $15 per-hour minimum wage in July to adjust for the change in the cost of living for the previous 12 months