"The blast radius here is huge, with national implications," said one observer. "The New York Democratic Party's ineptitude is fast becoming a national crisis."
Days after dozens of law professors joined several rights advocacy groups in warning New York Gov. Kathy Hochul that nominating Judge Hector LaSalle to the state's top judicial seat would "take our state's law in the wrong direction," the Democratic governor announced that she'd chosen the conservative judge as the next chief judge of the state Court of Appeals.
The nomination was described as "mystifying" and "horrible news" by legal experts including public defender Eliza Orlins, who pointed to LaSalle's record on abortion and labor rights as reasons that he was "potentially the worst of the seven nominees" the governor chose between.
"The monumental impact of the Fight for $15 is clearly visible in this year's record wage increases," said one worker advocate. "While it is encouraging to see boosts... we need federal policy."
After a decade since the launch of the Fight for $15 movement in New York City, a record number of U.S. states and communities are set to raise the minimum wage in the new year.
From New Year's Eve to New Year's Day, the minimum wage will increase in 23 states and 41 cities and counties, according to a report released Thursday by the National Employment Law Project (NELP). In 40 of those 64 jurisdictions, it will hit or exceed $15 an hour for at least some workers.
An Alaska...
Unfortunately, Gregg Phillips’ claims that he was twice teleported from one place to another aren’t the biggest problems for this top government official with a long history of shady deals, charit...