Free Republic

Unless lawmakers can work a small miracle, a referendum question on raising the minimum wage will be on ballots in November. Beacon Hill has limited time to get an acceptable compromise solution through the normal legislative process and avoid an expensive and contentious campaign on the issue. And the proponents of the higher minimum have the prerogative to reject any half measure they believe falls short of their goals. The big player in this initiative is called Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition that includes unions, community activists and clergy. Their petition would gradually raise the state’s minimum wage from the...

Most of the Florida news this week (aside from Florida Man, of course) has dealt with the state raising the minimum age for purchasing most long rifles to 21 and the immediate NRA lawsuit which followed. But there’s another bill which has passed the legislature and been sent to the Governor’s desk, and it also deals with questions of minimum age. This one covers marriage. If signed into law, this legislation will impose significant restrictions on marriage for anyone under the age of eighteen. (Boston Globe) A woman who was 11 when she was forced to marry her rapist has...

Children of any age can hunt in Wisconsin, after Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill that eliminates the state’s minimum age. Walker quietly signed the Republican bill Saturday, exactly a week before the state’s nine-day gun deer hunting was set to open. The law took effect Monday. Kids will have to wait five days before they can start shooting deer, but they can participate in several seasons already underway, including bow deer, pheasant, ruffed grouse, rabbit and squirrel. A Wisconsin resident must be at least 12 years old to purchase a hunting license or hunt with a gun. However, until...

Somalia, with a history of repressing journalism, has set the minimum age at 40 for anyone intending to practice as a journalist in the country. … In total, 22 journalists have lost their lives in Somalia this year. Somalia’s fledgling government has come under criticism for increasingly autocratic rule since its historic recognition by the US and International Monetary Fund last year. …

Young New Yorkers would not be able to buy cigarettes until they were 21, up from the current 18, under a proposal advanced Monday by Dr. Thomas A. Farley, the city’s health commissioner, and Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker. The proposal, which would give New York the highest smoking age in the country among major cities, is the latest effort in a long campaign to limit smoking that began soon after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took office, with bans on smoking in restaurants and bars, and expanding more recently to bans at parks, beaches, plazas and other public...