Raising the Minimum Wage for millions of Americans

      

Above is a map provided by the U,S, Department of Labor that shows what the
 minimum wage is in various states.

There has been a lot of debate recently over President Obama making an executive order that requires all new federally contracted companies to pay their employees a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour. He announced it in January 2014 at the annual State of the Union Address.

                Much of the controversy has come because there is now debate and discussion as to if the minimum wage needs to be raised nationally to help people meet their basic needs. Those in favor of the raise say that it would provide consumers with more money which would allow them to purchase more and increase the growth rate of the U.S. and the global economy.

                The Washington D.C. council has unanimously endorsed raising the districts minimum wage to $11.50 an hour. If this new minimum wage is approved in the final round of voting D.C. will have the highest minimum wage in the United States.

                Opponents of the minimum wage raise say that the wage increase could lead to large inflation and would hurt small business owners the most. They say that small business owners will have to lay off workers to compensate for the higher wages they require, and that this will push the unemployment rate up.

                The one aspect of the minimum wage increase that both its’ Democratic supporters and Republican opponents agree on is that they believe that the increase is popular with the majority of Americans. Democrats are even adding it to their party platform for the next upcoming elections.

                If you support or oppose the minimum wage raise contacting your local representative is the best thing you can do to have influence over if it goes into effect or not. You can write a letter, send an e-mail, visit in person, or call your local Congressional representative to show your support or opposition to the wage increase.   

               Below is a link that will tell you who your local representative is and give you more information on the debate over raising the minimum wage. 

Local Representative 

Raising the Minimum Wage 

CMU President wants Higher Education Funding Reform

This post is about an article that appeared in CM Life, the University newspaper for Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Mich. The article was titled CMU President George Ross calls on state to change performance based funding during Senate testimony.

This photo of CMU president George Ross was taken by Daytona
Niles a staff photographer for CM Life Newspaper.

Central Michigan University President George Ross spoke in front of the Michigan Senate Higher Education Committee on how the performance-based higher education funding should be ran. 

Among the main points on Ross’ speech, given before the committee at Michigan State University on Feb. Thursday 13, was that performance ratings shouldn’t be tied to 4 year graduation rates. He pointed out that there are other factors, such as employment that need to be taken into consideration when examining graduation rates and the length of time it takes to graduate.

Another key point that the CMU president emphasized was that per-student funding needs to be more equal among the various universities in Michigan. Ross pointed out the funding disparities between various schools, and noted that CMU receives less funding than many other schools.

Ross noted that CMU receives less that $3,600 per student per year while Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State receive over $5,600 and Wayne State receives almost $9,500 a year.

The CMU president emphasized 5 additional points that included recognizing more non-STEM programs as critical skills degrees, rewarding universities that keep their funding under control and using different factors to determine the funding schools receive.

The Presidents of various other universities such as Michigan State and the University of Michigan were also present at the meeting and had a chance to speak in front of the committee.

Even though President Ross spent most of his speech pressing for concessions and benefits from the government he closed his speech by applauding Michigan Governor Rick Snyder for increasing funding for education by 6 percent.

OBU Host 14th Annual Fashion Show

            

OBU Fashion show models walking into their final pose of the Fashion show.

              The guys stole the show at the 2014 Organization of Black Unity (OBU) Fashion show with a sexy lap dance scene. The audience cheered and screamed as the male models slow grind and danced at the 14^th annual fashion show.

            This year’s theme for the show that took place Saturday Feb. 8, 2013 was “Show me your Zodiac Sign”. In each of the 6 different scenes 2-3 of the 12 Zodiac signs were paired together.

            The show started just shy of 30 minutes late, but when it did it began with a roar of music and flashing lights.

            Over 42 student models participated in the fashion show that took place in Plachta auditorium on Central Michigan University’s campus, making this OBU largest event of the year. This year over 350 students turned out for their annual show.

            “I’m happy the show is over,” said model Perry Watkins. “A lot of it was fun, but we started practicing so long ago, and I tried to stay in really good shape for the show”.

            The student models had to audition in October of 2013 to participate in the show that took place in February of 2014.

            The fashion show is different than traditional shows in that instead of the models just walking, they dance at certain parts and interact with each other a lot.

            “We try to make the show as creative as we can,” said Angelique Miller, one of the shows’ many coordinators. “This show was definitely one of the better shows we have hosted in the past few years.”

            During the middle of the show there was a brief intermission from the models walking where J’Adore, a dance group from Western Michigan University, performed a 5 minute dance routine.  They danced to a melody of songs by Beyonce, Rihanna and other popular female music artists.

            In between the various scenes the show’s host, two members of OBU, promoted their fashion show after party, and held small dance contest where members of the audience could win raffle tickets. The winner of the raffle had a chance to win new shows, party tickets and gift cards to different local stores including the CMU bookstore.  

            The clothes the models wore during the show were donated by the T.J. Maxx and J.C. Penny department stores in Mount Pleasant, MI.

            The two hour show concluded with all the models and the OBU organizers of the fashion show all walking out and posing in the last scene before they thanked all of their volunteers and their hair stylist.

Members of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the fraternity Martin Luther King Jr. was a member of, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration.

Members of the Central Michigan University Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) with CMU President George Ross at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration.