14 states raising minimum wage in 2016, including New York | New York’s PIX11 / WPIX-TV

Lawmakers in 13 states and cities — including California, New York and Washington, D.C. — have proposed legislation and ballot measures calling for a $15 minimum that will get consideration in 2016.

In most places, the increase to $15 is being phased in over a few years to give businesses a little time to adjust.

That’s because a $15 minimum often reflects a 50%-plus hike from the local minimum in place today. And it represents a 107% increase over the $7.25 federal minimum wage.

Source: 14 states raising minimum wage in 2016, including New York | New York’s PIX11 / WPIX-TV

From the Michigan Radio reporter’s notebook: Some state officials still in denial or misinformed over Flint River decision

 

 

 

 

By LINDSEY SMITH • DEC 17, 2015

I don’t blame the governor’s press secretary for not understanding exactly who made the decision to have Flint pump its drinking water from the Flint River…

Source: Reporter’s notebook: Some state officials still in denial or misinformed over Flint River decision | Michigan Radio

EPA wants toxic Nevada mine on Superfund list… could the City of Flint with it poisoned water be next?

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Fifteen years after U.S. regulators started assessing damage and health risks at an abandoned Nevada copper mine, the Environmental Protection Agency is moving to designate the contaminated land a Superfund…

Read the rest of the story here: APNewsBreak: EPA wants toxic Nevada mine on Superfund list

Christmas, Easter, Saints Days and other Pilgrim ‘Faith Traditions’ at Plimoth Plantation

 

Source: Faith of the Pilgrims | Plimoth Plantation

William Brewster (my 11th great-grandfather) served as the Ruling Elder of the Pilgrim church from its days in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England to Leiden, Holland and finally Plymouth Colony.

Ruling Elders were responsible for the government of the congregation, but as they were laymen and not ordained ministers, they could not deliver the sacraments. Elders were often referred to as the “eyes of the church,” governing and admonishing the congregation. In the absence of Pastor Robinson, who remained in Holland,The Separatists’ faith experience was part of the larger English Reformation of the 16th century.

This movement sought to “purify” the Church of England of its corrupt human doctrine and practices; the people in the movement were known as “Puritans.” Separatists were those Puritans who no longer accepted the Church of England as a true church, refused to work within the structure to affect changes, and “separated” themselves to form a true church based solely on Biblical precedent.

Puritans rejected Christmas, Easter and the various Saint’s Days because they had no scriptural justification, and in their worship services, they rejected hymns, the recitations of the Lord’s Prayer and creeds for the same reason.

The Separatists believed that the worship of God must progress from the individual directly to God, and that “set” forms, like the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer, interfered with that progression by directing one’s thoughts down to the book and inward to one’s self. The only exceptions were the Psalms and the Lord’s Supper, both of which had scriptural basis, and possibly the covenant by which individuals joined the congregation.

As Pastor Robinson expressed it, even two or three “gathered in the name of Christ by a covenant [and] made to walk in all the ways of God known unto them is a church.”

To read the entire article, follow this link – https://www.plimoth.org/what-see-do/17th-century-english-village/faith-pilgrims