I was honored to be in New York City yesterday supporting Wendy's workers take to the streets for a living wage. They joined hundreds of workers in other fast-food joints across New York City for the largest strike the fast-food industry had ever seen.

The Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) program in New York City prepares women for careers in construction and related industries through an innovative training and placement program that guides low-income women toward a meaningful career and solid financial footing.

The old building that housed the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center in lower Manhattan was crowded by skyscrapers. The interior was dark and cramped and devoid of natural light.

“The space we were in wasn’t meeting the needs of the children, each of whom has multiple chronic illnesses,” says Pat Tursi, CEO of the center. The Manhattan facility was designed based on more of a custodial care model—and when the center had to find a new space, it found a new opportunity.

New York's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. For food service workers who rely on tips, that amount is only $5.00. In some states, tipped workers make as little as $2.13 an hour. Check out this new video from New York City food service workers and members of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY) who're raising awareness that the minimum wage needs to be raised.

Here's a look at some of the key battles in the states from the past week.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is seeking to cut costs by requesting bids for school bus operations that, for the first time in 30 years, do not contain a requirement that proven, experienced and trained drivers and bus monitors retain their jobs. Over the years, drivers in New York have developed a culture around their profession that rewards hard work and increases safety for children. Now that culture is in danger, reports Al Baker of the New York Times.

Tomorrow, western New Yorkers will take a bus from Buffalo to Albany to call on the state's leaders to raise the minimum wage. 

At $7.25 per hour, New York's minimum wage remains decades out of date.
 A full-time minimum wage worker earns just $15,080 per year in New York—far less than what is needed to afford the state's high cost of living. 

Yesterday, we told you House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) broke his promise to hold a vote on a desperately needed relief package for the victims and communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy more than two months after the storm. After a massive and angry outcry—especially from members of his own party who called his vote squelching a “cruel stab in the back”—Boehner announced he would bring a hurricane aid bill to the floor Friday.

But that patchwork package falls far short of the help Sandy’s victims need.

Current and former employees of Flat Rate Movers and Mystique clothing stores received good news yesterday. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced these 400 workers will receive restitution funds for unpaid overtime and minimum wage violations. The 306 current and former employees of Flat Rate Movers, a multistate moving and storage company with headquarters in New York City, are being paid $1.13 million. Approximately 100 employees of Mystique in New York City have also begun receiving restitution as part of a $950,000 settlement.

International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) General President Harold Schaitberger issued this statement on the shooting in Webster, N.Y., that killed two firefighters: