[HOSTED.AP.ORG] Lawmakers in the nation's capital approved a $15-an-hour minimum wage on Tuesday, joining numerous other cities and the states of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, and New York in mandating pay raises for retail, restaurant and service-industry workers.The D.C. Council unanimously approved the wage increase, and Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser has pledged to sign it when it reaches her desk, likely sometime this summer.
The District of Columbia currently has a $10.50 minimum wage that will rise to $11.50 in July under legislation signed in 2014 by Bowser's predecessor, Vincent Gray.