Around New England

Cape Selectman Was Involved in Vermont Secession Attempt

Matthew McDonald

The current chairman of the Yarmouth Board of Selectmen on Cape Cod was also a selectman in the town of Killington, Vermont when the town tried to secede from that state and join New Hampshire about a dozen years ago.

In 1997, a change in state law by the Vermont legislature shifted the burden of paying for public schools in the state partly onto the backs of property owners in Killington, a town in central Vermont that generates huge tax revenue to the state because of ski resorts there.

Around New England

Same Minimum Wage for Waitresses As Everybody Else? Two Lawmakers Say It’s Only Fair, Critics Say It’s Sayonara-Waitresses

Matthew McDonald

Two Massachusetts state legislators have filed a bill that would require restaurant owners to pay waiters and waitresses the same minimum wage other hourly employees in the state get.

Waiters and waitresses typically make most of their money in tips from customers, and state law acknowledges that by setting a much lower minimum wage for them — $4.35 an hour in 2019, as opposed to $12 an hour for other hourly employees.

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