ACTIONN/Reno Jazz

Today we met with representatives from ACTIONN, Reverend Neal Anderson (Unitarian Univeralist Church) and Betty Bishop (Little Flower Catholic Church), to discuss their push to raise Nevada’s minium wage. The first battle on behalf of raising the minimum wage for 100,000 of Nevadans was waged and won in the Carson City District courtroom of Judge James E. Wilson on Wednesday afternoon. When Judge Wilson completely rejected a legal challenge to derail a ballot measure designed to (eventually) raise the minimum wage across the state in increments starting at $9.00 an hour and eventually landing on $13.00 per hour it was a clear victory for working families across the State. It was also a major defeat for a coalition of special interests who appear to be willing to force hard working men and women to struggle for survival by working for a minimum wage that doesn’t support even a minimum standard of living. If passed by the voters in November, the ballot measure to raise Nevada’s minimum wage would immediately push the minimum wage up to $9.00 an hour (from its current level of $7.25 or $8.25) and add an additional $0.75 per year to reach $13.00 by 2020. In the second part of today’s episode, we talk with Chuck Reider, CEO/Music Director of Reno Jazz Orchestra. We discussed: the mission and history of the RJO; Jazz in the schools event on 2/6 at UNR’s Nightingale Hall 10AM-6PM, which is free and open to the public; 2/6 evening performance featuring trombonist Bill Watrous, conductor/arranger Gary Urwin and the RJO; 2/27 “Bring Me the Funk of James Brown” CD release party at the Nugget; and the Spring Mentor program – preparing select Washoe County schools to perform at the Reno Jazz Festival