Tiffin to abide by county minimum wage

Tiffin to abide by county minimum wage

IOWA CITY, (AP) — City officials say the city of Tiffin will abide by the Johnson County minimum wage ordinance.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the issue was aired during a Nov. 10 public hearing but has not returned to meeting agendas since.

In September the county Board of Supervisors approved a proposal that raises the county’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017 in three increments of 95 cents. Cities inside the county have the option of passing an ordinance exempting them from the county rule.

Councils in Oxford, Shueyville, Solon and Swisher have voted to keep their minimum wage at $7.25.

Council member Al Havens says he’s heard support for the increase and says he and his colleagues “kind of have to listen to the community as well as our own voices.”

Auto makers mostly enjoy strong sales

DETROIT (AP) — Thanks partly to Black Friday promotions, most automakers are reporting booming sales last month.

Car buying site Edmunds.com predicts that sales of new cars and trucks will hit 1.33 million, eclipsing the previous November record set in 2001.

General Motors’ sales rose 1.5 percent over last November, while Toyota and Fiat Chrysler’s each saw 3 percent sales gains. Hyundai’s sales jumped 12 percent, while Nissan’s were up 4 percent. Ford’s sales were flat.

Honda’s sales fell 5 percent, hurt by lower CR-V sales. But the biggest sales declines were at Volkswagen. VW’s U.S. sales plummeted almost 25 percent, hurt by the company’s admission that its diesel vehicles cheated on emissions tests.

Coke-funded anti-obesity group finished

NEW YORK (AP) — A nonprofit funded by the Coca-Cola Co. to combat obesity is disbanding following revelations about the beverage maker’s involvement with the group.

The Global Energy Balance Network said on its website Monday night that it is “discontinuing operations due to resource limitations.” The decision was effective immediately.

The group had previously said that it received an “unrestricted gift” from Coke and that the Atlanta-based soft drink giant had “no input” into its activities.But last week, The Associated Press reported on emails showing that Coke was closely involved with its direction.

Zuckerberg is a dad, and he’s giving away most of his money

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife announced the birth of their daughter Max as well as plans to donate most of their wealth, or roughly $45 billion, to a new organization that will tackle a broad range of the world’s ills.

Zuckerberg said he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, will commit 99 percent of their Facebook stock to such causes as fighting disease, improving education, harnessing clean energy, reducing poverty and promoting equal rights.

They are forming a new organization, called the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, to pursue those goals.

Monsanto pledges to be carbon neutral

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Monsanto Co. plans to make its operations carbon neutral by 2021, in part by working with farmers who use its products to help them reduce carbon emissions, the company’s CEO told The Associated Press.

To be carbon neutral, Monsanto must reduce its net emission of climate-changing carbon to zero. Monsanto’s announcement comes as world leaders gather in Paris for two weeks of negotiations to finalize a sweeping global agreement to reduce carbon emissions.