[guest post by JVW]

A New York Police Department officer is reportedly in a coma after being shot earlier today in Queens. Brian Moore, 25, was on duty as a plainclothes officer in an unmarked car at 212th Street and 104th Avenue in Queens when he and his partner noticed Demetrius Blackwell, 35, adjusting an object in his waistband. According to reports, the officers were aware of Blackwell’s extensive criminal record and pulled up alongside of him for questioning. Blackwell immediately drew a gun and fired at least three shots, hitting Moore who was in the driver’s seat. Blackwell fled the scene but was arrested in the neighborhood 90 minutes later.

Officer Moore is the fifth member of the NYPD to be shot in the past five months. Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were ambushed and shot dead in Brooklyn by a Baltimore man this past December, and Officers Andrew Dossi and Aliro Pellerano were wounded while responding to a January grocery store robbery in the Bronx.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has had a frosty relationship with rank-and-file NYPD members, visited Moore and his family in the hospital earlier tonight. Unlike the situation with Liu and Ramos, officers reportedly did not turn their backs to the mayor during his visit. The mayor’s office later sent out the following Tweet:

Please keep the injured police officer, his family, and the entire New York City Police Department in your thoughts tonight.

— NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) May 3, 2015

Here’s praying that Officer Moore makes a full recovery and that the violence directed at police officers stops.

[Update 5/4/15] – Officer Moore has died. The injuries were apparently quite severe, requiring the removal of half of his brain, meaning that he would never have regained full consciousness. My he rest in peace in the hall of heroes.

– JVW

Shocker:

It may be one of the first casualties of Seattle’s new minimum wage law. The owner of Z Pizza says she’s being forced to close her doors, because she can’t afford the higher labor costs.

Devin Jeran was happy to get a raise, when Seattle’s minimum wage went up to $11 an hour at the beginning of the month.

“I definitely recognize that having more money is important,” he says, “especially in a city as expensive as this one.”

Sorry, Devin.

Unfortunately, he’ll only enjoy that bigger paycheck for a few more months. In August, his boss is shutting down Z Pizza and putting him and his 11 co-workers out of work.

“Fortunately she keeps us in the loop, she didn’t just tell us last minute.”

Ritu Shah Burnham doesn’t want to go out of business, but says she can’t afford the city’s mandated wage hikes.

“I’ve let one person go since April 1, I’ve cut hours since April 1, I’ve taken them myself because I don’t pay myself,” she says. “I’ve also raised my prices a little bit, there’s no other way to do it.”

Small businesses in the city have up to six more years to phase in the new $15 an hour minimum wage. But Shah Burnham says even though she only has one store with 12 employees, she’s considered part of the Z Pizza franchise — a large business. So she has to give raises within the next two years.

“I know that I would have stayed here if I had 7 years, just like everyone else, if I had an even playing field,” she says. “The discrimination I’m feeling right now against my small business makes me not want to stay and do anything in Seattle.”

The organizations who pushed a higher minimum wage, upon being informed of this, gave this thoughtful reply:

We reached out to 15 Now Seattle, the organization that pushed for the higher minimum wage. Director Jess Spear hadn’t heard about Z Pizza’s decision to close. So she wouldn’t comment specifically on that, only saying: “Restaurants open and close all the time, for various reasons.”

In brief? They don’t care.

Jeran wonders about all the rallies that were supposed to be about making life better for people like him.

“If that’s the truth, I don’t think that’s very apparent. People like me are finding themselves in a tougher situation than ever.”

Hard to believe that government monkeying around with the economy could harm the lives of lower-paid workers, isn’t it?

If you answered “not really,” then you have been paying attention.