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• "Americans understand fairness, and they know it's unfair for minimum-wage workers to put in a full day's work, a full month's work, a full year's work, and still live in poverty," the measure's sponsor, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said Tuesday.
• Harkin's bill, an Obama priority, would gradually raise the $7.25 hourly minimum to $10.10 over 30 months and then provide automatic annual increases to account for inflation. Democrats argue that if fully phased in by 2016, it would push a family of three above the federal poverty line -- a level such earners have not surpassed since 1979.
• They also say the minimum wage's buying power has fallen. It reached its peak value in 1968, when it was $1.60 hourly but was worth $10.86 in today's dollars.
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Today in History
The Associated Press
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• Today is Wednesday, April 30, the 120th day of 2014. There are 245 days left in the year.
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• Today's Highlight in History:
• On April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath of office in New York as the first president of the United States.
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• On this date:
• In A.D. 311, shortly before his death, Roman Emperor Galerius issued his Edict of Toleration ending persecution of Christians.
• In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million.
• In 1812, Louisiana became the 18th state of the Union.
• In 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis' five-year-old son, Joseph Evan Davis, died in a fall at the Confederate White House in Richmond, Va.
• In 1900, engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad died in a train wreck near Vaughan, Miss., after staying at the controls in a successful effort to save the passengers.
• In 1939, the New York World's Fair officially opened with a ceremony that included an address by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• In 1945, as Russian troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed (Continued on page 30)
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