The Cleveland minimum wage hike that was planned for a May 2, 2017 vote on a referendum but was sidelined by the Ohio legislature and governor agreeing on pre-emption has been officially withdrawn. Organizers and petitioners with the SEIU-funded advocacy front Raise Up Cleveland are still lamenting that the petition to hike the minimum wage within the city to $8.15 will not be presented to the voters. Incredibly, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, who championed adoption of the new Philadelphia 1.5 cent per ounce soda tax, is now claiming that the tax isn’t the cause of the price of soda increasing so dramatically – rather, he claims that city retail business owners are gouging their customers!