this week’s
top ten Happy New Year to Wage Workers
Jazzy Wine & Taco Brunch in TC
Michigan’s labor force is in short supply compared to its demand, but 2022 has brought only a small bump in the state’s minimum wages. As of Jan. 1, the state’s minimum wage has been increased from $9.65 to $9.87. In line with that wee bump, the 85 percent wage rate for minors aged 16 and 17 is now $8.39 an hour and rates of pay for tipped employees is now $3.75 an hour. The training wage for newly hired employees Photo by Sharon McCutcheon, Unsplash ages 16 to 19 for their first 90 days of employment remains unchanged at $4.25. Michigan is just one of 29 states across the nation that opted to increase its minimum wage in 2022. (California is the only state in the nation that has reached the $15 hourly minimum labor activists push for, but that rate is reserved exclusively for California employers with 26+ employees; employers with 25 or fewer employees pay $14 per hour.) Nevertheless, the rate in Michigan — unlike in Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, and several others — beats the federal minimum: $7.25 hour for non-tipped employees and $2.13 for tipped employees.
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tastemaker Tropical’s Thai Chicken Wrap
There used to be a time that we dreamed of a fast-food restaurant, complete with efficient drive-thru, that sold real, healthy, and tasty food; no pink slime. Our dream came true several years ago when two Tropical Smoothie Cafes came to Traverse City. And you know what? For years, we passed by with our noses turned upward. We’d make our own real, healthy, tasty food at home, we thought. Then we had kids, gained many pounds, lost even more free time, and finally — some random night between school and work and swim lessons — we squealed our minivan tires into a Tropical drive-thru. And you know what? Our dinner by dome light was good. Not French fry good. Not chocolate milkshake good. But real, healthy, and tasty enough to satisfy an exhausted parent and two picky kids. Our favorite is the Thai chicken wrap, with carrots, wontons, sesame seeds and romaine, grilled chicken, and a zingy Thai peanut dressing. If you’re making 2022 the year you eat better, consider making this place your go-to. Find a location near you at www. tropicalsmoothiecafe.com
4 • january 03, 2022 • Northern Express Weekly
Giving all-new meaning to (at least half of the upcoming) Sunday Fundays of 2022: The bi-weekly Sunday Jazz Late Brunch series. Featuring music from the Jeff Haas Trio and saxophonist Laurie Sears, wine from Chateau Chantal, and tacos and treats from Mama Lu’s, the brunches will happen every other Sunday at the godly hour of 2:30pm inside the church-turned-GT Circuit building on 14th Street in Traverse City. The first one of the year will be Sunday, Jan. 9. A donation of $20 is suggested; proof of vaccination and masks are required.
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Hey, watch it STATION ELEVEN
“Station Eleven,” Emily St. John Mandel’s award-winning novel about life in a destroyed post-pandemic world, was a brilliant work of literature long before COVID-19 made its timeless themes bracingly relevant. That its long-awaited adaptation arrives as we enter year three of our own neverending pandemic makes it all the more of a necessary, profound, and hopeful viewing experience — even if it sounds like just about the last thing you want to watch right now. Following a group of survivors known as the Traveling Symphony who loop around Michigan and the Great Lakes performing Shakespeare to the few remaining pockets of “civilization,” the miniseries’ portrait of our essential need for art, culture, and community offers viewers an unexpected healing power through its masterful storytelling. Fans of HBO’s “The Leftovers” will not want to miss this spiritual companion piece. Streaming on HBO Max.
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Flavor 203 S. Cedar - Kalkaska
