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The astonishing number of fast food jobs lost – and restaurants shut – because of California’s new $20-an-hour minimum wage

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The astonishing number of fast food jobs lost – and restaurants shut – because of California’s new -an-hour minimum wage


Fast food chains in California are slashing jobs – as a way to cut costs after the minimum wage in the state was hiked to $20-an-hour. 

Almost 10,000 positions across chains from Pizza Hut to Burger King have been cut since the law came into effect on April 1, according to a report from a trade group in the state. 

On top of that, chains have been shuttering restaurants – including beloved Mexican chain Rubio’s Coastal Grill, which this week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed 48 locations in the state.  

The California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) slammed Governor Gavin Newsom was for pushing the law through, which has also meant businesses in the state have had to raise prices.   

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To highlight the impact of the law, the trade group created out an advert in Thursday’s edition of USA Today with mock ‘obituaries’ of popular brands.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the fast-food bill surrounded by workers at the SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles on September 28, 2023

The tongue-in-cheek advert, titled ‘In Memoriam: Victims of Newsom’s minimum wage’, highlighted the issues faced by smaller brands including Rubio’s, and fast food giants including Pizza Hut, Burger King, Subway and McDonald’s. 

It features news clips documenting the changes made by companies in response to the wage increase.

This includes raising prices, letting go of workers to cut labor costs – and in some cases shutting down locations. 

One says: ‘A McDonald’s franchisee who owns 18 outposts in California is considering reducing store hours, hiking menu prices and delaying renovations to offset the impact of the state’s $20 hourly minimum wage for fast-food workers.’

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Even before the law was made official earlier this year, chains including Pizza Hut and Round Table let go of more than a thousands delivery workers to brace for the financial ramifications of the change. 

The law signed by Newsom in September last year increases fast-food workers’ minimum wages to $20-an-hour at chains with more than 60 locations in the US.

That is 25 percent more than the standard minimum wage of $16-an-hour in California, which itself came into effect in January.

On a national level, Congress has not touched the minimum wage in decades – it is still $7.25-an-hour. Instead, so-called ‘wage wars’ play out on a state level. 

‘California businesses have been under total attack and total assault for years,’ CABIA president and founder Tom Manzo told Fox Business. 

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‘It’s just another law that puts businesses in further jeopardy.’

He said that officials were living in a ‘fantasyland’ if they think drastic wage increases will actually help workers or businesses. 

‘You can only raise prices so much,’ Manzo told the outlet. ‘And you’re seeing it. People are not going to pay $20 for a Big Mac. It’s not going to happen.’ 

To highlight the impact of the law, the trade group took out a fake ad in Thursday's edition of USA Today with mock 'obituaries' of popular brands

To highlight the impact of the law, the trade group took out a fake ad in Thursday’s edition of USA Today with mock ‘obituaries’ of popular brands

Rubio's Coastal Grill announced it would shut 48 restaurants in the state this week (Pictured: The grand opening of the third Rubio's location in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California in 1986)

Rubio’s Coastal Grill announced it would shut 48 restaurants in the state this week (Pictured: The grand opening of the third Rubio’s location in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California in 1986)

Critics warned that businesses would turn to digital ordering kiosks as a way to cut down on wage costs for staff

Critics warned that businesses would turn to digital ordering kiosks as a way to cut down on wage costs for staff

When the Democrat governor signed the law in 2023, Newsom said the state was getting ‘one step closer to fairer wages, safer and healthier working conditions, and better training by giving hardworking fast food workers a stronger voice and seat at the table.’

But Republican critics claimed the wage hike would simply mean workers are replaced with self-checkouts and ‘robot cooks.’ 

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Harsh Ghai, a Burger King franchisee with 140 restaurants on the West Coast announced in April how he planned to have digital kiosks installed in all his locations in two months. 

Until the wage hike, he planned to roll them out over the next five to ten years. 

‘We have kiosks in probably about 25 percent of our restaurants today,’ Ghai told Business Insider at the time.

‘However, the other 75 percent are going to have kiosks in the next probably 30 to 60 days.’



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Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years

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Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years


While we may lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend, one clock store in California is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year: daylight savings.

It’s the House of Clocks, the largest clock company in Northern California, which was recently celebrating 55 years of business.

It’s a place frozen in time. Just visit the store’s 240-year-old grandfather clock. It’s got plenty of stories to tell, dating back to 1780.

“This is the oldest piece we have right now,” clocksmith Joey Hohn said.

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The House of Clocks is on the outskirts of Downtown Lodi in San Joaquin County.

“We have new, we have vintage, we have antique,” co-owner Sandy Hohn shared. “Honestly, it feels like not a day goes by that we don’t get a phone call or an email of somebody wanting to sell something for 100 different reasons.”

The clock store has been with the Hohn family for three generations. It’s all thanks to one family heirloom.

“When the first war started, [my grandparents] left everything and had to move,” Joey Hohn explained. “After the Second World War, my grandpa was stationed in Germany. They went back to the house that had been abandoned and the neighbor who they left the property to said, ‘As far as I’m concerned, everything in the house is still yours.’ They went back and got this, so this is my great-great-grandparents’ clock.”

You can find just about anything in the House of Clocks, from old grandfather clocks to clocks that can fit in the palm of your hand.

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What you can’t find anywhere else is the Hohns’ love for Lodi.

“We’ve made so many friends over the years out of customers,” Sandy Hohn said. “Friends that are just wonderful, that love collecting, and we keep them repaired for their families, which is awesome. They have sentimental value that’s passed down.”

That same love for the city and their community runs in the family.

“We had a customer that wanted to repaint their dial,” Joey Hohn explained. “We told them no because it was her father’s who had passed away. Every time he went to wind the clock, he placed his thumb in the same spot. When we told her that smudge there on the dial was her father, she said, ‘Back away, don’t you dare.’ It was just a good memory we have.”

While you can’t turn back time, what we can do is keep memories alive and treasure the present moment.

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“There’s so many personalities,” Sandy Hohn said. “We just try to find a good home for them.”



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Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter

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Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter


It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!

The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”

The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.

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“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”

We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.

“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.

If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.


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Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’

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Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’


We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.

In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”

Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.

“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.

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Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

SEE ALSO: CA governor candidate Steve Hilton says ‘everybody supports’ Trump’s immigration policies

Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.

When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”

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“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”

When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”

Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.

Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.

The primary election is June 2.

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No clear front-runner in race for California governor, new poll shows

A new poll shows there’s still no clear front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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