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Rally for Hike in MD Minimum Wage

Don Rush

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Supporters of a higher minimum wage plan to rally in Annapolis, but business owner Mark Pringle says higher wages would mean higher prices at his ice cream shops.

Pringle owns four Cold Stone Creamery shops. He tells The Capital that most of his 15 to 20 employees are either in high school or starting community college. Most make the state's current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has proposed raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016.

Pringle says his concern with raising the minimum wage to more than $10 is that people may not want to buy ice cream if the price rises to $7 or $8 a bowl.

Advocates say a wage increase is overdue. They plan to rally Monday in Annapolis.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.