THE WAR ON WAGES:

The nascent push by cities to raise their minimum wage is meeting resistance in a growing number of state capitols, opening a new front in the battle over the pay floor for the nation's lowest-paid workers.

Cities including Los Angeles, St. Louis and Birmingham, Ala., have set local minimum wages, arguing the federal and state floors are too low for many workers in more urban areas. But states are moving to strip cities of the power to establish their own rates, citing businesses' concerns over a patchwork of wage levels and the potential for higher city wages to affect pay statewide.

"It is not an us versus them scenario. It is a state issue," said Alabama state Rep. David Faulkner, a Republican, who introduced a measure to prohibit cities from setting a minimum wage. 

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