The Evening Rush for Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014

Demonstrators rally for a higher minimum wage in New York this past December. | Richard Drew/AP Photo

Minimum wage in center stage

Democrats are poised to make raising the minimum wage a focal point of the 2014 midterms, and Illinois’ Republican candidates are more than happy to jump into the fray. It began with Republican Bruce Rauner calling for a $1 cut to the state’s minimum wage – direct opposition to Gov. Pat Quinn’s push to raise it to $10/hour. Before the end of the day, both Bill Brady and Karen Lewis weighed in.

[Rauner: Cut state’s hourly minimum wage by $1 to be ‘competitive’]

[Brady hammers Rauner, Quinn for wanting to change state’s minimum wage]

[Karen Lewis: Try to live on $7.25 a day for 90 days]

City to lease space to Hadiya Pendleton Foundation for $1

Hadiya Pendleton’s father got a gift from City Hall on Wednesday, three weeks before the one-year anniversary of the 15-year-old’s murder. [Sun-Times]

Alderman: Homicide drop ‘means crap’

Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) isn’t a big fan of the statistics showing a drop in homicides. [Voices]

Cabbie business booming

Chiberia was a terrible time for all of us, unless you drive a cab. [DNAinfo Chicago]

Rise and fall of UNO’s patron

One man turned a small activist group into the nation’s biggest Hispanic charter school operator. And then the trouble started. [Chicago Magazine]

Frank Thomas, Greg Maddux in the Hall of Fame

Two iconic Chicago baseball legends were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. [Thomas | Maddux]

Dennis Rodman serenades Kim Jong-un

Just watch the video. [Sun-Times]

The force was allegedly with Tupac

A longstanding rumor about Tupac Shakur auditioning for the Star Wars prequels got new life this week. [A.V. Club]

Insane Clown Posse, ACLU team up

The two groups have filed a lawsuit after the FBI included Juggalos in its 2011 Gang Threat Assessment Report. [Chicagoist]

The Bright One

A demolition worker found what appeared to be a human skull in Logan Square. Turns out it was a Halloween decoration. [Sun-Times]

Commute

Sudoku; Weather; Traffic; CTA; Metra; Flight delays

And finally

This adorable panda cub taking its first steps, though. [Youtube]