The Question 5 anti-smoking initiative has overshadowed Question 6, which sets into the state constitution a higher minimum wage with cost-of-living adjustments. Still, there are some restaurateurs who are nervous about the way the new minimum wage will push up all their labor costs because cooks and others will want to maintain the difference between their wages and those at the bottom of the pile.

The smoking ban is more likely to close kitchens than the wage hike but Los Angeles has given itself another image problem by expanding the city’s "living wage" ordinance to airport hotel workers, reports the Los Angeles Times. The new wage will be $10.64 an hour up from the state’s minimum wage of $6.75.

WIth the new Congress set to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, the Nevada minimum could $8.25 in a year or less. The details on the exact formula for the new federal minimum wage are a little hazy at the moment. If you need some clarification on that issue, take a look at the press release on the Labor Commissioner’s Web site. It may not be totally illuminating because some of the finer points on how the new law intersects with existing state and federal law aren’t perfectly clear.

And an economist tells the Times that the "living wage" ordinance won’t do much to alleviate poverty. She says many of the people working at service jobs are the children of wealthy people who are in no danger of slipping into poverty. Maybe but that’s not the case with restaurant workers.

Owners of local eateries have said all along that the measure would cost jobs but it’s more likely that two other things will happen: Prices may rise to cover the new wages and more illegals will be employed and paid below the minimum. The modern lifestyle is so wedded to eating out, that few people will be able to stick with a resolution to avoid restaurant meals as too expensive or too taxing.