Gov. Pat Quinn said yesterday that he supports measures to raise the state's minimum wage from $8.25 an hour. Quinn cited new federal government figures that indicate 150,000 more Illinois residents fell into poverty last year, and 1.9 million of the state's 13 million population now live below the poverty line.

State Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) sponsored a bill that would basically create a $10 minimum wage by raising the current wage floor of $8.25 until it reached the 1968 inflation-adjusted minimum wage. The bill passed out of a Senate committee in May, but the full Senate did not call it for a vote.