Axios

In a long-sought victory for the left, the House on Thursday approved a measure to raise the hourly federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025.

By the numbers: The bill would increase the federal minimum wage, which currently rests at $7.25 an hour, nearly $15,000 a year for those working a 40-hour work week. Just 3 Republicans voted in favor, while 6 Democrats opposed the measure. The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009.

San Francisco's IPO tax is dead! Long live San Francisco's IPO tax!

The backdrop: Voters were to be asked this November to approve a corporate tax increase on stock-based compensation from 0.38% to 1.5%. It would have been retroactive to May 7, just days before Uber went public.

Dust Identity, a Framingham, Mass-based supply chain security and tracking startup that utilizes diamond dust, raised $10 million in Series A funding.

Why it matters: Do you know any other company whose business model is based on diamond dust? Specifically, inexpensive industrial diamond waste that's used to lightly coat an object, thus creating unique tagging properties and an ability to ensure that the object hasn't been messed with.

The stock market has been unusually calm this year, prompting traders to place increasingly large bets on low market volatility — but they could be setting themselves and the broader market up for big losses.

What's happening: The S&P 500 hasn't moved more than 1% in either direction in more than 5 weeks, according to Datatrek co-founder Nicholas Colas. That defies historical trends and is leading more investors to take short-sell bets that the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), which tracks big, unexpected moves in the market, will decline.

News deserts in cities and small towns all over the country are beginning to capture the attention of big tech companies, donors, regulators and advocacy groups who want to step in and save local journalism.

Why it matters: Newspaper closures that started in rural America are creeping towards small and medium-sized cities. Often, the closing of local papers leaves communities without the watchdogs that can keep municipal governments accountable and productive.

Headlines Tuesday painted a picture of a booming U.S. retail market: Amazon's well-covered Prime Day(s) generated an estimated $5.8 billion of sales and the Commerce Department's retail sales report showed an especially strong reading for June.

Yes, but: A deeper dive into the data shows retail sales growth is slowing, with the all-important online component — the major source of growth, as brick-and-mortar sales struggle — cooling notably.