*By Amanda Weston and Bridgette Webb*
New York City's decision to institute [a minimum wage for drivers of ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft](http://fortune.com/2018/08/08/new-york-freeze-ride-sharing-vehicles-minimum-wage-lyft-uber/), will be a boon for drivers, and may prompt other cities considering how to handle the rise of for-hire vehicles to act similarly.
"It's a very big win ー huge," said Aziz Bah, a steward for the Independent Drivers Guild and an Uber driver. "We have been fighting for the longest \[time\]."
The City Council [approved a package of rules](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/08/nyregion/uber-vote-city-council-cap.html) Wednesday that included a guaranteed minimum wage for drivers and a one-year cap on most new licenses, so the city can study the effects of the industry's explosive growth.
"The most positive thing for drivers is the pay floor, which amounts to a 22.5 percent raise in overall take home pay," Bah said Thursday in an interview with Cheddar.
Uber opposed the Council's rules, saying it would make rides less reliable and more expensive. Bah said the new rules should be a clear message to the ride-hailing companies.
"Treat drivers better," he said. "Because no one is making any legislation or rules with the drivers' livelihood in mind. We want these guys to finally put the drivers first."
The popularity of the wage guarantee [among drivers](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/06/nyregion/taxi-and-uber-drivers-are-united-in-backing-a-cap-on-ride-hail-vehicles.html) and the willingness of a city the size of New York to act may embolden other cities, said Alison Griswold, a reporter at Quartz.
"\[Seattle\] passed legislation that allowed drivers to unionize, which is still tied up in litigation, and there's also been interest among the city officials for raising the wage for Uber drivers," Griswold said Thursday in an interview with Cheddar. "So, you could see a city like Seattle picking up what New York has done on setting a wage floor. Then in San Francisco there's a lot of talk about congestion and how things have gotten worse for just everyone in the city driving around."
It remains to be seen how the cap on new licenses will affect traffic.
"We'll just have to wait to see," said Griswold. "It was widely opposed by transit advocates and editorial boards across the city. It's for a year. And you know, with the subway the way it is, I think everyone wants as many transit options as possible."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/nyc-pumps-the-brakes-on-ride-hailing).
A new mobile app has launched just in time for Valentine's Day. Our.Love bills itself as an A.I.-powered, gamified, relationship wellness app for couples. The app is set in what the company calls the Coupleverse, a virtual world where each couple can build a virtual relationship home as they also build their real-world relationship. Founder and CEO Tal Zlotnitsky joined Cheddar to discuss how the app works. "The concept behind Our.Love is to give people the opportunity to understand where they stand in their relationship through very simple metrics that we provide within the app that will help them in real-time, see where they stand, see where their partner is, and be able to get closer together," he said.
The Super Bowl is just 48 hours away and things are definitely heating up in the social media space, especially on Twitter. Fans across the country are quickly engaging in color commentary as they call it, and actively sharing their views on who's expected to take the big win, which players they are looking forward to seeing. Senior Sports Partner Manager at Twitter, David Herman, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Director and producer Ivan Reitman passed away over the weekend at the age of 75. The filmmaker was the mastermind behind some of America's favorite films such as "Ghostbusters". Reitman’s family released a statement explaining how they are comforted by the lives he has touched through his films.
The 21st Annual Food Network and Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF), is returning to Miami on February 24 with proceeds to benefit the future leaders of the hospitality industry. Lee Schrager, the founder and director of the festival, and Food Network star Jeff Mauro joined Cheddar News to discuss what ticket holders can expect, how the festival benefits students, and how Mauro will be paying tribute to fellow food celebrity, Guy Fieri, by hosting a charity auction dinner. "I mean there's nobody bigger, nobody more magnetic right now in the food space than Guy," Maura said. "I mean the guy had a Super Bowl commercial on last night. That's a dream of mine, so I'm one step closer there just by doing a tight 20 minutes at his tribute dinner."
Jeff Softley, direct to consumer president at Experian, joins Cheddar News to discuss what it means to be credit invisible, how big of an issue this is in the U.S., and what resources are out there to bridge this gap.
