Just years after labor activists persuaded a handful of states to raise their minimum wage to $15 per hour, workers initially thrilled with the pay bump are finding their hard-won gains erased by inflation. New York, California, and Massachusetts are among states where legislation has been filed to boost minimum wages to $20 or more. But opponents to hikes in wages say it can be detrimental to small businesses who already operate on thin margins. Barry Nicholson, a businessowner in Corning, a city by the Finger Lakes in New York, said a big wage increase would be “a smack in the face to small businesses.”

Phillip Eng, an engineer with decades of experience running public transit systems, has been named the general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Boston area’s troubled public transit agency. Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey made the announcement Monday. Eng, the former president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road and one-time interim President of New York City Transit, is currently executive vice president at an engineering consultant firm. The MBTA oversees the nation’s oldest subway system as well as commuter rail, bus and ferry service and has come under intense scrutiny in recent years for a series of safety issues that led to a federal review.

Officials say five freight train cars have derailed in Massachusetts. But no hazardous materials were being hauled, and there were no reports of injuries. Authorities say the freight cars toppled over at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday. They were carrying sealed containers of trash and recycling material. The fire department called railway operator CSX and the utility National Grid to the scene, and officials took precautions to protect a nearby waterway. The train was not moving at the time of the derailment. CSX said there were no effects on the environment, and the cause remains under investigation. CSX said the cars derailed on a line jointly owned with Norfolk Southern.