Striking teachers picket Thursday in front of the building where two schools share space in West Seattle. Teachers in Seattle say they have walked off the job largely because they can't afford to live in the same city as the children they teach.

NEW YORK — New York state will gradually raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour — the first time any state has set the minimum that high.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration formally approved the increase Thursday — a move the Democratic governor announced at a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden. Cuomo said he will work to pass legislation setting a $15 minimum for all industries — a promise that comes as more and more cities around the country move toward a $15 minimum wage.

“Every working man and woman in the state of New York deserves $15 an hour,” the governor told the crowd of union members. “We're not going to stop until we get it done.”

Biden predicted the $15 wage for fast-food workers would galvanize efforts across the country.

“You're going to make every single governor in every single state in America look at themselves,” he said at the rally in New York City. “It's going to have a profound impact.”

He said he and President Barack Obama also remain committed to raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour.

The wage hike for fast-food workers in New York will be phased in over three years in New York City and over six years elsewhere in the state. It will apply to some 200,000 employees at large chain restaurants.

So far, the cities of Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco, and the California cities of Oakland and Berkeley have approved phased-in increases that eventually will take their minimum wage to $15 an hour, or about $31,200 a year.

New York's increase was recommended by an unelected Wage Board created by Cuomo — a tactic that allowed the governor to circumvent the Legislature, where the Republican-led Senate has blocked big increases in recent years.

The current $8.75 minimum is already set to go to $9 at year's end under a law passed by lawmakers in 2013.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Electronics retailer RadioShack on Thursday won court approval of a settlement involving priority treatment of certain gift-card holders in the company's bankruptcy and has agreed to sweeten the deal for other cardholders.Under the settlement approved by a bankruptcy judge, holders of roughly a third of the $46 million in outstanding gift cards will receive priority status and have claims paid in full.But in a significant development reached shortly before the hearing, General Wireless, an affiliate of hedge fund Standard General that acquired the RadioShack trademark and more than 1,740 of the electronics retailer's stores, has agreed to honor all RadioShack gift cards for 50 percent of merchandise purchases.That means gift card holders deemed as not having priority status under Thursday's settlement have an alternative to being left with only pennies on the dollar.

SEATTLE — Teachers in Seattle have gone on strike as living expenses skyrocket in one of the nation's bastions of technology jobs, complaining it is increasingly difficult to afford living in the same city as the children they teach.The educators, who have not received a cost-of-living pay raise in six years, have joined other workers pushing for higher wages as the city tries to balance its identity as a hub for tech talent while keeping housing and other costs within reach.Olga Addae, a science teacher at Franklin High School, walked the picket line Thursday with other union members.“We're doing this for the students and for a better school system,” said Addae.Teachers want to live close to their schools and be a part of those communities, but rents continue to rise while educators' salaries have stagnated