State media in Syria have reported that rockets fired at a home in Damascus have wounded one person and caused material damage.
Day: November 14, 2025
MORE THAN $40,000 will be awarded in the Brooklyn Public Library’s 22nd annual PowerUP Business Plan Competition Awards Ceremony.
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BROOKLYN COLLEGE SOPHOMORE ZACH STEINFELD HAS BEEN NAMED TO THE LATEST COHORT OF BRONFMAN FELLOWS.
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New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) nurses continued their second week of action at rallies from Manhattan to Brooklyn, demanding safe staffing to ensure proper patient care and a fair contract, which expires on Dec. 31, 2025, for the approximately 20,000 NYSNA nurses who work at 12 private-sector hospitals.
While NYSNA nurses are fighting for safe staffing, reverse staff and service cuts that harm patient care, stronger safety and workplace violence protections, guardrails on the use of artificial intelligence in patient care, and fair wages and benefits to recruit and retain enough nurses for quality care, the total compensation for Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian CEOs, including salaries, benefits, and perks, increased by over 54% from 2020 to 2023 according to 990 tax filings -New York-Presbyterian CEO Steve Corwin earned $14,6 million in 2023, or $40,000 per day, earning more money in two days than most New York City families make in an entire year.
Additionally, Mount Sinai invested $100 million in an AI facility.
At a rally outside Maimonides Health in Boro Park on Nov. 13 — the health care provider is one of the private-sector hospitals — NYSNA nurses and local pols mobilized, demanding that safety-net hospitals such as Maimonides ensure safe staffing and protect healthcare in New York ahead of the Trump administration’s impending healthcare cuts. New York could lose $4.9 billion in federal funding for the healthcare system and likely see an increase in the number of uninsured New Yorkers.
Russell Pinsker has worked as a registered nurse at Maimonides for eight years and currently works in the Open Heart ICU.
Pinsker told the Brooklyn Paper that the hospital was chronically understaffed, noting that more nurses would lead to better care for patients.
“We give 150%, and we need enough staff, so we can do our jobs and provide the care that the patients and the community need,” Pinsker said. “We can’t work overtime every single day. Nurses deserve time to take care of themselves so they can come in the next day and take care of the next person. How can you take care of others if you can’t take care of yourself?”
Pinsker, a member of the bargaining committee, told the crowd that they had made little progress since the last bargaining session six weeks ago.
“This time around, we are bargaining against a totally different group of people, and they made it clear that they do not share the same priorities as we do, which is, first and foremost, safe, patient care,” Pinsker shared.
Pinsker’s mother, Margaret, a retired registered nurse after 47 years of service, was concerned about her retirement benefits.
“Nurses have always fought for all the benefits we have enjoyed over the years. Now the hospital is trying to take some of them away,” Margaret Picker said. “Losing our retirement health benefits will create hardship on us, our families, and our health system, especially at this time when healthcare costs are becoming unaffordable.”
His colleague, Emily Hansen, a registered nurse working on Maimonides’ surgical floor, pointed out that during the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses were celebrated as heroes; once the pandemic was over, they were demoted to “zeros.”
“A hospital can’t run without nurses. We are the foundation,” Hansen told Brooklyn Paper. “Of course, we work together with our doctors and our management, but nurses are the foundation. As much as you want us to give the best care to our patients, we deserve the best care for ourselves, for when we have to see our own doctors and care for our own families.”
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, a registered nurse and critical care expert, said hospitals had to step up, stop “playing games” with artificial intelligence, and invest in patient care.
“We’ve watched hospitals like Mount Sinai attempt to veil the extent to which they’ve prioritized their money-making ventures over the patients of this city,” Hagans said. “We’re here to say enough is enough. Nurses, who have been on the frontlines of caring for patients and have been ruthless in their fight to protect federal healthcare funding, are demanding hospitals do their part.”
Local pols stressed that nurses were on the front lines of patient care.
City Council Member Mercedes Narcisse (D-Brooklyn), a registered nurse and the Chair of the Council’s Committee on Hospitals, had one message for hospital administrators and CEOs.
“[If] you don’t have nurses, you don’t have a hospital,” Narcisse declared. ” We put our lives in danger every day, we care, and we’re delivering high-quality health care to everyone. So right now, all we want is our fair share and a fair contract for all of us.”
Crystal Hudson’s mother worked as a registered nurse at Harlem Hospital for 30 years. The pol, who represents the neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill, and Fort Greene, recalled that her mother always put her patients first.
“I want to make sure that every nurse has the contract that they deserve, has the benefits that they deserve, has the pay that they deserve to keep our communities safe,” Hudson declared.
Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte echoed Narcisse and Hudson’s sentiments, calling for a fair contract.
“Our nurses sacrifice their lives every single day, working night shifts, day shifts, long hours, just to protect us,” Bichotte said.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso introduced himself as the “president of the greatest borough in New York City.”
“But we can’t be the greatest borough in the city without a world-class health system. The foundational parts of the world-class health care system are our nurses,” Reynoso said.
Sam Miller, vice president for Marketing and Communications at Maimonides Health, told Brooklyn Paper in a statement that Maimonides’ nurses are critical to providing the outstanding care that communities expect and deserve.
“We are confident that we will reach a contract agreement with NYSNA that allows us to build on our success into the future,” Miller wrote in an email.
Brooklyn Paper has reached out to Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals for comment, but did not hear back by publication.
With the mayoral election in the rearview, Big Apple politicos have turned their attention to another important contest: the race for City Council speaker.
The current speaker, Adrienne Adams, is term-limited at the end of this year, meaning the body’s 51 members must choose her replacement come January. Next to the mayor, the City Council speaker may be the most influential figure in city politics — as the chamber’s leader sets the body’s agenda, works with other parts of the municipal government, controls what legislation gets voted on, and wields great power in negotiating the yearly budget, which the Council controls.
So far, five candidates are running to replace Speaker Adams, who was first elected to the post in early 2022 and has served for the duration of outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ (no relation) tenure: Council Members Julie Menin (D-Manhattan), Crystal Hudson (D-Brooklyn), Amanda Farias (D-Bronx), Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-Queens), and Christopher Marte (D-Manhattan).
Although there is still over a month to go, the race appears to have narrowed down to two candidates: Menin and Hudson. Whoever becomes speaker will need a majority (26) of the 51-member council in the election at the start of the new session in January.
A council source told amNewYork it is hard to say exactly how many members currently support Menin and Hudson. However, they provided an assessment of where the members from each borough stand, noting that Queens is mostly aligned with Menin, Brooklyn and Staten Island are mostly aligned with Hudson, and Manhattan and the Bronx are split between the two.
Julie Menin: Why she’s running
Menin took office in 2022 and represents a significant portion of the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island. She told amNewYork she is vying for the post both to counter aggressive federal actions by Republican President Donald Trump toward the five boroughs, such as his threats to send in the National Guard, and to lower soaring costs across the city.
“We’re clearly in a crisis in New York City in terms of some of the threats that we face from Washington with draconian federal cuts, the risk of ICE raids, the potential for military deployment,” she said.
Menin said her experience of serving as commissioner of the Departments of Consumer and Worker Protection, Media and Entertainment, and as census director under former Mayor Bill de Blasio — prior to being elected to the council — has prepared her for this fraught moment.
“I’m running for speaker based on my experience running three city agencies, my legal experience in these very choppy waters that we’re in right now,” she said.
Crystal Hudson: Why she’s running
Hudson is a progressive who has represented Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Crown Heights, Fort Greene, and Clinton Hill, since 2022.
“We are in a pivotal political moment, locally, nationally, even globally,” Hudson told amNewYork about why she is running.
“I think it’s really important that we have strong and steady leadership that’s rooted in action and accountability,” she continued, “that shows New Yorkers that they have strong leadership in City Hall that will always stand up for them, that will fight back against any interference with the laws of this land.”
Prior to being elected in 2021, Hudson was a staffer in both the Council and the Public Advocate’s office. Before entering government, she worked in sports marketing and advertising, and then was inspired to become a public servant after having to navigate complex bureaucracies for her mother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Working with the new mayor
Perhaps the biggest question looming over the race is who, if anyone, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will throw his support behind.
The new 34-year-old democratic socialist mayor-elect will need a willing partner as council speaker to help accomplish his sweeping affordability proposals — including fare-free buses and universal child care. Outgoing Mayor Adams had a very contentious relationship with Speaker Adams that often led to public fights over legislation and the balance of power in City Hall.
Hudson, who endorsed Mamdani in the mayor’s race, said she wants to be a speaker who balances a working relationship with the new mayor with the ability to also push back when necessary.
“I think that New Yorkers have made a clear mandate that they want and need a more affordable New York City,” Hudson said, referring to Mamdani winning the mayoral general election by just over 50%.
“We need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to make the city a livable, affordable city for them,” she continued. “Now that doesn’t mean, of course, that we’re going to agree with everything that the mayor proposes, and when we don’t, I think it’s important that we are loud and clear about our opposition.”
While Menin is more moderate than Hudson, she sought to highlight the “many areas” where she and Mamdani can work together. She said those include countering the Trump administration and making the city more affordable — specifically by implementing free universal child care.
“We’ve got to focus on the issues and the threats that we have coming from Washington,” Menin said. “We need to focus on the affordability issues around universal child care and housing. We also need to focus on lowering skyrocketing health care prices…These are all areas of alignment.”
However, Menin also noted she would still ensure the council holds the new administration accountable through its oversight hearings.
Who’s backing Hudson and Menin?
When it comes to the level of support Hudson and Menin have at this point, they both project confidence in their ability to win — but declined to give specific counts of how many members are backing them.
Hudson said she has “support all across the city.”
The Progressive Caucus member has the vocal backing among many of the body’s more left-leaning lawmakers, including Brooklyn Council Members Lincoln Restler, Sandy Nurse, and Rita Joseph. Also standing with Hudson is Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, who abandoned her own speaker bid to stand with her colleague.
Nurse said she believes Hudson should be the next speaker based on the diversity of her district and her ability to balance being a progressive with standing up to parts of the left when they do not have “a clear path for solving a problem.”
“I think in that way, she represents a healthy check on the Zohran [Mamdani] administration,” Nurse said of Hudson. “I think she will be both a collaborative partner, but also someone who will work to build the council’s agenda and assert our agenda.”
Meanwhile, Menin said she has a “broad, diverse coalition of support,” including a mix of progressive and moderate Council members such as Shaun Abreu (D-Manhattan), Kevin Riley (D-Bronx), and Linda Lee (D-Queens). Menin also has the powerful Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, which supported Mamdani in the general election, and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks — the Queens County Democratic Party chair — standing with her.
One of Menin’s Council member supporters, Erik Bottcher (D-Manhattan), said he thinks she is “the right leader for our time.”
“She has a proven track record of leadership as a community board chair, a commissioner for various agencies, a City Council member,” said Bottcher, who on Thursday declared his candidacy for the Congress seat held by the retiring Jerry Nadler. “I think she’d be a steady and forceful hand of our body.”
Two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years behind bars Wednesday for hiring a hitman to kill Iranian American journalist.
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NEW YORK — Two purported Russian mobsters were each sentenced to 25 years behind bars Wednesday for hiring a hitman to kill Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad at her Brooklyn home three years ago on behalf of the Iranian government. “I crossed an ocean to come to America and have a normal life and I don’t […]
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The Trump administration’s widespread cancellation and freezing of clean energy funding is also hitting essential work to improve the nation’s power grid.
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For eight years, paramedic James Parrish has spent his days — and many long nights — responding to emergencies across Brooklyn. Working first as an EMT and now as a paramedic, he’s seen the quiet heroism that shapes life in New York City. But behind the uniform is a longtime storyteller who has been nurturing an idea he couldn’t let go of.
“I’ve loved telling stories ever since I was a little kid,” Parrish told Brooklyn Paper. “‘I’ve had this idea for a story for such a long time. I was reading a bunch of comics one day and figured, ‘you know what? I can do this.’”
That moment became “Detonator,” Parrish’s seven-issue comic series — a darkly funny, action-driven and emotionally layered story about friendship, trauma and the fragility of superheroes.
The series, completed after nearly eight years of work, follows a character named Kaz who will quite literally blow up his superhero best friend’s house in an attempt to force him to confront crippling mental illness.
“The main question that ‘Detonator’ asks is how far you would go to help a friend struggling with mental illness,” Parrish explained. “And the main character, Kaz, would go as far as to blow up his friend’s house, which most mental health professionals wouldn’t recommend.”
In Parrish’s world, even heroes can’t outrun depression, trauma or PTSD.
“His friend is a superhero who could fly to the moon and back, but won’t leave his bedroom,” he said. “He says, if you’re going to hide in your room, I’m going to blow it up and force you to get better.”
The project took nearly a decade, not because the author lacked motivation, but because he was juggling a demanding career and fully funding the work of a professional illustrator. After searching for the right collaborator, Parrish connected with artist Carlos N. Zamudio.
“My mom is proud of my stick figures, but I don’t think they would sell very well,” Parrish joked. “I want to make sure that this story has the art it deserves.”
The creative process moved slowly — sometimes painstakingly — as life kept happening around them. Parrish entered paramedic school, which “consumed a year” of his life. Zamudio took on other projects.
Those years shaped the emotional core of “Detonator.” Parrish’s real-world EMS experience — the sudden shifts from silence to chaos, the trauma endured quietly by first responders and the weight of wanting to help people who can’t always accept it — all contributed to the story.
“I could be sitting in an ambulance calmly on my phone in one minute, and then literally trying to resuscitate a baby or being attacked by a patient,” he said. “It’s a lot. And I had my own issues learning to acclimate to this profession; everyone’s fighting their own silent battles.”
Those experiences helped Parrish craft characters who are flawed, overwhelmed and trying their best — whether they wear capes or not.
“When you see someone struggling and don’t know how to help them, you can feel a little powerless and you would literally do anything,” he said. “You don’t become a domestic super terrorist, but everyone has the desire to help.”
As the series wrapped, Parrish turned to Kickstarter to fund printing and distribution, uncertain whether his deeply personal project would resonate with anyone beyond his circle.
“I always knew it was going to be great, I’m perfect,” he laughed before adding: “No, I’m kidding.”
But the response still surprised him. Of his $2,500 backing goal, he’s seen over $8,000 in support from 200+ backers. Three issues are now available on Kickstarter.
I feel really grateful and lucky,” he said. “I’m so moved by how many people are interested in the story and are supporting it,” he said. “People have emailed me about how much they like it — one of my fans told me that they cried and were really touched by one of the later chapters. As an author, there’s no better feeling in the world.”
With “Detonator” complete, Parrish is already diving into his next creative venture, a fantasy series titled “Prince Nobody” — tonally different from the dark comedy of his debut.
“I’m flexing different muscles with this new book,” he said. “I wanted to tell a story that asked the question, ‘Is it ever too late to start over?’”
Rather than sprawling world-building and ensemble casts common to modern fantasy, Parrish plans to focus on a single character’s journey. He described his influences as ranging from “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel and Claire Keegan’s “Small Things like These.”
“It’s about entitlement and prophecy,” he said. “If I were told that I was a special chosen one, I’d probably become like a lazy, entitled brat. The story is about the consequences of being told you have an epic destiny and what happens when you let it get to your head.”
With even more writing ahead, Parrish remains committed to EMS — the job that continues to ground him and keeps him committed to fueling his work.
“I would never want to do anything else as my main career,” he said. “I’m doing this forever.”