Month: December 2025

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont joined dozens of striking Starbucks union baristas at a picket line in Gowanus on Dec. 1, calling on the company to return to the bargaining table and offer a fair contract.

Union members have been on an open-ended unfair labor practice strike since Nov. 13, making it the longest ULP strike in Starbucks history. Dubbed the “Red Cup Rebellion,” the strike escalated on Black Friday, Nov. 28, when hundreds of additional union baristas from 26 stores in nearly 20 cities joined about 2,000 Starbucks workers already on strike at 95 stores in 65 cities.

The 11,000-member Starbucks Workers United is protesting the company’s failure to finalize a union contract, calling for improved staffing levels, higher take-home pay and a resolution to outstanding unfair labor practice charges related to union busting. Workers United has filed more than 1,000 ULPs, including more than 125 since January 2025. More than 700 charges remain unresolved, including national complaints alleging bad-faith bargaining and unilateral policy changes, as well as cases involving retaliatory firings and discipline.

Mamdani told the crowd he would continue to stand with workers on picket lines across the five boroughs after taking office on Jan. 1, 2026.

“I’ve said this to many of the unions that are here today, many of the rank and file, which is that we want to build an administration that is characterized by being there for workers every single step of the way, and sometimes in the fight for decency and dignity that workers are waging, their voices are drowned out,” Mamdani said. He added that, as mayor, he would use the office’s platform to address labor violations, pointing to a city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection investigation that found Starbucks had violated the Fair Workweek Law.

Earlier in the day, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams and the DCWP announced a $38.9 million settlement with Starbucks over the company’s failure to provide stable schedules to workers at more than 300 locations since 2021, among other violations. More than 15,000 hourly Starbucks workers are eligible for restitution.

“We celebrate what DCWP was able to accomplish in the largest ever settlement that has been won in the city,” Mamdani said. “We will continue to commit funding, both of a fiscal kind and also of our own sustained commitment in terms of the political will necessary to ensure that we hold these kinds of corporations [accountable].”

Mamdani was more evasive when asked whether his campaign pledge to make the city more affordable conflicted with a possible 16% pay raise for the mayor, City Council members, the public advocate and the city comptroller — legislation he would be required to sign and which would raise the mayor’s salary from $258,000 to $300,000.

“I’m not worried about the hypotheticals at this time,” Mamdani said. “What I can tell you is that every single day from now until I become the mayor, and then after that, is going to be focused on how we can improve the working conditions for workers across the city and the conditions for every person who calls the city [home].”

Mamdani also denied knowing Irfan Verjee, CEO of the renewable energy firm Shomax Energy and a member of the business advisory council for OneNYC, a super PAC supporting Mamdani’s mayoral run.

The New York Post reported that Verjee allegedly offered Frank Garcia, chairman of the New York State Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, a role on Mamdani’s transition team if he raised $1 million for OneNYC.

“I do not know this man,” Mamdani said, adding that the era of pay-to-play politics was over. “We are an administration that will staff up on the basis of excellence, on the basis of outcomes, not on the basis of relationships.”

Sanders, who earlier joined several congressional colleagues in a letter urging Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol to negotiate a fair contract, told the crowd he shared Mamdani’s commitment to building an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthiest Americans.

“We are living in an economy where the people on top have never, ever had it so good,” Sanders said. “You have one man owning more wealth than the bottom 52% of American households. The CEOs made unbelievable salaries, 60% of our people in Vermont, in New York City, all over this country are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to pay the rent, struggling to pay for health care, struggling to put food on the table.”

Sanders, who with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and other progressive Democrats formed an alliance known as the “Fight Club” to challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and back progressive candidates, praised Mamdani’s grassroots-driven campaign as unprecedented.

Mamdani’s campaign, Sanders said, has inspired candidates nationwide to oppose tax breaks for billionaires and push for a more just economy, livable wages and universal health care.

“[Mamdani] won because he put together 10s and 10s of 1000s of volunteers who knocked on doors. He won because he had the guts to talk about the oligarchs,” Sanders said. “What we are seeing in America right now, in congressional races, Senate races, you’re seeing more and more candidates standing up exactly the same way that Zohran did.”

The 16,443 fans gathered on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush on Monday night saw something that no other Brooklyn Nets supporter can claim to have witnessed thus far this season. A victory by the home team on the Barclays Center hardwood. “It’s really good to be able to give a win here to our […]

The post Nets finally nab first win at Barclays appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

When pop-punk band State Champs first wrote the song “Losing Myself” for their 2015 album “Around the World and Back,” lead singer Derek DiScanio had no idea just how deeply he’d connect with its lyrics ten years later.

“It was my favorite song back then, but I didn’t really know what it meant,” he told Brooklyn Paper. “And now going back to and listening to ‘Losing Myself,’ I’m like, I knew that was my favorite song on the album, but I wasn’t really sure why. It’s about not really knowing what you’re going to get into, but you’re going to lose yourself in the moment.”

One line in particular — “We attract what we’re ready for” — has stayed with DiScanio since the song’s release. Fans often ask him to write it out so they can turn it into a tattoo, carrying the lyric with them wherever they go.

“I almost want to get one, too,” he laughed. “I think I have to.”

Since the release of “Around the World and Back,” State Champs have certainly attracted plenty.

From the band’s basement beginnings to sold-out shows across the globe — and now, their first time headlining Brooklyn Paramount, a personal favorite of DiScanio’s — the band is bringing the album full circle with a special, limited-run anniversary tour.

For DiScanio, the eight-show run isn’t about reliving the past so much as sharing the present with fans who have grown alongside the band. Revisiting the album’s 11 songs, he said they feel more personal now than they did a decade ago.

“It’s so funny,” he said. “I wrote a lot of those lyrics with no real intention, and without knowing what it was going to mean to me. Ten years later, some of them mean more to me than they did when I wrote them in the first place. It was a prequel to life. It was like foreshadowing.”

The band — led by DiScanio alongside guitarist Tyler Szalkowski, bassist Ryan Scott Graham and drummer Evan Ambrosio — handpicked the cities for the anniversary tour, choosing the places that mean the most to them personally. Other stops include their hometown, Albany, as well as Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. 

“We only picked our favorite markets and our favorite cities and our favorite venues to do them all at. So New York City had to be one. Brooklyn had to be one,” DiScanio said. “In Brooklyn, Paramount has become one of my favorite venues, but we’ve never played it yet. I’ve DJ’ed there for Emo Night, I’ve attended shows, and I was like, I wonder if the Champs are big enough to blow this place out. Sure enough, it’s going fast.”

The anniversary shows promise to be a full celebration of the album, performed in its entirety.

“There are a few songs on it that we’ve never played, ever, ever, ever … ‘Back and Forth’ is one, ‘Breaking Ground’ is a song we haven’t played in years, ‘Tooth and Nail’ is a song we haven’t played in years,” DiScanio said.

Fans will experience the album played front to back, just as they first fell in love with it — though the band briefly flirted with a reshuffle — before State Champs launch into hits from their other albums.

“We want to throw in fan favorites and not leave any stone unturned or let people be like, ‘Well, you didn’t play my favorite song,’” DiScanio said.

Fan experience is key to the tour, he added, because the show is just as much a tribute to “Around the World and Back” as it is to them.

“Some of our fans came to our shows 10, 12 years ago. Now some of them even have kids, and they’re the ones crowd surfing,” DiScanio said. “It’s a really cool Circle of Life moment for us. The goal is still the same: to grow our brand and to build this community and build the engagement that we’ve had with the people that let us do this in the first place.”

Of course, with all that nostalgia comes a little wear and tear.

“Everyone’s got to stretch out a little more,” DiScanio laughed. “Some people might not be able to crowd surf like they once used to… Myself included, I used to stage dive into the crowd. I don’t know if that’s for me anymore.”

Offstage, the band’s journey has been just as transformative as the one onstage

“All of us were living with our moms and dads, and now some of us have kids of our own, are married, and bought houses,” DiScanio said. “We’ve been through the high highs, the low lows, partied a little too hard, and been screwed over in ways.”

“I thought I was invincible,” he added of the old him. “I’d tell my younger self to take care of my voice a little more, live in the moment, enjoy every second, and always give back to the fans.”

The shows are being supported by a mix of longtime friends and up-and-coming bands, creating a community-driven experience that mirrors the band’s journey. New York crowds will see Broadside, Real Friends, and Cartel — a particularly meaningful addition to the lineup.

“Cartel was the first band me and Tyler covered in his basement when we were 16,” he said. “Now they’re supporting us at the Brooklyn Paramount, like what the heck happened? It’s really cool to call those guys friends now and have them say, ‘We want to be part of it.’ It’s kind of like a bucket-list moment.”

The shows will also feature State Champs’ most ambitious production yet.

“We’ve amped up the stage and production every time we headline, but this is going to be the biggest and best production stage-wise that Stage Amps has ever put on,” DiScanio said.

It’s been a year now since their fifth, self-titled album, which DiScanio said the band is still “riding the wave” of. But as they look back to their start in smaller venues, they’re also looking ahead.

“We’re excited now to kind of dive into the next year, which is 2026, where we’re going to get back into the studio and work on album number six,” he told Brooklyn Paper. “We’re going to put down a lot of new singles we’ve already been demoing and writing for that. The engine keeps going. It doesn’t stop, it doesn’t take a breath. We’re always excited for new material, and we’re never not going to be on the road.”

As the band gears up to hit the road again, the frontman says he’s looking forward to Brooklyn, where he’ll have “the best seat in the house.”

“This is for the fans. We can’t do this without people giving a single f—am I able to swear?” DiScanio asked (we said yes). “The fact that they still give a f-ck is the reason we’re able to put on a show like this. Honestly, I’m more excited to watch them than they are to watch me.”

The show takes place at Brooklyn’s Paramount, 385 Flatbush Ave Ext. in Downtown Brooklyn, on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2026. Tickets are available now through Ticketmaster or the venue’s box office.