📦 UPS Employees May Strike + Mother of Shooting Victim Speaks

Good morning, Queens! ☕️

• 📦 UPS workers and Teamsters prepare for new union contract fight.
• 😔 The mother of Shantasia O'Brian, the Rosedale girl who was shot dead in a car, speaks out.
• 🍦 It's official -- Queens state senator Addabbo doesn't like whipped cream anymore.

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☔️ Not as warm with downpours. High: 75 Low: 67.

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Here are the top stories today in Queens:

1. UPS workers and Teamsters have signaled preparations to strike as a last resort in their push for changes to their 2023 union contract. As part of the updated contract, UPS employees have been advocating for better overtime protections, an elimination of a second tier of delivery drivers who are paid less and protected less for doing the same work, better pay for part-timers, and heat protections, as UPS vehicles are not equipped with air conditioning. Despite the record profits the company reported in 2021 (nearly $13bn), UPS has been extremely resistent to these changes. Two UPS delivery drivers in Queens, both of whom served as alternate union stewards, were fired from their jobs on August 24, they believe, in retaliation for their union involvement.

The Guardian

2. The mother of Shantasia O'Brian, the Rosedale girl who was shot dead in a car by a 15-year-old suspect, told The Post Sunday that the gun may have been fired accidentally. O'Brian said the alleged shooter was the younger brother of the victim's boyfriend, and that he may have been fooling around with the weapon in the backseat of the car when it went off, and a bullet hit 17-year-old Shantasia, who was sitting in the driver's seat, in the back. The boy has since been charged with manslaughter. Shantasia had just started her freshman year at Stony Brook University on Long Island, and was home for the weekend to celebrate her 18th birthday.

New York Post ; ABC 7 NY

3. After all the recent commotion, exasperated Queens state senator Joseph Addabbo Jr. might be turned off of whipped cream for good. "I used to like whipped cream," he told Gothamist. "I used to like it a lot. I really did. But now, I don't know." The confusion started last month when a bill Addabbo sponsored into law last year suddenly made headlines. The law banned the sale of whipped cream chargers, not whipped cream canisters as was incorrectly reported, to people under the age of 21. A whipped cream charger is a small steel cylinder or cartridge filled with nitrous oxide, intended to be used as a whipping agent in reusable whipped cream dispensers. Only these chargers, and not pre-filled cans of whipped cream, require identification for purchase. Last week, Addabbo put out two press releases to dispel the viral stories about illegal whipped cream cans.

Gothamist

4. Dancing Classrooms, a non-profit after-school social dance initiative, is collaborating with the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) to relaunch its popular Dancing Classrooms Academy program this October. Students will learn how to dance the merengue, fox trot, rumba, tango, swing, waltz, salsa, and more. Classes will also feature discussions on the cultural history and the evolution of social dance in various parts of the world. Dancing Classrooms is thrilled to be moving its flagship program to Jamaica, as many of its partner schools have long been in the borough, and the commute to Queens is easier for many students than to the previous Manhattan location. Classes are on Wednesdays from 3:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. starting October 12 and run through May. Click here to apply.

QNS

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🗞 Hankering for more headlines? Look no further:

• New images of truck involved in deadly hit-and-run of 5-year-old (CBS New York)
• Is it feasible to connect between JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark? (Simple Flying)
• Queens man wins $5 million in scratch-off game (Daily Voice)
• 6th annual H.O.O.D Educators Community Affair backpack drive held in Queens (Yahoo News)
• Big Bush Park receives $1.2 million for turn field renovations (QNS)

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Today in Queens:

• Elmhurst Greenmarket (8 a.m.)
• Kids in Motion (10 a.m.)
• Queens Business Outreach Center Webinar: Applying for Loans & Grants for NYC Small Businesses (10 a.m.)
• Yoga for Surfers at the Women's Surf Film Festival (4:30 p.m.)
• Mario Kart Tournament (8 p.m.)
• Stand Up Comedy Night at Scorpion Records (9 p.m.)

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Queens Chatter:

• 🍎 Apples and 🍯 Honey Day just a week away: "Just a week away! Meet friendly beekeepers at our Apples & Honey Day on Sunday, 9/11! Included in garden admission (just $0-6 and FREE for #QBGMembers), come for themed crafts, apples and honey tastings, local beer and cider, and more. Sign up: https://qbgapplesandhoneyday.eventbrite.com/?aff=socialmedia Eryn Hatzithomas @ehatzi #NYCBees #NYCBeekeeping #NYCBeekeeper #BeeGarden #PeoplePlantsCultures #QueensBotanicalGarden #NYCHoney #NYCFamilies" (Queens Botanical Garden via Facebook)
• Senior appreciation month!: "Great to start Labor Day Weekend with my colleagues at the kickoff press conference for Senior Appreciation Month in Queens, which was co-founded by Margaret Denson. I was honored to issue a Proclamation declaring today as "Margaret J. Denson Day" in recognition of her distinguished public service.
  It was also a blast for DIII and I to see Mr. Met at the press conference. Mr. Met let me know he's excited about our office's Senior Appreciation Month event taking place on Thursday, September 22 at Queens Botanical Garden. More details to come soon." (Queens Borough President Donovan Richards via Facebook)
• Minatures galore: "Are you obsessed with miniatures? Do you absolutely love tiny things? Just wait until you hear what's coming up at Culture Lab!
  Join us in the Plaxall Gallery on Sept 10 for an in-depth workshop led by Chinese-born painter and artist Teng Teng! She'll give you hands-on instruction on how to create miniature paintings on a gold-plated frame using the tiniest paint brush you've ever seen. The best part? Bring it home with you to wear as jewelry or display as tiny art! No previous painting experience required. Materials and inspiration/ reference books will be provided. This is an all ages event. Register here: http://ow.ly/NUYl50KzKX1" (Culture Lab LIC at The Plaxall Gallery via Facebook)
• Jumana Manna exhibition: "Who decides what we preserve? And in the process of preservation, what gets erased?This month, the first major museum exhibition in the US of artist Jumana Manna opens at MoMA PS1, exploring the paradoxes and contradictions of preservation. Jumana's work is deeply embedded in the land, examining how practices from farming to foraging to seed banking are embroiled in—and struggle against—colonial legacies. The exhibition bridges sculpture and film, documentary and fiction, to examine land practices that resist, evade, and transform hegemonic power structures. Learn more at mo.ma/jumana. "Jumana Manna: Break, Take, Erase, Tally" opens September 22nd. The exhibition continues a conversation across PS1's programming about access to, sovereignty over, and creative interventions in the land. Visit our new website to learn more: momaps1.org. Below: Jumana Manna. "Old Bread (International)." 2022." (MoMA PS1 via Facebook)

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Now you're in the loop and ready to head out the door on this Tuesday! See you tomorrow morning for another update.

— Emma Radu Fighera

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Queens Daily? Contact me at queens@patch.com