Astros Wild Card Series 2024 presents economic boom for downtown Houston bars, restaurants near Minute Maid Park [Video]

Workers at Starbucks stores began a five-day strike Friday to protest lack of progress in contract negotiations with the company.File video above: Starbucks baristas strike in 2023 'Red Cup Rebellion'The strikes by baristas and other workers were scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle and could spread to hundreds of stores across the country by Christmas Eve. Starbucks Workers United, the union organizing Starbucks' baristas, said at least 10 locations were closed down as of midday Friday.The walkouts came a day after the Teamsters union announced strikes at seven Amazon delivery hubs.Starbucks said early Friday there was no significant impact to its store operations.We are aware of disruption at a small handful of stores, but the overwhelming majority of our U.S. stores remain open and serving customers as normal, the Seattle-based coffee giant said in a statement.Workers at 535 company-owned U.S. stores have voted to unionize, but Starbucks has nearly 10,000 company-owned U.S. storesStarbucks Workers United, which began the unionization effort in 2021, said Starbucks has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year. The union also wants the company to resolve outstanding legal issues, including hundreds of unfair labor practice charges that workers have filed with the National Labor Relations Board.The union noted that Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol, who started in September, could make more than $100 million in his first year on the job. But it said the company recently proposed an economic package with no new wage increases for unionized baristas now and a 1.5% increase in future years.Union baristas know their value, and theyre not going to accept a proposal that doesnt treat them as true partners," Starbucks Workers United President Lynne Fox said.Starbucks said Workers United prematurely ended a bargaining session this week.We are ready to continue negotiations to reach agreements. We need the union to return to the table, the company said in a statement.Starbucks said it proposed an annual pay increase of at least 1.5% that could be higher in some years. If the company said if it offered a lower increase to non-union stores in any given year, it still would give union workers a 1.5% increase.Starbucks said the union wants to increase the minimum wage for hourly workers by 64% immediately and 77% over the life of a three-year contract.Starbucks said it already pays an average of $18 per hour. With benefits including health care, free college tuition and paid family leave Starbucks' pay package is worth an average of $30 per hour for baristas who work at least 20 hours per week.The strikes won't be the first for Starbucks during the busy holiday season. In November 2023, thousands of workers at more than 200 stores walked out on Red Cup Day, when the company usually gives away thousands of reusable cups. Hundreds of workers also went on strike in June 2023 to protest after the union said Starbucks banned Pride displays at some stores.The union and the company struck a different tone early this year, when they returned to the bargaining table and pledged to reach an agreement. Starbucks said it has held nine bargaining sessions with the union since April, and has reached more than 30 agreements with the union.But Starbucks has struggled with falling sales and lower customer traffic in the U.S. and abroad this year, and the CEO who promised to work for a labor agreement, Laxman Narasimhan, was forced out this summer. Niccol quashed a unionization campaign at Chipotle when he was the CEO there, but he pledged to work constructively with the union in a September letter.Now, Starbucks and the union appear to be at an impasse.In a year when Starbucks invested so many millions in top executive talent, it has failed to present the baristas who make its company run with a viable economic proposal, Fatemeh Alhadjaboodi, a Starbucks barista from Texas and bargaining delegate, said in a statement.

ET looks back at Brittany Murphys death, from the eerie details surrounding her Hollywood Hills mansion, to the husband who died in the same house just months later under similar circumstances. A movie star of the 90s and 00s - best known for her roles in Clueless, Girl, Interrupted and 8 Mile - Brittany took her last breath at 32 years old on Dec. 20, 2009. Despite the efforts of her mother, Sharon Murphy, and husband of two years, Simon Monjack - who are heard in a frantic 911 call - to revive Brittany, the actress died from a combination of pneumonia, anemia and a fatal mix of prescription medications. At the time of her death, Brittany was years past her career peak, which included leading roles on the big screen and a high-profile romance with Just Married co-star Ashton Kutcher. In the aftermath, her mom and husband embarked on a curious press tour, with their interviews on Larry King Live and Today fueling rumors about Brittanys tragic death. After Simon died at their L.A. home from the same health issues as Brittany, an air of mystery was cemented around their deaths. While theories surrounding mold and poisoning were disproven, the online discourse later shifted to the houses previous owner, Britney Spears, who reportedly claimed the home was haunted. After Brittany was laid to rest on Christmas Eve 2009, details began emerging about her British husbands sordid reputation and their chaotic moments behind the scenes of her final movies. In Maxs 2021 documentary, What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, Kathy Najimy who was Aunt Peggy to Brittanys Luann on King of the Hill' emotionally recalls witnessing Simons negative influence on her longtime co-star. ET also looks at Brittanys rise to fame, with a vault of rare footage and unseen interviews. Along her Hollywood journey, Brittany opened up about her never-realized dreams of a singing career, working with some of todays biggest A-list stars and what drove her trademark bubbly demeanor.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency" which is not, despite the name, a government agency.The acronym DOGE is a nod to Musk's favorite cryptocurrency, dogecoin. Trump said in a statement that Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House advice and guidance and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to Government never seen before. He added that the move would shock government systems.It's not clear how the organization will operate. It could come under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which dictates how external groups that advise the government must operate and be accountable to the public.Federal employees are generally required to disclose their assets and entanglements to ward off any potential conflicts of interest, and to divest significant holdings relating to their work. Because Musk and Ramaswamy would not be formal federal workers, they would not face those requirements or ethical limitations.Musk posted on X: Department of Government Efficiency. The merch will be (fire emojis). Later he added: Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!Musk has been a constant presence at Mar-a-Lago since Trump won the presidential election.The president-elect has often said he would give Musk a formal role overseeing a group akin to a blue-ribbon commission that would recommend ways to slash spending and make the federal government more efficient. Musk at one point suggested he could find more than $2 trillion in savings nearly a third of total annual government spending.Trump had made clear that Musk would likely not hold any kind of full-time position, given his other commitments.I dont think I can get him full-time because hes a little bit busy sending rockets up and all the things he does, Trump said at a rally in Michigan in September. He said the waste in this country is crazy. And were going to get Elon Musk to be our cost cutter.Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in January and threw his support behind Trump.Trump said in his statement the two will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies."

President-elect Trump announced Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as the leaders of his new Department of Government Efficiency, aiming to reduce federal waste and bureaucracy.