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OAKLAND, Calif. — Leaders across the country felt increasing pressure Friday to shut down Occupy encampments after two men died in shootings and another was found dead from a suspected combination of drugs and carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a propane heater inside a tent. Citing a strain on crime-fighting resources, police first pleaded with and then ordered Occupy Oakland protesters to leave their encampment at the City Hall plaza where a man was shot and killed late Thursday. The Oakland Police Officer’s Association, which represents rank-and-file police, issued an open letter saying the camp is pulling officers away from...

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Fort Collins man was in jail Friday to face charges related to a fire that burned two buildings and caused $10 million damage. Police arrested Benjamin Gilmore, 29 Thursday night. He's accused of setting the fire in a 4-story building that was under construction at 311 Mason St. That fire spread to Penny Flats, a nearby building that had condominiums and stores in it. Investigators determined the fire was arson. It broke out at 3:30 a.m. on October 24. The building that was under construction was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Investigators from...

(11-02) 23:05 PDT OAKLAND -- A car struck two Occupy Oakland protesters tonight as they marched with a crowd along Broadway, and an angry mob surrounded the car as emergency workers tended to the injured. The driver, who was not identified, sat in his silver Mercedes-Benz sedan after the 7:30 p.m. incident while hundreds of people screamed at him through his closed windows. BART police officers who were guarding nearby transit stations responded, questioned the driver and several witnesses, then let the driver leave the scene at 11th Street and Broadway in his car. The two people who were hit,...

Former U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jayel Aheram served tours in Iraq and Southeast Asia with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to protect the freedoms of Americans. Aheram, who was honorably discharged in early 2010, was arrested on suspicion of unlawful assembly on Nov. 1 during a police crackdown at a week-long encampment at Palm Desert's Civic Center Park as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The 27 year old, who also goes by the name Jack Lee Noftsger, told Patch in a jailhouse interview on Wednesday that he believes there is something wrong with a system that punishes him...

Here’s how the media are viewing the once-hottest news story: Occupy Wall Street is 99% dead. In the first phase of Occupy Wall Street, journalists were dazzled by the spirit and the anger of the participants. For a brief, flickering moment, the idea of rallying as an economically aggrieved 99% of the population had terrific potential. Reporters trekked to Zuccotti Park to observe the latest link in the chain, advancing from the anti-Vietnam protests of the ‘60s and ‘70s to the anti-nuclear power demonstrations that followed it. Now we’re seeing the lamentable second wave of the Occupy Wall Street story....

Forty two years ago, Oakland mayor-to-be Jean Quan was a U.C. Berkeley student-activist rallying for a movement dubbed the Third World Liberation Front of 1969. That movement would later give birth to the university's Ethnic Studies Department and influence universities across the country to integrate such a unique discipline. The department studies represent the history and experiences of marginalized people, especially people of color. Quan went on to become many things: union organizer, Oakland Board of Education member, Oakland City Council member, Chabot Space & Science Center board chair. As she tells on her own website jeanquan.org, in the beginning...

SAN FRANCISCO -- On both sides of San Francisco Bay, the liberal mayors of two famously liberal cities have found themselves struggling to balance their avowed support for the Occupy Wall Street movement with the need to preserve public safety. The spirit of the movement has strong allies in Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, both of whom have ties to social activism in the area. Quan, a former student activist at University of California, Berkeley, during the 1960s, had stood one year ago between police and police-shooting demonstrators in an unsuccessful attempt to calm the...

Occupy Edmonton protesters held a march on October 29 to call for a Robin Hood tax. They are calling on G20 leaders to immediately impose a 0.05 per cent tax on banks for financial transactions and currency trades. They claim that profits made from the tax could go back to programs to benefit society. "It's a good way to generate some revenue to deal with global poverty, to deal with climate change," spokesperson Chelsea Taylor told CTV News. According to the group the Canadian government has shown a lack of leadership on a Robin Hood tax. "Finance minster Jim Flaherty...

DENVER - A tense standoff between protesters and authorities near the steps of the Colorado Capitol erupted into a clash Saturday that resulted in a surge of demonstrators being met with police force that included reports of pepper spray and rubber bullets. The situation downtown escalated when some supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement marching in a group of about 2,000 tried to advance up the Capitol steps. About eight officers scuffled with a group of protesters, according to The Denver Post, and police confirmed to the newspaper that they used pepper spray and either rubber bullets or pepper...

Who said protesting was for grown ups? As these photographs show, kids are joining the masses at Occupy protests around the world. The protests, which began in New York City as hundreds gathered in Zucotti Park to "Occupy Wall Street," have spread to cities all over the world. And, the adults, some of whom have made the Occupy camps their home, are bringing along their little ones. Many believe they have must seize this "teachable moment" to educate their kids on income equality and the right to protest. In Zucotti Park, a Brooklyn mother organized a sleepover for more than...

OAKLAND, Calif. - Filmmaker Michael Moore told anti-Wall Street protesters in Oakland that the Occupy movement - which has spread to cities across America and overseas - in inspiring millions who are angry about corporate excess, income inequality and the failure of politicians to address issues facing the majority of Americans. "We've killed despair across the country and we've killed apathy," he said. The director of the documentary films "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine" said people throughout the U.S. were "disgusted" and "horrified" when police fired tear gas and bean bags and took other aggressive actions against protesters Tuesday...

Snip- "City officials temporarily denied Occupy Madison a new street use permit Wednesday after protesters violated public health and safety conditions and failed to follow the correct processes to renew or amend a permit..." "A neighboring hotel's staff alleged voiced concerns about having to recently escort hotel employees to and from bus stops late at night due to inappropriate behavior, such as public masturbation, from street protesters."

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Anti-Wall Street protesters around the U.S. who are vowing to stand their ground against the police and politicians are also digging in against a different kind of adversary: cold weather. With the temperature dropping, they are stockpiling donated coats, blankets and scarves, trying to secure cots and military-grade tents, and getting survival tips from the homeless people who have joined their encampments. "Everyone's been calling it our Valley Forge moment," said Michael McCarthy, a former Navy medic in Providence. "Everybody thought that George Washington couldn't possibly survive in the Northeast." Valley Forge in Pennsylvania was the site...

* TV, newspaper coverage declining * Twitter trend also softening as days go by * Experts say protest needs a "second act" "Occupy Wall Street" is occupying less space in TV broadcasts, newspapers and social media as the story settles into a familiar pattern and protesters dig in for what could be a protracted fight. While the movement's reliance on Twitter and Facebook to spread its message is well established, it has also benefited from becoming a media curiosity, at times drawing legions of TV crews and reporters to its encampments. Coverage fed on itself, as more people joined in...

NEW YORK -- It was supposed to be a master class in revolutionary activism: two stars of the Tahrir Square uprising visiting Occupy Wall Street to swap tactics and sass. It ended up more like an undergraduate teach-in. For Egyptian activists Asmaa Mahfouz and Ahmed Maher, the visit to Zuccotti Park was an exhilarating -- if surreal -- break from the punishing workload of fighting the military dictatorship back home. "Where is the tear gas?" Maher asked with a smile, but he seemed genuinely puzzled by the cordial relations between the Wall Streeters and the cops. Maher and Mahfouz both...

For those old enough to remember the protests of the 1960s and 70s, Occupy Wall Street has revisited that era. Folk legends Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie, joined the ever growing movement and marched with the group in New York City singing Seeger's signature, We Will Overcome. Seeger is now 92 and walks with two canes; Guthrie is 64 and a long way from Alice's Restaurant. Seeger, a lifelong activist, is best known for penning the infamous, "If I Had a Hammer," " Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Where Have all the Flowers Gone?" After performing on Friday evening at Symphony...

PORTLAND, Ore. -- When Occupy Wall Street protesters took over two parks in Portland's soggy downtown, they pitched 300 tents and offered free food, medical care and shelter to anyone. They weren't just building, like so many of their brethren across the nation, a community to protest what they see as corporate greed. They also created an ideal place for the homeless. Some were already living in the parks, while others were drawn from elsewhere to the encampment's open doors. Now, protesters from Portland to Los Angeles to Atlanta are trying to distinguish between homeless people who are joining their...

If you believe a column in Newsweek magazine, most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters are just regular folks, people like you and me. Writer Michael Daly puts forth that the demonstrators simply have had enough of an unfair economic system, and what's wrong with that? But a survey taken at the protest site in New York City tells quite another story. Pollster Doug Schoen, who once worked for President Clinton, had his staff ask 200 protesters to define themselves. -- Just 15 percent are unemployed. -- Most voted for Barack Obama in 2008, but now only 44 percent approve...

Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports, a popular, whimsical, sports-based media brand here in Boston (and NYC, and Phila), recently visited Occupy Boston and mocked the living hell out of them. Watch

Rep. Allen West denounces the Occupy Wall Street movement for “laughable hypocrisy” and contends that it is dangerous that some in Washington, including President Barack Obama, are embracing the nationwide wave of protests. During an extensive interview with Newsmax.TV, the Florida Republican also: Blames Washington for the nation’s economic problems. Decries Obama’s “class warfare rhetoric.” Insists that Attorney General Eric Holder should resign over the Operation Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal. And says Obama should “dust off” his Nobel Peace Prize and return it, considering the military ventures he has advanced during his administration. West, who was elected in 2010,...