Lawyer Says Zuccotti Park Demonstrators Broke No Law:
People arrested during the NYPD crackdown on the Occupy Wall Street encampment last fall have asked a judge to dismiss trespassing charges, on the grounds that the demonstrators had a legal right to be in the privately owned plaza.
No ruling yet.
City of Boston Loses Landmark Case Against Man Who Recorded Police Brutality.
Fracking Hell: Williams Lathrop Compressor Station in Springville, Pa., Susquehanna County. Explosion before noon , 3-29-12, shook nearby homes, and fire and black smoke billowing out for two hours until pressure came down and emergency personnel could go in. This is a new Compressor Station since 9-11 and the biggest one in our county. More Here.
Paul Ryan's budget proposal: Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's version of the budget passed a vote in the House this week. While not anticipated to pass the Senate, Ryan's plan not only would reduce taxes for the wealthy to 25 percent, it would also have devastating effects for low-income families, forcing them to do without as many as 8.2 billion meals per year and losing approximately 184,000 jobs nationwide.
Fire-fighting ships monitor huge gas leak: France's Total sent fire-fighting ships close to the scene of a gas leak from its North Sea Elgin platform early today (NZ time) as a large gas cloud led to fears of an explosion.
The company said the gas originated thousands of metres below the seabed, which engineers said might mean that a relief well - one possible option to stop the leak - could take months to drill.
Total has not yet found a way to stop the gas leak.
Another report refers to the gas leak as "An Explosion Waiting to Happen."
A prominent environmental activist has been released from an isolation unit at a federal prison and placed back into a minimum-security camp after choosing an ill-advised word in an email about one of his legal-defense donors, his lawyers said Thursday.
Tim DeChristopher, considered a folk hero in the environmental community, is serving two years for fraudulently bidding on drilling leases near Utah’s national parks in an effort to keep the parcels undeveloped.
DeChristopher's time in isolation was the result of a complaint lodged by an "anonymous" congressman.
More on this also at Rolling Stone Magazine.
The NYPD has begun to commandeer public buses to transport Occupy Wall Street protesters to jail whenever they feel like it. Headed to work? Too bad.
Overhaul the Banks?: A convocation of bankers, lawyers, financial leaders and academics met on March 27 to discuss the creation of new global regulatory authorities, according to the conference's event page. Try to tell me again that the Occupy movement isn't making a difference.
They're Back: It's been a year since the Occupy Wall Street movements taking over the country were one-by-one taken down by local police but in Dallas a group of occupy protesters have returned to send a message. "we've never really been gone."
Support for Arrested Journalists: 70 journalists have been arrested while covering Occupy protests in 12 cities around the country. In an annual survey of worldwide freedom of the press released Jan. 23 by Reporters without Borders.
Demonstrators shut down the entrance of the Hotel Sofitel in Redwood City where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney held a fundraising dinner on March 26th. Several protest groups coordinated to produce a show of anger aimed at the presidential hopeful and wealthy attendees of the event. One group erected a giant Etch A Sketch outside the hotel entrance, making light of a recent Romney aide's gaffe; others mocked billionaire supporters of his campaign by wearing faux fur and pearls and lifting glasses of champagne.
Occupy Redwood City, Occupy San Jose, and Occupy San Francisco members joined labor groups on the sidewalk with drums and other musical instruments to augment loud chants. Occupy Oakland members came from the east side of the Bay to the peninsula event and shouted as the fundraiser guests arrived, "Dinner is over! Go home!
