Occupy roundup: Arrests, marches mark 2 months of movement
November 20, 2011

What started as the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York in September has spread across major cities worldwide as a call to action against unequal distribution of wealth. Thursday marked two months since the movement began.
Here is a roundup of some of the movement's most recent developments, including several that resulted in arrests.
NEW YORK
Protesters in New York launched what they called an effort to "shut down Wall Street" Thursday morning at the beginning of a nationwide day of what could be the Occupy movement's largest protests yet. A heavy police presence was in place as protesters kicked off the effort with the early morning demonstration against Wall Street.
At least 245 people were arrested over the course of Thursday, police spokesmen said. That includes 64 arrested -- most all wearing "99%" T-shirts -- during a sit-in early in the evening on Centre Street, near Foley Square.
Five police officers were injured when a liquid was thrown on their faces during confrontations with with protesters, Kelly said. The officers felt burning in their faces, but were able to wash off the unknown substance at a nearby hospital.
In addition, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said a 24-year-old police officer was injured when a star-shaped glass object was thrown at him. Speaking from Bellevue Hospital Center, he said "some protesters today deliberately pursued violence,' but added that most were peaceful and have "caused minimal disruptions to our city."
By Thursday evening, protesters had begun to stream from Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge. According to the Wall Street movement's Twitter feed, they chanted, "This is what democracy looks like! This is what America look like." The protesters walked along the pedestrian walkway, not the roadway -- as they'd done last month, when police more than 700 had been arrested.
Around that same time, activists projected slogans onto one side of the 32-story Verizon building also in Lower Manhattan.
Activists lifted metal barricades that ringed Zuccotti Park -- which had been the movement's original home base, prior to their conviction -- defying authorities and blocking traffic. Residents and employees of nearby businesses were required to flash identification cards as police cordoned off the surrounding area, police spokesman Paul Browne said.

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Cain receives Secret Service protection
November 19, 2011

Herman Cain on Thursday became the first Republican presidential candidate to receive Secret Service protection. Cain asked for the security and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and congressional leaders approved his request Thursday, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan confirmed.
Elite agents were expected to begin protecting the former pizza company executive sometime Thursday.
There have been threats against Cain, who had been experiencing a bounce in the polls, according to an official with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the situation. The nature of the threats was unclear.
Donovan would not say whether there had been any threats or discuss why protection was being provided.
Cain's campaign had no immediate comment.
Secret Service protection is given to each major party's presidential nominee, but can be provided earlier if the Department of Homeland Security approves a campaign's request.
When then-Sen. Barack Obama was placed under Secret Service protection in May 2007, it was the earliest ever for a presidential candidate. One of his rivals, Hillary Rodham Clinton, already had a protective detail because she was a former first lady.
In the 2004 campaign, Democratic candidates John Kerry and John Edwards received their protection in February of that year as they competed for the party's nomination.
Federal law allows candidates to seek protection if they meet a series of standards, including public prominence as measured by polls and fundraising.

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Sandusky interview prompted more victims to come forward
November 19, 2011

After Jerry Sandusky professed his innocence in a national TV interview, even more potential victims of the former Penn State coach's alleged child sexual abuse have come forward, two attorneys told the Harrisburg Patriot-News.
Many have not decided whether they will go to police, said attorney Andy Shubin. Some of the alleged abuse dates back to the 1970s and could be too old for prosecution, Shubin told the paper.
Shubin declined to specify how many potential additional victims he has spoken with, but said some have been living with the secret for years and were prompted to contact him by Sandusky's denials Monday in a phone interview with NBC's Bob Costas.
"They're literally processing it right in front of us," Shubin told the Patriot-News. "They have kept it from their families, moms, brothers and sisters ... The folks we talked to are largely folks in their 20s, who in a lot of cases have never told their story before."
Shubin said he is working with another attorney, Justine Andronici, along with a team of psychologists to ensure the alleged victims receive counseling.
"I spent about half the day (Tuesday) in kitchens and living rooms, speaking with victims of Sandusky's molestation and processing with them the effects of Jerry Sandusky being on television and Jerry Sandusky denying wrongdoing," Shubin said. "And what I found was that these folks are being re-traumatized."
Shubin and Andronici announced they intend to pursue a civil lawsuit on behalf of alleged victims of Sandusky, who was arrested Nov. 5 for the sexual abuse of eight boys over 15 years.

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Newt Gingrich's Freddie Mac work draws new scrutiny
November 17, 2011

Newt Gingrich, who has built his now resurgent presidential candidacy in part around virulent criticism of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, found himself Wednesday defending the at least $1.6 million he reportedly earned while under contract to Freddie.

While campaigning in Iowa, Gingrich was besieged by reporters asking him about a Bloomberg News report that his consulting firm took in much more from Freddie Mac than previously reported.

The former House speaker said he didn't know how much he had received from the federally backed mortgage company, but that he welcomed the inquiry into his private-sector work.

"Everybody will dig up everything they can dig up," said Gingrich, according to the New York Times. "That's fine, they should."

He said his consulting firm, Gingrich Group, offered "strategic advice for a lot of different companies" but that he had done no lobbying.

One GOP rival, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, wasted no time in slamming Gingrich on Wednesday for "shilling" for the company.

Last week, Gingrich was asked at a GOP debate in Michigan what work he had done to secure a $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac.

"I offered them advice on precisely what they didn't do," he replied. "My advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, 'We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that's what the government wants us to do.' As I said to them at the time, this is a bubble. This is insane. This is impossible."

A Bloomberg News story earlier this week disputed Gingrich's account, saying that those familiar with Gingrich's work don't recall any warnings about the company's business model-and that instead, his job was to rally support for Freddie Mac among Republicans in Washington.

In a follow-up story, Bloomberg reported that Gingrich's ties to Freddie go back as far as 1999, soon after he left the House, and that he was consulted in the early days of the Bush administration on how to expland home ownership nationwide.

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Evicted Wall St protesters seek rebound with rally
November 17, 2011

Occupy Wall Street protesters hope to rebound on Thursday with a march on the New York Stock Exchange to show their battle against economic inequality still has life after they were evicted from a nearby park.
Most rallies by the two-month-old movement have numbered in the hundreds of people in New York but protesters and city officials expect thousands of demonstrators to pour into the Wall Street area from 7 a.m. to try to stop workers from getting to their desks in the financial district.
It will be a test of whether Occupy Wall Street and the loose-knit global alliance it inspired will flag or grow after police cleared a camp of hundreds of protesters from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan on Tuesday.
"This movement is really not about tents as much as it is about an idea," said spokesman Ed Needham. "There's also going to be events in 100 countries around the world tomorrow."
Occupy Wall Street plans to shut down the home of the New York Stock Exchange and the heart of American capitalism to kick off a day of protests. But the movement acknowledged tight security was likely to prevent protesters from getting close to the stock exchange.
Another protest spokesman, Mark Bray, said "the idea is to inconvenience Wall Street bankers going to work, not to hurt anyone. We are committed to nonviolent civil disobedience."
Authorities were prepared for a possible influx of tens of thousands of protesters and aimed to balance public safety with their right to free speech and assembly, said Howard Wolfson, a New York deputy mayor.
"We take it seriously," he told reporters. "Our forces will be deployed accordingly."


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Charity's Donors Kept in Dark About Penn State Sex Abuse Investigation
November 17, 2011

The Second Mile charity did not tell its donors that its founder, ex-Penn State gridiron coach Jerry Sandusky, was being investigated for child molestation even as it continued to solicit contributions, four donors told FoxNews.com.
Three of the four donors said they each had given $50,000 or more in 2009 or 2010. The fourth, Varischetti & Sons, Inc., was listed as a $50,000-or-more donor in the charity's 2009 annual report, but the company told FoxNews.com that it had donated only $5,000.
"The cover-up is unbelievable," said Peter Varischetti, co-owner of the Pennsylvania wholesale industrial goods supplier. "It's hard to fathom."
The Second Mile revealed this week that Penn State officials had informed it as early as 2002 that Sandusky, who founded the charity in 1977, was the target of child molestation allegations.
The charity did not respond to requests for comment as of Wednesday, but its former head has said Sandusky formally tipped it off to the investigation of his behavior in 2008.

But according to Family Clothesline, a Penn State merchandising outfit on the outskirts of the college's Happy Valley campus, none of these revelations were passed along to the donors, the people who dug deep into their own pockets to keep the charity running.

"We feel let down," said Tracy Bell, a store coordinator at Family Clothesline. "Maybe they felt he's innocent until proven guilty. But it's their duty to inform their donors he was being investigated."


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Bob Costas interview: Did Jerry Sandusky make things worse for himself?
November 16, 2011

The decision by Jerry Sandusky's lawyer to let the former Penn State assistant coach answer specific questions and haltingly refute allegations of pedophilia in a Monday interview with NBC's Bob Costas represents an aggressive and risky defense strategy.
The goal of defense lawyer Joe Amendola was clearly to raise doubts about claims that Mr. Sandusky is a hardened sexual predator and instead suggest that he is a goofy, overgrown kid "horsing around" with boys who were "enjoying themselves" in a nonsexual way. Sandusky is charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of minors.
As evidenced by high-profile cases such as the Casey Anthony trial, legal proceedings are not open and shut cases, no matter how persuasive the evidence is to the public. But Sandusky's interview with Mr. Costas Monday might have merely added to the public presumption of guilt surrounding Sandusky.
Sandusky's words and behavior bore striking similarities to the kind of coping strategies that sexual predators use to deflect guilt and psychologically survive being confronted with their crimes, says Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minn., lawyer who represents victims of childhood sexual abuse.
"No sense can be made of Sandusky's position or his lawyer's decision to allow him to speak," says Mr. Anderson. Denying and minimizing "is the mantle that the molester always dons when confronted with the reality of their crimes, both in the court of public opinion and in the courtroom."
In the Costas interview, Sandusky denied that he's a pedophile, though he admitted that he "horsed around" with boys in showers, occasionally patting their legs, snapping towels, and hugging them, but "without intent of sexual contact."

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Occupy roundup: Legal action and a surprise eviction
November 16, 2011

What started as the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York in September has spread across major cities worldwide as a call to action against unequal distribution of wealth.
Here is a roundup of some of the movement's recent developments.
LONDON
Authorities in London voted Tuesday to resume legal action to clear tents set up by Occupy protesters on public roads outside St. Paul's Cathedral, in the heart of the city's financial district.
The City of London Corporation, which runs the financial district, called a temporary halt to legal action two weeks ago while it pursued talks with the activists on how to limit the size of the camp and set an end date for the protest.
But after those talks "got nowhere," the body now believes legal action is necessary to ensure highway safety and meet the needs of local businesses, policy chairman Stuart Fraser said.
"Sadly, now they have rejected a reasonable offer to let them stay until the New Year, it's got to be the courts," he said in a statement, referring to the protesters.
"We'd still like to sort this without court action but from now on we will have to have any talks in parallel with court action -- not instead."
Many of the tents set up by the Occupy activists are on what the corporation designates as public highway.
A letter has been sent to lawyers acting for some of the protesters, Fraser said, and a notice is likely to be sent Wednesday to those staying in tents.
"It will clearly take time but we are determined to see this through," he said.
"We are disappointed that they have decided to break off the process of dialogue," a post on the Occupy LSX (London Stock Exchange) Twitter account said.
"We have a great legal team in place and are not overly concerned," a tweet said.
The tent city was set up outside the centuries-old cathedral last month, causing it to close for a week. St. Paul's suspended its own legal action against the activists after a number of senior cathedral figures resigned over the threat to evict them.
Meanwhile, a small number of demonstrators gathered by the U.S. Embassy in London to protest the eviction of Occupy activists from Zuccotti Park in New York early Tuesday.
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA
Police in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who have come under fire for a weekend raid where officers in riot gear used semi-automatic weapons to remove squatters, said Monday the use of force was justified.
Police Chief Chris Blue told the town council that about 70 people had occupied the vacant building Saturday night, some of whom had masks on and distributed literature "including information on how many people it takes to flip over a police car."
Officers waited a day and moved in. Seven people were arrested Sunday. No weapons were found inside the building, according to CNN affiliate WRAL.
"We didn't know what we were walking into," Blue told the council.
Images from the raid have riled many in the traditionally liberal town. Some showed police pointing guns at protesters and pinning them on the ground.
"They're not the images that we or anybody in this community, I believe, wants to see," Blue said.
Among those cuffed and detained was Katelyn Ferral, a reporter with the News & Observer.
"They told me to get on the ground and spread my arms out. And so I did that," she told WRAL.
Earlier Monday, Blue and Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt appeared at a news conference where they were repeatedly heckled and booed by Occupy supporters who accused officers of excessive force.

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Jerry Sandusky says he's innocent but admits contact with kids
November 15, 2011

Jerry Sandusky said Monday he is "innocent" of the sexual abuse charges against him, but he did not deny that he "horsed around," showered with and touched boys while he was a Penn State assistant coach.
Meanwhile, police in Pennsylvania said Monday that at least 10 more alleged victims have come forward since Sandusky's arrest earlier this month and that they are investigating their claims, The New York Times reported.
Sandusky told NBC's Bob Costas that his physical encounters with children were never sexual in nature. A grand jury indicted the former defensive coordinator on 40 counts of abuse.
"I have horsed around with kids, I have showered (with them) after workouts. I have hugged them and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact," Sandusky told Costas via telephone.
Sandusky denied that he is a pedophile or that he is sexually attracted to young boys, but he also admitted: "I shouldn't have showered with those kids."

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Super committee: 10 days to deadline and no deal imminent
November 15, 2011

They have been meeting for two months, poring over concepts and ideas already hashed out by three other groups over the past year.
But 10 days before their deadline, members of the so-called congressional "super committee" created to forge a deficit reduction deal indicated Sunday that they remain hung up on basic issues of tax and entitlement reform that have previously stymied agreement.
Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the panel's Republican co-chair, told CNN's "State of the Union" that the only solution possible might be a two-step process in which the bipartisan committee sets a figure for increased tax revenue that congressional committees would then implement through legislation.
"There could be a two-step process that would hopefully give us pro-growth tax reform," Hensarling said.
The continued political wrangling over how to reform the tax code and entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid as part of a broad deficit reduction plan causes consternation for two senators who were part of the "Gang of Six" that put together their own plan earlier this year.
"We've got to be willing to probably make some folks mad on both ends of the political extreme," Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia told the CNN program. "And you'll know this super committee is getting close if you hear folks on both ends of the political extreme scream the loudest, because that will show that there's actually movement being made."
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma agreed, saying on CNN that a lack of leadership from the White House and top congressional Democrats and Republicans is preventing a compromise.

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