Watchdog targets mayors: Stop harassing journalists covering Occupy protests

As has been widely reported, police crackdowns on the Occupy movement in cities across the country have extended beyond the protesters to include attacks on journalists as a way to stanch news of police action. Ten reporters were arrested in New York when police cleared Zuccotti Park on Tuesday, including reporters for the AP, NPR, and the New York Daily News, according to watchdog organization Free Press. The organization announced today it has launched a campaign “targeted at mayors around the country to demand they honor the 1st Amendment and drop all charges against journalists.”

Huge majority says compromise needed to keep government up and running–further cuts not wanted, except to military

A new Bloomberg News poll indicates that nearly 8 in 10 Americans believe that legislators should reach a compromise on the federal budget in order to avert a government shutdown.

Florida coast threatened by oil gusher; BP may now do nothing for months

The Florida Independent reports in its daily oil-spill round-up that the Gulf side panhandle is now threatened directly by the British Petroleum oil gusher, which the company failed to plug over the Memorial Day weekend.

Yet

Foreclosure crisis worsening; 1.5 million notices in 2009

There’s more proof out today that the foreclosure crisis is only getting worse, despite everything that’s been thrown at it so far: Foreclosure notices reached a new record high during the first half of this year, Bloomberg reports.

Citing…