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The Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886 (PVSA) effectively bars cruise ships from sailing between American cities. The PVSA forces cruiseships going from one US city to another to either stop at what is called a "far foreign port" (ie., outside of North America), or to stop at a foreign port within North America before returning to the American port of embarkation. Thus, a cruise ship cannot start in Los Angeles and end in San Francisco unless it stops in Tokyo or Lima first.

Oakland turns to 1st general strike in 65 years

A 10,000-strong rally has blocked the entrances to the Port of Oakland, which has had to shut down its operations for the day. The port will lose roughly $8 million per day if the "blockade" continues.

Today’s events have culminated in a massive march in the Bay Area, which has been one of the goals of the Occupy Oakland General Strike, the first such strike in the city for 65 years. The Port of Oakland is one of the largest shipping hubs of its kind in the country.

Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) Sgt. Edwin Rivera earned more than $166,000 last year in overtime pay, more than double his base salary.

A businessman is under fire for buying tiny parcels of land so he can sell or lease them for inflated prices to people who thought they owned them.

In one case, Guthrie businessman Ron Edwards is demanding four Edmond condominium owners pay him $80,000 for a shared driveway he bought for $1,584 at a county auction.

"I thought I made a decent offer,” Edwards said.

The owners haven't paid, so Edwards blocked their driveway with concrete highway barriers last month.

*Hoffa's Army Goes To War* LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — Hundreds of Longshoremen stormed the Port of Longview early Thursday, overpowered and held security guards, damaged railroad cars, and dumped grain that is the center of a labor dispute, said Longview Police Chief Jim Duscha.

BOSTON (AP) - Boston police are looking for the vandals who knocked the head off a statue of Jesus outside a Roman Catholic church named for Mother Teresa.

The Rev. Jack Ahern of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta at St. Margaret's church in the city's Dorchester section says when he arrived at the church Sunday morning the statue's head was lying on the ground in pieces and the statue had been knocked off its base.

A North Carolina man finds himself answering a complaint before a state licensing board for "practicing engineering without a license" NOT because he was representing himself as a qualified engineer, but because his petition to the government for redress of grievances appeared "to be engineering level work".

North Dakota voters resoundingly defeated an attempt to abolish the state’s property taxes Tuesday and were set to allow the University of North Dakota to rename its controversial mascot, which critics say denigrates Native Americans. More than 70% of voters rejected a grass-roots effort to eliminate state property taxes, according to unofficial returns, even though North Dakota has a budget surplus that exceeds $1 billion, in part due to an oil boom. More than 27,000 residents had signed a petition to get the measure on Tuesday’s ballot.

Vandals Defecate on Church's Altar, Burn Cross & Dig Up A Slave Child's Tombstone