Happy Friday to everyone! It’s been a very big news day, from major developments at Occupy Wall Street to a huge scandal involving the Catholic Church. Let’s get to it!

Bloomberg Backs Down on Evicting OWS After announcing that he would follow Brookfield Properties’ (the owners of Zuccotti Park) wishes, Mayor Mike Bloomberg backed down on forcibly evicting the protesters at Occupy Wall Street for ‘cleaning purposes.’ The announcement is that the cleaning was not cancelled but postponed… leaving matters unsettled. The real story is how the protesters prepared themselves for the potential conflict. Over 3,000 people showed up and planned to make a human chain. Josh Harkinson from Mother Jones was there all night and posted a story that provides insight on how the occupation spent the night before it all might have been over. Very interesting read. The first link is an article posted by Allison Kilkenny who, I dare say, has done the best job out there of reporting on Occupy Wall Street. She’s been there since the beginning. Also – it’s chart time! Digby posted a chart that’s one of the best visual representation of the wealth gap in this country that I’ve seen.

Occupy Denver Ended Forcibly by Police In a story that is garnering much less media attention, Colorado State Police entered the park that Occupy Denver was occupying and dispersed the crowd in riot gear. It isn’t known right now how many people were arrested, but the rest were physically removed from the encampment. After the crowd was removed, the police broke down about thirty tents and confiscated them, and closed the park indefinitely. This action was obviously done with more force than was necessary. An inquiry should be done, and any overreach should be punished. More importantly, hopefully Occupy Denver will find a new venue to continue their protest. For the latest updates, check Occupy Denver’s site.

Kansas City Bishop Indicted for Failure to Report Abuse Robert Finn, the Catholic Bishop for Kansas City, was just indicted for failure to disclose abuse that was done by a Priest under his supervision. The priest was taking lewd photographs of underage girls. This is the first time in 25 years that a Catholic Bishop has faced charges in an American court. This is a very positive development. There has been a distinct pattern of Catholic churches revolving priests that have allegedly abused children all while avoiding legal repercussions. This is the first time in a long time that the tide is turning. This should be the first of many arrests that shouldn’t stop until all of the pedophiles are purged from the ranks.

Court Temporarily Blocks Parts of Alabama Immigration Law The U.S. 11th Circuit Appeals Court temporarily blocked provisions of the Alabama Immigration Law that is particularly heinous. More specifically, public schools will no longer be mandated to determine the legal status of all students. They also blocked the portion that called for law enforcement officers to charge any immigrant who doesn’t carry their immigration status papers with them. These actions, that have weakened the strongest anti immigration law in the United States, are not permanent… a final decision will not be made for months. Still, these are positive signs that hopefully be the beginning of a trend. Enforcing immigration laws is a Federal responsibility, and all of these state laws that supposedly supersede that authority are unconstitutional.

Tea Party Founder Backs OWS Karl Denninger, one of the founders of the Tea Party Movement, has come out in support of Occupy Wall Street. When the Tea Party came into existence, its motivations were against the clear collusion of big business and big government. Since then, it has been co-opted by the religious right and the Republican Party and has lost that ideological purity. Denninger’s support is intriguing. It could be seen as the beginning of a possible alliance between the Right and the Left against a common enemy – corporate greed that has hurt 99% of America.

Thanks for reading and staying informed! Keep reading The Progressive Playbook and come back tomorrow for another Daily News Drop.

Sources: The Nation, Mother Jones, Digby’s Hullabaloo, Common Dreams, OccupyDenver.org, The New York Times, The Washington Post, RT: Russian Television