MSNBC is reporting that support for the New York-based Occupy Wall Street has gained momentum nationwide. Protests with names like Occupy Los Angeles, Occupy Portland, Occupy Chicago and Occupy Boston were staged in front of Federal Reserve buildings and city halls this week. More actions are anticipated. Occupy Wall Street started with fewer than a…

The Washington Post is reporting that Angella Reid has been appointed the White House’s chief usher. Currently general manager of the Ritz-Carlton at Pentagon City, Reid will run the household staff and grounds at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. — a job that has led to some long tenures. Born in Jamaica, Reid will be only the…

AFP is reporting that more than 5 million telephone subscribers in Nigeria were cut off when protesters attacked an exchange of India-owned Airtel, one of the West African nation’s biggest telecom firms, it said Thursday. The protesters, members of the Nigeria Labor Congress, the nation’s central labor movement, were protesting against the hiring of “casual,”…

CNN is reporting that three women’s rights activists have received the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize award. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and activist Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, along with activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen, were awarded the prize “for their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building…

Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly is reporting that comedian-actor Kevin Hart will guest-star on the ABC smash hit Modern Family. Hart will play the role of a physician who lives next door to Claire and Phil Dunphy, played by Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell. Hart previously starred in Soul Plane with Modern Family star Sofia…

Jorge Rivas of ColorLines is reporting that a new study from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU puts forth an ominous prediction: Five million voters could be affected by the deluge of restrictive voting laws that have swept the country in recent years. The report finds that the voters are from traditionally Democratic demographics and could be…

News One is reporting that after 17 years of incarceration, wrongfully convicted murderer Obie Anthony has been released from prison. Anthony was convicted of fatally shooting a man outside a South Los Angeles brothel in a 1995 trial and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Last Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court…

The Associated Press is reporting that Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington has donated $2.5 million to his alma mater, Fordham University. Washington earned a Bachelor of Arts in drama and journalism from Fordham in 1977. He donated $2 million to endow the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre and another $250,000 to establish a scholarship for…

Patricia Sullivan of the Washington Post is reporting that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has died. In a brief statement, Apple announced the death but did not say where he died. He suffered from a rare form of pancreatic cancer and had a liver transplant in 2009, and he stepped down as Apple’s chief executive officer…