Cambridge, MA - Over 20 Harvard employees and supporters held a demonstration outside Harvard University's 90 Mt. Auburn St. facility on Wednesday against proposed "voluntary and involuntary staff reductions" at the Harvard University Library- while a meeting on restructuring the labor force at the library was being led by HU Library Executive Director Helen Shenton inside.

Cambridge, Mass. - Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges addressed a rally of 75 Occupy Harvard protestors and supporters on Monday near the Science Center at Harvard University - just outside Harvard Yard, which has been locked down to the public and press since the Occupy Harvard movement was launched on November 9th.

Cambridge, Mass. - Many of the sights and sounds of the growing social, political, and economic protest launched by activists in New York City nearly two months ago and known as the "Occupy Movement" were on display in Harvard Square Wednesday night. This included several time consuming but extremely egalitarian tactical discussions by hundreds of Harvard students and community members blocked by University police from entering Harvard Yard to set up tents and begin an encampment similar to Occupy Boston in Dewey Square and many others around the country.

Cambridge, Mass. - Harvard University's main quad - the famed Harvard Yard, bounded by Mass Ave., Peabody St., Cambridge St., Broadway and Quincy St. - was locked down in response to Harvard students, staff and faculty calling the first general assembly of Occupy Harvard this evening. All visitors without a Harvard affiliation - including members of the press - are being stopped at the five open gates of the walled complex by a combination of private security guards, Harvard University Police and Cambridge Police. Some Harvard students, including residents of dorms on the yard, have also been prevented from entering the yard seemingly at random throughout the evening.

When it became evident that outside supporters would not be allowed to enter the Yard shortly after the scheduled 7 p.m. start time of the general assembly, the initial Occupy Harvard participants exited Johnston Gate and blocked Mass. Ave. briefly before being joined by some of the over 100 Harvard union employees from SEIU Local 615 and UNITEHERE Local 26, and proceeding on an unscripted march up Mass. Ave. to the nearby Harvard University Law School quad - where there was no significant police presence.

Cambridge, Mass. - World-renowned linguist and popular intellectual Noam Chomsky issued the following statement yesterday in support of the #OccupyBoston movement - now encamped in Dewey Square in Boston. He called the progress of the fast-growing movement "exhilarating" and said "there's no question that the country needs something like this protest against the awful things that are happening." The #OccupyBoston movement is a regional offshoot of the anti-corporate pro-democracy #OccupyWallStreet movement founded in New York City at a demonstration on September 17th. Open Media Boston has confirmed that there is a possibility that Chomsky will appear at Dewey Square mid-afternoon today following an appearance at a peace conference nearby.

Cambridge, Mass. - Last Thursday, as Palestinian leadership pushed for recognition of an independent state at the United Nations, over 50 people attended a Harvard Square demonstration in support of that ongoing effort.

Cambridge, Mass. - Over 50 student activists from the Harvard College Environmental Action Committee and allies held a protest against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday - on the occasion of a closed-door presentation at Harvard University's Kirkland House by President Barrack Obama's campaign manager Jim Messina.

Cambridge, Mass. - Over 500 union members and allies held a Labor Day March between Cambridge City Hall and the Cambridge Common via Harvard Yard on Monday. The event was organized by Service Employees International Union Local 615 and several other labor unions, together with area community and religious organizations.

Cambridge, MA - Several people, including students and members of at least three local unions, participated in an informational picket today at the Verizon Wireless store in Harvard Square. The action was one of dozens of similar pickets that have been organized outside Verizon Wireless stores in support of the strike against Verizon by over 45,000 of its unionized workers that began on August 6th. The picketers spoke to passers-by and handed out leaflets encouraging them to support the strikers by refusing to shop at Verizon Wireless stores until the company goes back to the bargaining table with its unions and negotiates an equitable settlement.

Cambridge, Mass. - A major water main broke open late yesterday evening at the intersection of Broadway and Trowbridge St. - flooding Broadway from near Ware St. to near Ellery St., about 100 feet of Trowbridge St., and adjacent Joan Lorentz Park where it has now pooled close to the entrance of the Main Branch of the Cambridge Public Library. Some water from the park is pouring into sewers on Ellery St., but it is unclear as of this writing when the main will be shut off and how long it will take city and Massachusetts Water Resources Authority workers to drain the area. It is also unclear how much damage the new park and the parking garage beneath it have sustained. Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School - flanking the library and park on two sides appears unaffected thus far. Other parts of Cambridge - including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - are reported to have lost water service as the city works to temporarily switch over to MWRA water service. Neighborhoods close to the broken main experienced temporary loss of water pressure, but it was quickly restored. On a lighter note, a Cambridge police officer - when asked what the new body of water should be called - dubbed it "Lake Broadway." A name which will likely stick.