Occupy plans mass protests, denies link to powder scare

  NEW YORK -- Occupy protesters are spreading out to picket at banks and other New York City businesses to mark International Workers Day, or May Day.

The group is also denying it had any link to white powder sent to several banks on Monday.

Events and disruptions are planned in cities across the United States and the world on Tuesday.

Several dozen protesters gathered at Bryant Park in Manhattan Tuesday morning. They planned to march to financial institutions including Chase, Citibank and Bank of America.

Another group picketed outside New York University to protest the university's expansion plans in Greenwich Village.

Occupy leaders said they planned "creative disruptions" in New York throughout the day.

Events are planned in cities across the United States and the world on Tuesday as well.

Some say they're willing to get arrested, staging surprise actions to make their point - that financial inequality is destroying our society.

The biggest known plan has the support of thousands of union members.

About 100 unions are listed online as planning to participate in a rally starting at 8 a.m. in midtown Manhattan's Bryant Park. Organizers say the park will function as a staging area for picket lines fanning out across midtown to spots where labor organizations have ongoing disputes.

Michael Belt, an organizer for 99 Picket Lines, said his group will target a range of locations, including banks like Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase.

The New York Police Department is bracing to respond to the protests, which come a day after a lawsuit was filed by five people who said their constitutional rights were violated when officers kept them inside an area surrounded by metal barricades for nearly two hours on Nov. 30 as they tried to participate in a demonstration.

The Occupy movement in New York has relied on demonstrations and marches around the city since Nov. 15, when police ousted hundreds of protesters from their base in Zuccotti Park near Wall Street, where they had camped since Sept. 17.

Paul Browne, the police department's chief spokesman, said recently that his department is "experienced at accommodating lawful protests and responding appropriately to anyone who engages in unlawful activity, and we're prepared to do both."

Meanwhile, police say the white powder contained in several envelopes that were mailed to various bank branches in New York City turned out to be non-toxic.

Police say seven envelopes were sent Monday to several Wells Fargo branches, a JP Morgan Chase branch and an office building.

"This is a reminder that you are not in control," the message said. "Just in case you needed some incentive to stop working, we have a little surprise for you. Think fast, you have seconds."

Police say the suspicious envelopes caused evacuations of several bank branches, but no injuries were reported. Police had no suspects.

The envelopes were sent on the eve of the planned May Day protests around the country.

Bill Dobbs, a spokesman for Occupy Wall Street, said the prank had nothing to do with their protest movement. He said the incidents distract from the May 1 events.

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MTA plans overnight 'fasttrack' subway repairs

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The MTA is launching a bold subway repair plan. Instead of doing the work on the weekends, it is conducting repairs overnight. Major lines will be shut down, starting Monday night with the Lexington Avenue line.

The MTA is planning to knock out a lot of projects, from track maintenance to spot painting to power washing. They will also be repairing wall tiles, platforms and lighting. They are calling the series of repairs "Fasttrack," and they hope that straphangers will just grit their teeth and bear it.

Starting Monday, the 4, 5 and 6 lines will close from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., and will do that every night through Friday.

The MTA says this will allow crews to safely and quickly handle more than 300 repair jobs along 27 miles of track. But it will add at least 20 minutes to the average ride.

The closures will stretch from Grand Central Terminal to Atlantic Avenue. The 1, 2 and 3 lines from 34th Street to Atlantic Avenue will be next up, closing overnights from February 13 to February 17. The Sixth Avenue line, parts of the B, D, F and M from 59th Street to 4th Street, will be under repair in late February.

And the A, C and E lines will have overnight work in mid-March from 59th Street to Jay Street.

There will be conductors and traffic checkers at subway stations Monday to answer commuters' questions.

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Jessica Simpson plans to launch maternity line

Jessica Simpson revealed on Friday that she plans to add a maternity line to her extremely successful fashion empire.

Simpson, who is expecting her first child in the spring, announced her plans while promoting her upcoming NBC reality competition series "Fashion Star," where she will serve as a mentor alongside Nicole Richie and John Varvatos on the show, which will be hosted by Elle Macpherson.

"The next thing you will see from the Jessica Simpson collection is maternity," Simpson said at NBC's Television Critics Association Winter Session panel for the series, according to Access Hollywood.

The singer said that she looks for comfort in the clothes she wears during her pregnancy, but isn't a fan of maternity wear in general.

"I definitely look at comfort, I buy bigger sizes," Simpson continued. "I haven't really gone to maternity clothes because I don't really love a lot of maternity stuff so I'm using it as a fun business thing to do."

Beyonce, who is also expecting her first child, announced in October that she also plans to launch a maternity line with her House of Dereon fashion collection.

Simpson, who said earlier in the week that her post-pregnancy goal is to look like her friend Jessica Alba, also opened up about her progress at the NBC event.

"I feel great. The pregnancy's going great. I'm just waddling around now," Simpson joked, according to Starpulse. "We're not saying the due date but it's in the spring so it's coming. I do want to be surprised [on the gender but], we've gone through all different kinds of names but we're pretty much set on our name so we'll see what happens."

Simpson, 31, has in recent years focused on her fashion endeavors. Her collections of apparel, perfume and other products, which are marketed to young women, have raked in about $1 billion in sales.

The singer launched her own line of diamond jewelry with Zales and also teamed up with celebrity aesthetician Nerida Joy to launch BeautyMint, an online portal that sells anti-aging skincare.

Simpson confirmed on October 31 that she and fiance Eric Johnson, 31, are expecting their first child. Simpson and Johnson began dating in May 2010 and announced the following November, after he finalized his divorce from his first wife, that they are engaged. No wedding date has been announced.

On "Fashion Star" newbie designers will compete for buyers like H&M and Macy's to get their designs on the market . The series is set to premiere on Tuesday, March 13 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

(Copyright ©2012 OnTheRedCarpet.com. All Rights Reserved.)

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Will he or won't he? Huckabee to reveal 2012 plans

  By ANDREW DeMILLOLITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Mike Huckabee took his presidential tease to a new level on Saturday, leaving his closest advisers in the dark as the former Arkansas governor prepared to announce on his Fox News Channel show whether he would move toward another White House bid.

Huckabee, winner of the Iowa Republican caucus in 2008, planned to announce Saturday night whether he would explore a bid for the GOP presidential nomination. In an e-mail to his advisers Friday, Huckabee promised that "things will get even crazier" after he speaks.

Still, his advisers said he was unlikely to run. Ed Rollins, who chaired Huckabee's bid four years ago, said Huckabee has seemed more reluctant about running and said the fact he didn't know what Huckabee would say was a sign he was likely to forgo running for president in 2012.

But in a series of interviews on Fox Friday and Saturday previewing his announcement, Huckabee cautioned that not even his show's producer knows what he'll say on the show.

"That's kind of refreshing because for the last several months they've all known," Huckabee said on "Fox and Friends" Saturday morning, when asked about predictions by political insiders that he wouldn't run. "They've either known for sure that I was or for sure that I wasn't, when even I wasn't sure. Now that I'm sure they admit they don't know."

Huckabee acknowledged in his e-mail, posted on Time magazine's website, that his ties to Fox are limiting his ability to speak freely, even with his advisers.

"I will look forward to speaking with you soon and once I fulfill my sworn obligation to Fox, I will be free to discuss things that I can't now due to promises to them and to some possible legal considerations of the announcement," Huckabee said.

Rollins on Saturday declined to release a copy of the e-mail, but said the version posted by the magazine was accurate.

Huckabee's decision to run may come down to whether he's willing to give up the lucrative media career he's enjoyed since his unsuccessful presidential bid four years ago. In addition to his TV show, Huckabee hosts a nationally syndicated radio program, gives paid speeches around the country and has even launched a series of animated videos for children on American history.

The talk show is the centerpiece of Huckabee's enterprises, which have made the one-time Baptist preacher from Hope, Ark., and 10-year governor a wealthy man with a $2.2 million beachfront home under construction in Florida. Huckabee, 55, and his wife moved their residency and voter registration to the state last year.

Rollins and other advisers have said Huckabee could enter the race with a frontrunner status he didn't have as a former governor fresh out of office in 2008. But another Huckabee run would bring renewed scrutiny over his support of some tax increases in Arkansas and his record on clemency - including commuting the sentence of a man who later killed four Seattle-area police officers.

Despite the unorthodox approach of announcing his plans on a show and not telling aides what he had decided, Huckabee could still put together a strong organization if he runs, Rollins said.

"There's lots of people who want to help Mike Huckabee and want him to be a viable candidate," Rollins said Saturday. "I think a campaign could go together very easily. I don't think any of this affects any of the people who watched and supported him last time."

Huckabee demurred when asked on Fox whether he felt an obligation to run.

"The obligation is to love your country and serve it the best way you can. If that's being a candidate, then yes. If it's maybe in another role, maybe that's it," Huckabee said.

(Copyright ©2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Politics & Elections »

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