State – Rick Scott announces a run for re-election in 2014

Gov. Rick Scott announced he will run for re-election as governor of Florida in 2014.
Republican candidate Scott defeated Democrat Alex Sink in 2010 by a narrow margin. Scott received 48.9 percent of the vote; Sink received 47.7 percent. Scott assumed office as the 45th Governor of Florida Jan. 4, 2011.

Scott’s approval ratings were below 30 percent earlier this year. His latest rating is at 37 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Sept. 21.

Nation – Occupy Wall Street spreads into nationwide campaign

Protesters across the country gathered in cities such as New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco to protest corporate greed and involvement with the government in a movement known as “Occupy Together.”

The movement began Sept. 17 under the moniker “Occupy Wall Street,” where protestors in New York City gathered on Wall Street, home to the New York Stock Exchange and other financial institutions.

Arrests were made, including a mass arrest of more than 700 people on the Brooklyn Bridge Oct. 1. A viral video has circulated the Internet, showing NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna pepper spraying three women after officers corralled them.

The protest was originally proposed by Adbusters Media Group in mid-July, according to the Adbusters blog. Other groups and public figures affiliated with the movement are hackivist group Anonymous, United Steel Workers, The Transit Workers Union, Noam Chomsky, Lupe Fiasco and Tom Morello.

World – Suspected Sunnis killed 13 Shiites in Pakistan

Suspected Sunni Muslims ordered 13 Shiite Muslims off a bus and lined them up for execution in southwestern Pakistan Oct. 4.

Thirteen Shiites and one Sunni died. Four Shiites and two Sunnis were wounded. There has been an escalation of violence by Sunni militants in the Baluchistan province, with at least four major attacks since May 2011.

Pakistan is a majority Sunni state. Fifteen percent of its population is Shiite. Tensions between the two sectarian groups have been ongoing for decades.