(NNPA)—When Ray Leeds saw a crowd gathering in front of the California Museum of Photography, in Riverside’s downtown pedestrian mall last week, the photography buff and out-of work union pipefitter left nothing to chance.

“I grabbed my camera and just started taking pictures. It was surreal. Out of nowhere they just started singing and pitching tents,” he said. “It was engrossing. You couldn’t just stand there and snap pictures.”

TENT VILLAGE—An Occupy Pittsburgh camper from Italy who wouldn't give her name, right, works on a sign outside her tent on Mellon Green, Oct. 18, in downtown Pittsburgh. Some 60 campers now inhabit the tent village. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

More than 17,000 people converged at the Philadelphia Convention Center in Philadelphia Oct. 9 to celebrate the 16th anniversary of the Million Man March. The atmosphere was highly charged with security checkpoints at several stops throughout the 1 million-square-foot facility and escorts to keep order and protect Minister Louis Farrakhan.

Minister Louis Farrakhan

PITTSBURGH (AP)—As many as 2,000 people protesting against corporate influence in politics and social inequality marched in Pittsburgh on Saturday, while smaller protests popped up in Philadelphia and at the state Capitol.

The peaceful crowd, joining with the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York, stretched for two or three blocks and included union members, parents with children in strollers and even at least one doctor.

PITTSBURGH PROTEST—Protester Wesley Gadsden takes part in Occupy Pittsburgh rally Saturday, Oct. 15, in Pittsburgh. The demonstration is one of many being held across the country recently in support of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York. (AP Photo/Don Wright)

JAMESTOWN, N.C. (AP)—President Barack Obama appealed anew Tuesday for Americans to put pressure on Republican members of Congress to support his jobs legislation, declaring that “we are in this together.”

And Obama said he hit the road to take his case directly to the people for a simple reason: “I’m the president.” On the second-day of a three-day tour to continue pushing his ideas for creating jobs, Obama acknowledged he’s been asked why he is taking time to ride a bus through small-town North Carolina, a traditionally Republican state that he won in 2008 and hopes to win again.