The patience of local officials with the Occupy Wall Street movement has expired. The birthplace of the movement in New York City was cleared early Tuesday by police, who arrested 200 people and ended the two-month occupation on the grounds of health, safety and public access to Zuccotti Park. In Oakland, Calif., the other main flashpoint in the Occupy protests, police cleared out 100 tents Monday from Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Yet on Hennepin County Government Center plaza in Minneapolis, the much smaller group of Occupy Minnesota protesters sleep on, despite a county order that forbade sleeping on the property starting Monday.

It's notable that while the Occupy protests have tied mayors in knots elsewhere, the protest here - on county property - has pitted demonstrators against county leaders. Mayor R.T. Rybak has lent his support to the goals of the protests, but he doesn't have to be the one to send in the riot police.

The soon-to-be-defunct Minneapolis Police Relief Association wanted to set aside $10 million for legal costs, instead of handing it over to the state pension plan that will absorb it next year, but State Auditor Rebecca Otto says that's illegal, Steve Brandt reports. That news comes after the pension plan gave a generous severance package to its two employees, even though they have preference for jobs with the state plan.

The exodus of veteran Minneapolis lawmakers continued with the announcement by DFLer Sen. Linda Higgins that she won't run for re-election, Baird Helgeson reports. With her north Minneapolis district devastated by predatory lending and foreclosures, Higgins sponsored legislation to try to prevent those practices. She was also an advocate for stronger environmental protections. The loss of Higgins' experience is likely another blow to the city's diminishing clout at the Legislature.Earlier this fall, she bemoaned the city's fall from favor at the Capitol: "We're the biggest city. We're misunderstood by a lot of our colleagues. We're a liberal city and liberals are not in charge."

First Roto-Rooter faced scrutiny from the city's plumbing inspectors after customers complained about the company's sales practices. Then came news that Minneapolis police fraud investigators were looking into whether Roto-Rooter charged customers for unnecessary repairs. Now the company faces a lawsuit from homeowners in Minneapolis and Crystal, and the suit hopes to become a class-action, Nicole Norfleet reports.

Thomas Malloy was riding his bicycle five miles to a Jewish sabbath service when he was struck and killed on East Franklin Avenue at West River Parkway by a pickup truck that then left the scene. Now a northeast Minneapolis man is charged with criminal vehicular homicide, and Malloy was remembered by his nephew as an avid cyclist and thoughtful man who debated with him about the Bible, Paul Walsh reports.