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Clashes between police and Occupy Wall Street protesters in Oakland, Calif., made news this week. But the violence has less to do with the Occupy movement than with the long history of law enforcement troubles in that city.

The slow, patient art of growing your own fruit can be frustrating. However, commentator Julie Zickefoose revels in waiting for perfectly ripened raspberries. She has this essay on those plump, fall sweets.

The 12-member supercommittee charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in budget cuts next month met publicly for the first time in six weeks Wednesday — and agreed on little more than the fact that time is indeed growing short for them to approve a deal. Co-chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said a lot of hard work has been done to find common ground and agree on a balanced, bipartisan plan for deficit reduction. But, she added, "We're not there yet."

According to The Washington Post, the United States continued to send detainees to facilities it knew abused prisoners. The Post reports the U.S. received warnings long before a U.N. report found "systematic torture" in Afghan intelligence detention centers.

Congressional leaders from both parties say the payroll tax cut is a must-pass measure. It's just not entirely clear how it's going to happen.

When Tropical Storm Irene swept through the Northeast this summer, the flood decimated the small town of Wilmington, Vt. However, as cleaning crews went to work inside the Wilmington Baptist Church, they found a surprise: a painting marked by a blurry water line, at the height of the flood of 1938. Nancy Cohen from Vermont Public Radio reports.

The school's trustees are also launching their own investigation into the allegations that a former assistant football coach sexually abused young boys — and that some school officials had been told but didn't alert police.

In sports, the SEC is very popular these days, especially in football. But, as Frank Deford points out, it's hard times for members of the Big East.

On Jan. 3, all across Iowa, the campaigning ends and the voting begins. Thousands of Iowans will enter gyms, libraries and private homes to participate in a ritual of the American political system.

In Thomas Caplan's latest novel, The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen, Ty Hunter, a spy-turned-movie star, is called back to service at the U.S. president's behest. The book is Caplan's third work of fiction, and an early draft got a little editing help from the real-life ex-president.