About 3,000 protesters took to the streets of Oakland on Wednesday night, following violent clashes between police and Occupy demonstrators late Tuesday. Police fired tear gas canisters and bean bag rounds at protesters. Protesters claim rubber bullets and flashbangs were used as well. A 24-year-old Iraq war veteran is in critical condition after being hit in the head with a police projectile. In New York, police arrested a dozen people Wednesday night during an Occupy solidarity march. Meanwhile in Atlanta, Mayor Kasim Reed ordered the evacuation of Occupy Atlanta protesters from the city’s Woodruff Park. That removal resulted in more than 50 arrests.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has just released a report that named principals and teachers in Atlanta's public schools who had been modifying tests and tampering with answers to improve results. The report found cheating in 44 of the 56 schools its authors examined, and 178 teachers and principals who cheated. The news will tarnish the reputation of Atlanta’s outgoing Superintendent Beverly Hall, who was named Superintendent of the Year in 2009. The large number of teachers involved has led some to call this America’s biggest teacher cheating scandal.

Many pinpoint the start of the Civil Rights movement in the United States to Rosa Parks, refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, back in 1955. Over half-a-century later, African-American and Latino communities are still struggling with unequal transit systems.

• National Security Takeout: New York Times National Security Reporter Scott Shane talks about five Muslim-American men being detained in Pakistan on possible connections to terrorism. The men disappeared from Washington, D.C. last month, leaving a farewell video that has authorities exploring possible terrorist connections.
• Elections Takeout: Executive Producer and host of Georgia Public Broadcasting Rickey Bevington, on a close run-off election in Atlanta yesterday between Kasim Reed and Mary Norwood. Mr. Reed led Ms. Norwood by 715 votes, a small enough margin to require a recount by state law.

We check in on a potentially historic runoff for mayor of Atlanta, wher polls indicate Atlantans may elect the first white mayor since the 1970s. Turnout is expected to be low, however, and neither candidate is inspiring much excitement, so the vote may turn out to be a referendum on the local party machine and not about race. Last night the two candidates debated; we talk with Rickey Bevington, of Georgia Public Broadcasting, who hosted the debate. 

After yesterday's election, Atlanta Councilwoman Mary Norwood and State Senator Kasim Reed will square off in a runoff to become the city's mayor. If she wins, Ms. Norwood would become the city's first white mayor in a generation. William Boone is a political science professor at Clark Atlanta University, and he gives us a look at the role of race in the city's mayoral contest.

It's election day, and Atlanta may be on the verge of electing their first white mayor since 1969: Mary Norwood, a city council member for eight years. Georgia Public Broadcasting's Susanna Capelouto surveys the scene and the potential for making history and joins us from outside the polls. She also explains why turnout is expected to be as low as 30% today.  

In 1936, Atlanta, Georgia, built the nation's first housing project. Soon, more of the city's population lived in the projects than in any other city in the nation. Now, Atlanta is set to knock all the big projects down and become the first big city without projects. The U.S. House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity is holding hearings today on the future of housing. In light of Atlanta's move (and the plans of other big cities like Chicago, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles), we are looking at whether public housing projects have a future. To discuss this issue is Renee L. Glover, the president and CEO of Atlanta's Housing Authority, and Representative Maxine Waters, the Democrat from California, who is the Chairwoman of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.

For more, the AP has put together a video essay on Atlanta's move away from public housing:

I've sipped the Kool-Aid. Not the Obama brand, or the McCain for that matter. It was labeled true democracy — flavored red, white and blue. I didn't drink it all mind you, just a sip. The first time I was able to vote was as an undergraduate in school in Atlanta — Clinton vs. Bush 41 in 1992. It was simple enough. I rolled out of bed, probably went to a class or two and strolled to the poll set up in Archer Hall, our auditorium at Morehouse College. No big deal, but a big deal — people died for me to vote, so it was my responsibility to show up. It was the same with Clinton vs. Dole in 1996. This time I was in graduate school in Washington, D.C. Clinton won, again. Whatever. And it was downhill from there.