The federal government is intervening in the great labor mural crisis of Maine, where snippy Tea Party Gov. Paul LePage ordered a 36-foot mural of the state's labor history removed the state's Department of Labor because a couple of businessmen didn't like it.

The War on Labor Unions in states with new Republican legislatures has opened a new front in Maine, where labor art is the target.

[Passersby might have a hard time not stumbling when checking out artist Kenny Scharf's psychedelic new mural (which replaced Shepard Fairey's) on Bowery and Houston in Manhattan. Image via Getty]

Some 2,600 police and army operatives swept through a Brazilian slum on Sunday, seizing 11 tons of marijuana and "a small arsenal" of weapons—including a missile—from a notorious drug gang. They also found a Justin Bieber mural.

Jesus Christmas. The principal of a Prescott, AZ elementary school has ordered that a mural — depicting current students at his school — have the skin tones lightened, after a series of racial slurs were hurled at the painters.

The more popular Shepard "OBEY" Fairey gets with the Obama poster crowd, the less popular he gets with the hardcore street art crowd. Shep just finished up a huge, highly publicized legal mural on Houston Street. How's that looking now?

Sure, the iPad is nice and all, but it doesn't allow the freedom to create an eight-foot tall digital illustration. Sponsored by the Olympics, artist Chairman Ting paints a digital mural on Tangible Interaction's interactive computer wall in Vancouver.

Semi-anonymous street art legend Banksy reportedly collaborated with a sign-painting company on this mural, which went up last weekend in Soho, NYC. He likes us—he really likes us! At least the rats among us. [via Gothamist]