Argument

SAN DIEGO - A veteran teacher at a Catholic school has lost her job because school officials are worried her ex-husband, now serving a jail sentence for domestic abuse and stalking, will pose a danger to students and teachers when he is released. When Martin Charlesworth, 41, showed up at Holy Trinity School in El Cajon in January, school officials put the school on lockdown and called police. By coming to the school, he was in violation of a restraining order, court records indicate.

Kelly Soo Park balked when homicide detectives handed her a warrant to collect her fingerprints. The businesswoman repeatedly asked whether the officers were playing a joke and demanded to speak to a lawyer, according to a police recording of the encounter. She refused to cooperate even as a detective snapped handcuffs on her and ushered her into a police car. In a downtown courtroom Wednesday, a prosecutor cited Park's reaction as evidence that she knew detectives had correctly identified the killer of a 21-year-old aspiring model and actress found beaten and strangled in a Santa Monica apartment.

We have, when you think about it, always been an argumentative culture and society, even before we became a country. And we've been arguing ever since, for better or worse, and with varying degrees of skill. The nature of argument was part of the focus of the "American Arguments" panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Saturday moderated by L.A. Times editor-at-large Jim Newton, which drew together four history authors whose books explore some of the key formative arguments of American history.

A man will spend 50 years to life in prison for shooting and killing his father in the mobile home they shared in Huntington Beach, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. A jury found Jeremy Dwayne Martin, 37, guilty March 26 of shooting his father after the two got into an argument about keeping firearms in the home, according to court records. An Orange County Superior Court judge on Friday sentenced Martin. On the morning of May 20, 2011, Jeremy and Frederick Martin, 62, argued over the gun Jeremy kept in the mobile home, according to court records.

  Not only did Philadelphia Eagles Coach Andy Reid almost lose Michael Vick to a rib injury Monday night, he also had an argument with defensive back Cullen Jenkins on the sideline during Monday night's exhibition game against the New England Patriots. Reid was displeased with the effort the defense gave during a Patriots' scoring drive and let them know about it. That did not sit well with Jenkins, who got up and started yelling back at the coach. After the game, both parties said it was nothing to worry about, just something that happens in the heat of the moment.

An argument in an alleyway at 4419 51st St. ended in the shooting death Tuesday afternoon of a man who witnesses said angered a motorist by preventing his white Chevrolet van from passing through. Police said that James Ortiz, in his late 40s, was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital at 4:08 p.m. Apprehended in the shooting was James Arthur Afenasko, 38, of North Park.

Re "1st Suit in State to Attack 'Intelligent Design' Filed," Jan. 11 Since one form or another of the "intelligent design" argument is from at least the Middle Ages, I would be disappointed if it were not included in a philosophy class. I would support parents who object to it being taught in other classes, because the support would come from religious groups that lack the insight as to the nature of "knowledge" and "faith." In this case, we have a group that, although opposed to religious presentations, also lacks the insight on this ancient intellectual argument.

A Huntington Beach man was convicted Tuesday of fatally shooting his 62-year-old father in their home in a dispute over a firearm, prosecutors said. On May 20, 2011, Jeremy Martin, 37, got into a verbal and physical argument with his father because he was unhappy that Martin kept a gun in the home, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office. Frederick Martin called 911 after the argument and asked the Huntington Beach Police Department to “evaluate” his son, but did not mention the firearm or the physical altercation.

The Supreme Court announced Monday that it would hear arguments over three days in late March to decide the constitutionality of President Obama's healthcare law, another sign the justices see the case as a once-in-a-generation test of the federal government's regulatory power. The 51/2 hours of argument are believed to be the most time devoted to a single case since the 1960s. In the 19th century, the justices often sat silently and listened to arguments over several days in one case.

An 86-year-old Italian woman plunged three floors after her live-in partner lost his temper in an argument and threw her out the window, police said Saturday. Elena Buti was said to be in serious condition after landing on a parked car in the road below. "She'd really got on my nerves," Giuseppe Denaro, 62, told investigators. "I couldn't stand her any more."

Three people were shot to death, and a was fourth wounded, in a dispute that may have been over drugs at a Harbor Gateway apartment complex, officials said. Police said the incident appeared to be isolated. "There is no additional danger to the community members in the area," LAPD Capt. Nancy Lauer told reporters Friday. Police received a 911 call about 5:35 a.m. from a resident who reported hearing eight or nine gunshots in an apartment building in the 1600 block of West 205th Street.

Two people were arrested Thursday in connection with the stabbing death of a student at Cleveland High School in Reseda. Using social media, among other tools, investigators narrowed their search to two males between 16 and 19 years old, said a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department. Their identities were not immediately available. The fatal attack occurred about 4 p.m. Wednesday after an argument at Cleveland High School, 8140 Vanalden Ave. The victim, an 18-year-old, was playing handball when two people approached him. The victim got into an argument with them and it turned physical, said LAPD Officer Tenesha Dobine.

An adult school student was stabbed Wednesday afternoon in an altercation at Cleveland High School in Reseda and later died of his wounds, law enforcement authorities said. The victim was a student at West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills, according to Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Sharon Papa. He was believed to be 18. The student was attacked on one of the school's handball courts about 4 p.m. after an argument with two men who were described as being between 18 and 20, authorities said.

We have, when you think about it, always been an argumentative culture and society, even before we became a country. And we've been arguing ever since, for better or worse, and with varying degrees of skill. The nature of argument was part of the focus of the "American Arguments" panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on Saturday moderated by L.A. Times editor-at-large Jim Newton, which drew together four history authors whose books explore some of the key formative arguments of American history.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court Wednesday grappled with whether a California ban on therapy to change a minor's sexual orientation amounted to a restriction on free speech or mere regulation of a medical treatment. During a hearing in San Francisco, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals considered two lower-court rulings that reached opposite conclusions about the constitutionality of the new state law, which would penalize licensed health professionals who try to change a minor's sexual orientation.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court took up a deceptively simple question in a case brought by breast cancer patients and medical researchers: Are human genes patentable? The answer appeared to be "no" during Monday's oral arguments. The justices signaled that they probably will bar any grants of exclusive and profitable patents on human genes that prevent other scientists from testing these pieces of DNA. But the justices were aware the issue itself was anything but simple, and they sounded wary of going too far and taking away the financial incentives for companies and their scientists to explore new uses for DNA. "The patent law is filled with uneasy compromises," Justice Stephen G. Breyer said.

A man was shot and killed Saturday morning in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, authorities said. The shooting occurred about 3 a.m. in the 10500 block of South Firmona Avenue in Lennox, said Deputy Bill Brauberger of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The victim was standing outside a building when he became involved in an argument with the driver of a light-colored vehicle. During the argument, the driver pulled out a gun and fired several shots at the man, hitting him in the chest, Brauberger said.

A man trying to mediate an argument among a group of women Sunday night was shot and killed, police said. Corey Johnson, 20, was standing on the southwest corner of Parthenia Street at Willis Avenue at about 10:45 p.m. when the incident began, said Los Angeles police spokesman Jason Lee. Johnson was apparently attempting to quash the situation when the suspect intervened and shot him several times, police said. The suspect and three women then fled the scene, Lee said.

A prosecutor urged jurors Monday to find a man who pretended to be a member of the Rockefeller family guilty of murder, saying he was a "master manipulator" who buried the victim's body in a San Marino backyard nearly three decades ago. Deputy Dist. Atty. Habib Balian told the jury in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom that strong circumstantial evidence pointed to Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter's guilt, noting that the German native was staying in a guest house on the property where John and Linda Sohus were living when the couple disappeared in 1985.

Christopher Chichester, the USC student. Christopher Crowe, the Wall Street bond trader. Clark Rockefeller, the member of the famous family. The different aliases are those of one man: Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter. For the last three weeks, both the prosecution and defense in the murder trial of German-born Gerhartsreiter have highlighted his numerous fabrications and use of false identities . Both are using his history of deceit to their advantage in the case, which revolves around the 1985 killing of his landlady's adult son in San Marino.