Death Threats

Among the emails Sarah Palin fielded while she was on the campaign trail were a batch of vicious threats against her life. On Sept. 12, 2008, she received a message through the state of Alaska's website that accused her of being racist and suggested that she would have joined the Ku Klux Klan if she were a man. "She doesn't belong to the NRA to support the right of each citizen to have weapons in an aim of self-defence, but just to support the...

As he sat at the podium, Coach Mike Brown's infectious smile and enthusiasm suddenly evaporated. It had nothing to do with the Lakers' 2-0 deficit to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals. It had nothing to do with basketball.

Earlier this year, after Comedy Central altered an episode of "South Park" that had prompted threats because of the way it depicted Islam's prophet Muhammad, Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris proposed an "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day. " The idea was, as she put it, to stand up for the 1st Amendment and "water down the pool of targets" for extremists. The proposal got Norris targeted for assassination by radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar Awlaki, who has been linked to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight and also to several of the 9/11 hijackers.

With George Zimmerman promising to turn himself in if requested by authorities, the public -- and the media -- are debating the extent of the injuries he suffered on the night that Trayvon Martin was shot. Zimmerman, 28, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla., says he fired on the unarmed 17-year-old in self-defense after he was punched in the nose, knocked down, and had the back of his head slammed against the ground. Surveillance video shot as a handcuffed Zimmerman was brought to the Sanford Police Department headquarters did not appear to show any injuries or bruising, leading some to question Zimmerman's self-defense claim.

A man accused of sending 70 obscenity-laced death threats to the accuser and prosecutor in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case was sentenced Monday to nine months in a federal prison camp. Cedric Augustine, 38, of Long Beach pleaded guilty in March to a single felony count of making interstate threats. A mental evaluation had concluded that Augustine is mildly retarded but able to make decisions for himself. He broke down in tears several times during the hearing.

A Liberator's Cup semifinal soccer match was suspended after alleged death threats against the referees, the South American Soccer Confederation said. The match between Atletico Nacional of Colombia and Olympia of Paraguay was to have been played Wednesday at Medellin. The allegations were made by Vasco de Gama of Brazil, which lost to Atletico Nacional at Medellin last Wednesday, eliminating them from the South American club championships.

The Philippines' highest judge and four other members of a Senate impeachment court trying President Joseph Estrada on corruption charges have received death threats, the court said. Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, who heads the impeachment court, said at the trial that he had received an undated letter accusing him of being "anti-Estrada" and saying his penalty would be death. Davide said the letter was signed "the Filipino people." He brushed aside the threat.

People on both sides of the irrigation water dispute in the Klamath Basin on the California-Oregon border have received death threats this summer, according to a working group of farmers and officials set up to mediate the area's water troubles. The conflict began with a federal decision to reserve water in Upper Klamath Lake for protected fish, withholding it from more than 1,000 farms.

A woman accused of sending more than 5,000 written death threats to actor Michael J. Fox pleaded innocent today to five counts of making terrorist threats. Tina Marie Ledbetter, 26, a Westlake Village shipping clerk, denied the charges at her Superior Court arraignment and was ordered to remain in custody without bail. Making a terrorist threat is punishable by up to three years in state prison.

Gov. George C. Wallace received death threats in a Colorado hospital where he underwent surgery to ease the spinal pain he has endured since an assassination attempt crippled him 13 years ago, an aide said Saturday as the governor returned home. Press Secretary Billy Joe Camp disclosed that the suburban Denver hospital received telephoned death threats against Wallace during his three-week stay.

Reporting from Sacramento -- The San Bernardino County district attorney's office has filed criminal charges against a California lawmaker who attempted to take a loaded gun onto an airplane. Tim Donnelly, a self-described tea party Republican from San Bernardino, was charged with carrying a loaded firearm in public without a concealed weapons permit and possessing a gun in an airport. Both offenses are misdemeanors, punishable by up to 18 months in jail and $2,000 in fines. A vocal advocate for gun rights, Donnelly was detained by police at Ontario International Airport last month after security screeners discovered a loaded .45-caliber Colt Mark IV pistol and an ammunition magazine with an additional five rounds in his carry-on luggage.

Nearly four years ago, Congress created a special program that set aside 5,000 visas annually for five years to help Iraqis who risked their lives working alongside U.S. troops and diplomats to resettle in this country. These were people who worked as translators, as drivers or in other jobs helping Americans in the war, and many of them faced anger and even threats of violence as a result. But though the program was greeted with fanfare and relief when it was passed, federal officials now acknowledge that the Special Immigrant Visa program is languishing.

Among the emails Sarah Palin fielded while she was on the campaign trail were a batch of vicious threats against her life. On Sept. 12, 2008, she received a message through the state of Alaska's website that accused her of being racist and suggested that she would have joined the Ku Klux Klan if she were a man. "She doesn't belong to the NRA to support the right of each citizen to have weapons in an aim of self-defence, but just to support the...

May was the worst month in Ichiro Suzuki's career, as he hit .210 with a .270 on-base percentage. Oddly, the Mariners played great, seemingly proving the theory that for a future Hall of Famer he has very little effect on winning. … What does Jair Jurrjens have in common with Lefty Gomez , Randy Johnson and Ubaldo Jimenez ? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, those are the only big leaguers to begin a season with nine straight starts of six-plus innings giving up two or fewer runs in each game.

Mina Habib has been waiting for half an hour at police headquarters, preparing for a showdown with the chief of criminal investigations. She sits on a plush sofa and adjusts her head scarf as a dozen men parade past. None of them pays much attention to Habib, 25, despite her striking shock of auburn hair, amber eyes and iridescent pink lipstick. She eavesdrops as the men demand that the police investigate rape allegations, neighborhood disputes and runaway wives. (She perks up at the mention of runaway wives; she smells a story.)

It has been a harrowing few months for liberal Pakistani lawmaker Fauzia Wahab. Islamic militants assassinated two of her government colleagues. Gunmen tried to kidnap her son, and effigies of her were burned at rallies. A trip to the U.S. this month to attend a seminar hosted by her congressional peers in Washington provided a brief respite from the turmoil. After a week of meetings, she took time off to visit her sister in Orange County, where she browsed in bookstores and took in a show about the Beatles -- without armed guards in tow. "It's a beautiful place," she said over tea last week at her sister's home in Laguna Niguel.

A research scientist at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte has been charged with making death threats against his supervisor and two colleagues. Thomas William Balon, 49, allegedly told a fellow scientist on Nov. 1 that he was planning to kill the three men, authorities said. Los Angeles County deputies arrested him Nov. 19 at the medical center, said Sheriff's Det. Darren Williams. City of Hope then obtained a temporary restraining order against Balon.

UCLA announced Friday that it would not discipline or further investigate the student who released a controversial online video in which she complained about Asian students' behavior and mimicked an Asian language. But later in the day, the student, Alexandra Wallace, announced that she was withdrawing from UCLA because of death threats and because she had been "ostracized from an entire community. " In a statement released to the Daily Bruin, UCLA's student newspaper, she apologized for offending Asians and called the video a mistake.

Amid a debate about free speech in the Internet era, UCLA announced Friday that it would not proceed with any investigation or disciplinary action against the student who produced a controversial online video in which she complained about Asian students' behavior and crudely mimicked Asian languages. "While we were appalled and offended by the sentiments expressed in the video, we have uncovered no facts to lead us to believe the student code of conduct was violated. The campus has no intention of pursuing the matter further," UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said in a telephone interview Friday.