Dismissals

Los Angeles police will not pursue through the courts scores of motorists with unpaid tickets from the city's defunct red-light camera program. The city Police Commission voted this week to end its contract with the company that operated L.A.'s cameras until they were shut off last summer. And authorities are now planning to reassign a small group of officers who regularly appeared in court to testify in contested photo enforcement cases. With the cancellation of the contract, officers will no longer have easy access to the photo and video evidence that courts require.

In a setback for federal regulators, a federal judge threw out many of the fraud allegations against former IndyMac Bancorp Chief Executive Michael W. Perry in a case stemming from the collapse of the onetime Pasadena mortgage lender. U.S. District Judge Manuel Real tossed five of seven public filings late Monday that had supported civil claims filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also ruled that Perry could not be forced to repay allegedly ill-gotten gains. Perry's lead attorney, Jean Veta of Covington & Burling in Washington, said the SEC suit "should never have been filed" and that she would contest the remaining accusations at a non-jury trial scheduled for June 26 before Real.

Jillian Barberie, who in June said that her departure as co-host of the syndicated "Good Day Live" was a mutual decision between her and the show's producers, said Monday she was actually fired from the talk show. Barberie told nationally syndicated radio host Howard Stern that Dorothy Lucey, the other female co-host of "Good Day Live," was also fired last month from the show, which was designed as a national edition of "Good Day L.

OAKLAND — Mickey Hatcher knows he has plenty of critics; they came out in full force on Internet message boards and radio call-in shows every time the Angels went into a prolonged offensive slump. What he didn't know until he was fired as Angels hitting coach last week was just how many friends he gained in 12-plus years on Manager Mike Scioscia's staff. "I'm in awe of all the people who have called — I've gotten thousands of calls from people in and out of the game, wishing me the best," Hatcher said by phone Tuesday during a round of golf at Coyote Hills in Fullerton.

The mother of late rap star Notorious B.I.G. has decided to dismiss from a wrongful-death lawsuit the man she accused of shooting her son, raising new questions about theories surrounding the entertainer's slaying seven years ago. In her suit, Voletta Wallace had named Southland resident Harry Billups, also known as Amir Muhammad, as the triggerman who ambushed her son on March 9, 1997, in the mid-Wilshire district.

A former student at exclusive Chaminade High School who was kicked out for alleged drug use won a $20,000 judgment Friday against the school for wrongful expulsion. Cara-Mia Kobzeff, 20, denied any involvement with drugs and accused the school of not following its own procedures. She alleged the school never called her mother, as required by Chaminade policy, and ignored a drug test she passed the day after being accused of using narcotics.

The Rev. Robert H. Schuller removed his son Saturday as preacher on the syndicated "Hour of Power" television show less than three years after handing over to him the ministry he began more than 50 years ago. Schuller announced the removal of his son, Robert A. Schuller, in a statement read to some 450 Crystal Cathedral congregants by Jim Coleman, the church's president.

Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler won't be broadcasting Angels games anymore. Physioc and Hudler have been told jointly by FS West and the Angels that they will not be part of the Angels' on-air team next season. A statement by Fox and the Angels said that Rory Markas and Mark Gubicza will be the television voices for the team on FS West and KCOP next season, and Terry Smith and Jose Mota will do the radio on KLAA AM 830. Physioc, 54, who has called baseball for 25 years for the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds and ESPN, said the news was "a total shock.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Friday dismissed a multimillion-dollar libel and slander suit filed more than nine years ago against two ministers of the Pasadena-based Worldwide Church of God and the estate of the church's late founder, Herbert W. Armstrong. Superior Court Judge Richard A. Lavine granted a summary motion on behalf of Raymond McNair and Roderick Meredith, who had been named in an action filed in July, 1979, by McNair's former wife, Leona.

Moving to contain a public relations mess, Wells Fargo & Co. fired a top executive accused of using a bank-owned Malibu beach house to entertain her family and friends. Cheronda Guyton, a senior vice president responsible for commercial foreclosed properties, broke company rules barring personal use of bank property, Wells Fargo said in a statement Monday. The Times reported last week that Guyton had been spotted by neighbors spending time at the Malibu Colony home with her family this summer.

A Bay Area nonprofit backed partly by groups known for battling teachers unions has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn five California laws that, they say, make it too difficult to dismiss ineffective teachers. The suit, filed on behalf of eight students, takes aim at California laws that govern teacher tenure rules, seniority protections and the teacher dismissal process. "A handful of outdated laws passed by the California Legislature are preventing school administrators from maintaining or improving the quality of our public educational system," according to the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court and announced Tuesday.

The first major repercussion from the Angels' disappointing 16-21 start occurred Tuesday night when the team announced that hitting coach Mickey Hatcher had been fired. He will be replaced by Jim Eppard, hitting coach at triple-A Salt Lake City. Hatcher's departure, announced after a 4-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday afternoon, ends a 13-year run with the Angels and an even longer relationship with Manager Mike Scioscia. The two played together with the Dodgers, and Hatcher, 57, served as Scioscia's hitting instructor when Scioscia managed the Dodgers' minor league team in Albuquerque in 1999.

Mitt Romney, who has long staked his presidential bid on his business experience, painted a rosy picture of his definition of a successful economy on Friday, arguing that the unemployment rate should be cheered only if it is below 4%, and arguing that half a million new jobs should be created every month in a true economic recovery. Those sorts of economic conditions have rarely existed in recent American history. But when Romney made his remarks in response to a new jobs report that unemployment had dipped to 8.1% and the economy added 115,000 jobs last month, they were just the latest chapter in the harsh critique that Romney has hammered throughout the campaign.

Grammy suit dismissed A New York judge has dismissed a suit aimed at forcing the Recording Academy to rescind its decision last year to slash the number of Grammy Awards from 109 to 78. Latin jazz musician Bobby Sanabria, one of those who filed the lawsuit on grounds that it devalued the music and musicians in the categories that were either eliminated or consolidated, said Monday that he and his lawyers intended to file an appeal....

SAN DIEGO - A Marine sergeant who criticized President Obama on Facebook was notified Wednesday that he is being dismissed from the service with an other-than-honorable discharge. Gary Stein, 26, a nine-year veteran who served in Iraq, will be demoted to lance corporal, and his discharge status will make him ineligible for most federal veterans benefits, after Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo accepted the unanimous recommendation of an Administrative Separation Board. The panel found that he made disparaging comments about Obama that were detrimental to good order and discipline and violated military law. Civilian lawyers for Stein said they would continue to fight in federal court to prevent Stein from being dismissed or to win his reinstatement.

Two bills dealing with teacher sexual misconduct are making their way through the Legislature, with each passing a key hurdle last week. One bill passed the state Senate Education Committee, and separate legislation moved through state Assembly Education Committee. The legislation is fallout from the arrest of former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt, who has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of lewd conduct with students. Investigators allege that he spoon-fed his semen to blindfolded students as part of what he called a "tasting" game.

Jami Shannon, who has won more softball games than any active coach in Orange County and second most in the Southern Section, has been fired by Los Alamitos High School officials after 21 seasons. She was told last week by Dr. Rebecca Shore, who just finished her first school year as principal at Los Alamitos. Shannon said she was "blindsided" by being fired. It does not affect her position as a special education assistant at the school.

Students and fellow educators are rallying behind a fired Jordan High School teacher they say was sacked for encouraging political activism among her students. About 60 students rallied Wednesday at the Watts campus, while a colleague of the fired teacher said he and 15 other instructors planned to resign or transfer to other schools to protest the dismissal of Karen Salazar, a second-year English teacher. The dust-up has gone digital as well.

WASHINGTON - Three Secret Service agents implicated in a prostitution scandal in Colombia - including two supervisors - are leaving the agency as investigators seek to determine whether the embarrassing episode led to a security breach. Officials said it appeared that none of the 11 Secret Service agents who allegedly brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms in Cartagena before President Obama arrived for the Summit of the Americas last weekend had weapons, radios, schedules or other potentially sensitive material in their rooms.