Resignations

After struggling for months with wobbly finances and internal dissension, the director of UCLA Medical Center announced Tuesday that he will leave his job to take a top post at the University of Kentucky's medical center. Dr. Michael Karpf, 58, has been with UCLA since 1995 and oversaw the school's three hospitals and 18 primary-care clinics.

Gary Sacks, the Clippers' vice president of basketball operations, said Monday he feels "very confident" that Chris Paul will sign a five-year, $107.3-million contract extension this summer to remain with the team. Not surprisingly, Vinny Del Negro also said Monday he wants to remain as coach of the Clippers. But does owner Donald Sterling, who will make the ultimate decision on who will coach the team, want Del Negro back after the Clippers' first-round playoff exit? Do Clippers President Andy Roeser and Sacks want Del Negro back?

White House administrative chief David Watkins, a longtime aide to President Clinton who hails from his hometown of Hope, Ark., resigned Thursday after officials learned that he had taken a military helicopter to play golf in rural Maryland earlier this week. Clinton, saying that he was "very upset" when he learned about Watkins' trip, revealed his aide's resignation during a press conference called to announce a decision on most-favored-nation trading status for China.

Question: As a human resources consultant, I sometimes receive travel inquiries from one of my clients. Here is one: An employee, using a company credit card, purchased a $1,200 airline ticket for a business trip. The ticket is in her name and is nontransferable. She then resigned from the company, and the company (which is paying for the ticket) contacted the airline. The airline initially told them there was no problem but later said no changes (regardless of fees paid) could be made to the ticket and even added the comment "Guess you just gave your former employee a nice trip.

The Dodgers will celebrate their 100th anniversary season without the most celebrated pitcher in franchise history, as Sandy Koufax confirmed Tuesday that he has severed his ties with the organization. Koufax, a Hall of Fame member who served as a minor league pitching instructor since 1979, said he has resigned because he is weary of the job. Although Dodger officials called it a one-year sabbatical, Koufax said he has placed no time frame on the resignation.

A sprinter who became one of Finland's most revered sports heroes on Tuesday resigned her post on the International Olympic Committee, the first IOC member toppled by the bribery scandal roiling the Olympic movement. Pirjo Haggman, 47, one of the first women to become an IOC member and a track champion so beloved in Finland that she has been depicted on a postage stamp, delivered her resignation to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch in Lausanne, Switzerland.

John Ziegler's tenure as NHL president began in 1977 with cantankerous Harold Ballard mocking him, in public, as an "office clerk" and a "know-nothing shrimp." Such comments by the late owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs became much of the soundtrack for Ziegler's tumultuous 15-year reign as the league's president. Ziegler, 58, is expected to announce today that he will resign on Sept. 30.

The embattled inspector general for the Los Angeles Unified School District resigned Thursday after a six-year stint that frequently brought him into conflict with top district officials. Don Mullinax, who will leave the district next month, drew the ire of school officials for his critical reports on such matters as the Belmont Learning Complex and the purchase of a downtown high-rise that now serves as the district's headquarters.

As senior pastor of Southwest Community Church, one of the largest Christian churches in the Coachella Valley, David Moore offered a blueprint for the moral life, schooling his congregation on such topics as the value of marriage and commitment, and broadcasting those messages to Christian radio audiences throughout the country.

Three of MySpace's top executives, including the chief operating officer, are leaving the social network to start their own start-up. Chief Operating Officer Amit Kapur, who played a key role in the launch of the MySpace Music joint venture with the major labels, plans to depart, taking with him one of MySpace's original architects, Senior Vice President Jim Benedetto, and Steve Pearman, a senior vice president who oversaw strategy. Details of the new start-up were not available.

Herbalife Ltd. said it had to scale back plans to repurchase its shares after KPMG resigned in early April as its auditor and withdrew its review of the company's annual financial statements for the last three years. The Los Angeles nutritional products company canceled plans to borrow money that "would have been used to repurchase a meaningful amount of company stock," John DeSimone, Herbalife chief financial officer, told analysts Tuesday in a conference call. KPMG withdrew its approval of Herbalife's 2010, 2011 and 2012 financial statements after the accounting giant accused a senior partner of insider trading in the shares of Herbalife, footwear maker Skechers USA Inc. and other companies.

We have a major difference of opinion. And I understand why you are wrong. You began the season thinking, and being told by the media, the Lakers were going to be great because they had so much talent. You didn't get it in the first five games, so Mike Brown was dismissed as coach. Then you heard they were talking to Phil Jackson only to hear Mike D'Antoni announced as new coach. You're not used to being so disappointed by Lakers management. You might have to adjust your thinking.

His exit from the Lakers' season was as regal as his entrance, Dwight Howard surrounded by screams and gasps as he swaggered through the Staples Center tunnel into the shadows of summer. Problem was, the season wasn't done. The game wasn't finished. There were still 9 minutes 51 seconds remaining in the third quarter. There were still thousands of fans in the stands and the last trudging steps of a difficult journey to be completed. When his team needed his leadership most Sunday, Howard's mouth earned him a second technical foul and ejection from a loss that swept the Lakers out of the playoffs, a 103-82 defeat to the San Antonio Spurs.

Time never seems to run out on Chris Paul. Seven, six, five … He takes a pass from Jamal Crawford about five feet from half court and surveys the floor in front of him, the Clippers needing a basket with the score tied in the final seconds of Monday's playoff game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Four, three … He dribbles around Tony Allen and pauses once, then again, before continuing toward the basket. Two, one … He whirls past Allen, creating separation with a left forearm to the midsection, before elevating for a one-handed leaning jumper that banks off the glass and through the net with 0.1 of a second left.

BEIRUT - Security forces for the Shiite-led Iraqi government raided a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on Tuesday, igniting violence around the country that left at least 36 people dead. The unrest led two Sunni officials to resign from the government and risked pushing the country's Sunni provinces into an open revolt against Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, a Shiite. The situation looked to be the gravest moment for Iraq since the last U.S. combat troops left in December 2011. The violence Tuesday started in the Sunni town of Hawija, where shooting erupted during the raid.

CAIRO - Egypt's besieged justice minister has submitted his resignation after protests over the weekend by Islamists, who want to purge the courts of judges and lawyers perceived as political enemies of President Mohamed Morsi. Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki, who has wanted to quit his post for months, offered his latest resignation amid anger at the inability of Morsi's government to revive the nation's economy and ease political divisions. Morsi announced Saturday that he would soon reshuffle his Cabinet.

Dean Bradshaw, Simi Valley High's highly successful boys' basketball coach for the past 11 seasons, announced his resignation Monday, saying he wanted to spend the next two years watching his teenage son, Ryan, play the sport. Bradshaw, 45, compiled a 215-81 record after replacing Bob Hawking in 1988. The Pioneers won four Marmonte League championships, were runners-up for the 1993 Southern Section Division I-AA title and semifinalists the last two years, losing to Mater Dei and Artesia.

The forced resignation of West German parliamentary Speaker Philipp Jenninger shows that the 1933-45 Nazi era in German history still smolders and can erupt in national guilt and anger, analysts agreed Saturday. "It indicates that Germans are still extremely sensitive about what you can say or not say about the Nazi period," commented one Western diplomat with long experience here. "That history is still deeply etched in the German psyche."

Torii Hunter's first at-bat in Angel Stadium on Friday night was delayed by a standing ovation, which the Detroit Tigers right fielder acknowledged by waving his helmet. When Hunter took his position in the first inning, fans in the right-field bleachers rose in unison, one row of spectators holding up a large “THANK U TORII” sign. For Hunter, who hit .286 with 105 homers and 432 runs batted in during a five-year stint with the Angels in which he was also the heart and soul of the club, it wasn't just about appreciation.

The looming resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, announced last week, may be very bad news for the prospects of good governance in Palestine. But it has the potential to inject clarity and honesty into the problems of the much-too-promised land. Fayyad's departure may help to dispel four dangerous myths that continue to distort the way different constituencies view the issues that divide the region. It's time we lay them to rest. They are: The myth of Palestinian unity Now that Fayyad is leaving, the way should be clearer for serious discussions between Hamas and Fatah about achieving reconciliation and unity.