Resignations

Brian Graden, the MTV executive who shaped pop culture by shepherding such boundary-breaking hits as "South Park," "The Osbournes" and "Pimp My Ride" onto television, is leaving when his contract expires in December. The executive, although not a household name, had an influential job overseeing programming for several Viacom Inc. signature cable channels: MTV, VH1, Country Music Television and Logo. His position will not be filled, MTV said.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford defied calls for his resignation from GOP leaders Wednesday, insisting he will remain in office even as his political fortunes dimmed in the wake of his admission that he secretly traveled abroad to meet a mistress. Political opinion shifted after a pair of emotional interviews in which Sanford, a Republican, described his Argentine mistress as his soul mate and admitted to a handful of encounters with other women that "crossed lines."

The IndyCar Series heads to its next race Sunday in Toronto with new leadership after the series' controversial founder, Tony George, was replaced by his family's company. George, 49, had headed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1990 and had created the series and its parent, the Indy Racing League, in the mid-1990s.

The Bernard Madoff scandal may have helped claim another head at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lori Richards, the 49-year-old chief of the SEC division that inspects money managers, said Wednesday that she would resign. Richards, a 24-year veteran of the SEC who worked in enforcement in the agency's Los Angeles office in the early 1990s, has headed the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations since it was created in 1995.

The longtime executive officer of the embattled California Board of Registered Nursing resigned Tuesday, ensuring almost entirely new leadership for the agency as it strives to revamp its oversight of hundreds of thousands of caregivers. But the sweeping reforms promised by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week face significant obstacles -- not the least of which are the governor's own budgetary gambits and his failure to fill key vacancies in his administration.

As thousands of cheering supporters vowed to keep her feisty, down-home political legacy alive, Sarah Palin stepped down as Alaska governor Sunday, pledging to continue fighting for independence from Washington and for Americans' personal freedoms "as that grizzly guards her cubs." The hand-over to Lt. Gov.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) will resign her seat this fall to focus on challenging Texas' incumbent Republican governor, Rick Perry. "The actual leaving of the Senate will be sometime -- October, November -- in that time frame," Hutchison told Mark Davis, a conservative talk radio host in Dallas, on Wednesday morning. The gubernatorial primary will be in March 2010.

In announcing his decision Wednesday to step down as chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and reenter the private sector, William J. Bratton turned a spotlight on the firm that has hired him. Altegrity is a company with several thousand employees and a significant presence in a secretive industry that, among other things, provides businesses and government agencies with intelligence-gathering and other investigative services.

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) announced Friday that he would resign, ending months of speculation that he would not finish out his term and opening the door for Gov. Charlie Crist to name a replacement. "My priorities have always been my faith, my family and my country. And at this stage in my life, and after nearly 12 years of public service in Florida and Washington, it's time I return to Florida and my family," Martinez wrote in an e-mail to friends and supporters. He earlier had announced plans to retire in 2010.

The day after he stunned the city with word that he would resign as chief of police, William J. Bratton sat in the relative quiet of his office collecting his thoughts. Every minute or two his cellphone buzzed to life, alerting him to yet another call from another surprised friend or colleague that would have to be returned after the stack of messages on his desk already awaiting his attention. As aides outside the closed door spoke in hushed tones about the idea of life after Bratton, the chief reflected on the department and city he will leave behind at the end of October after nearly seven years on the job. He explained why he believes so strongly that his replacement should come from inside the Los Angeles Police Department and discussed the particular strengths he sees in each of the presumed front-runners.