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People & Entertainment
Producer in blackmail plot up for Emmy award

NEW YORK - The former CBS News producer jailed for trying to blackmail David Letterman is up for an Emmy award.

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Robert “Joe” Halderman leaves Manhattan criminal court in 2010, after he was charged with attempted grand larceny for trying to extort $2 million from David Letterman.

The Associated Press

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Shohreh Aghdashloo

The Associated Press

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Robert "Joe" Halderman was nominated Thursday for a News and Documentary Emmy award for his participation in an April 2009 "48 Hours" story about an American exchange student charged with murder in Italy. He was one of four producers cited for the story.

Halderman began a six-month jail sentence in May for trying to extort money from Letterman in exchange for not revealing the late-night host's office affairs.

The "48 Hours" story is nominated in the category of best continuing coverage of a news story by a newsmagazine. The awards will be presented Sept. 27 in New York.

PBS led the way with 37 news Emmy nominations. CBS had 31 -- more than rivals ABC and NBC combined.

Police call Too Short too violent after backstage fight

BOISE, Idaho - Police say the Atlanta-based rapper Too Short was arrested after he was allegedly involved in a fight that broke out when security told him he couldn't bring underage girls backstage at a Boise venue.

The 44-year-old performer, whose real name is Todd Shaw, faces three counts of misdemeanor battery.

Police said they were called after reports of a fight.

Three employees at the concert venue Knitting Factory told police they were punched and kicked by Shaw and another man, 38-year-old Michael Walton, who appeared to be Shaw's associate.

Police said Walton, of Modesto, Calif., faces two counts of misdemeanor battery.

Ada County Jail records show Shaw and Walton were arrested early Thursday and have since been released on bond.

Actress speaks against stoning

LOS ANGELES - Like the character she played in the film "The Stoning of Soraya M.," Shohreh Aghdashloo is speaking out against the practice of stoning.

There was a world outcry over the death sentence by stoning for an Iranian woman convicted of adultery. A judicial official has said the sentence will not be implemented for now.

Aghdashloo said the woman's two adult children brought international attention to stoning by speaking out against their mother's sentence.

The 58-year-old actress said: "There's always hope when we all get together, the people of the universe, regardless of our barriers and our colors and our religions and our background and our nationality.

"When we get together, we can do something."

Couple guilty of extortion attempt

MARQUETTE, Mich.- A jury has convicted a Michigan couple of conspiring to extort $680,000 from actor John Stamos by threatening to sell photos of him with strippers and cocaine to the tabloids.

Federal prosecutors said Allison Coss and Scott Sippola demanded the money but didn't actually have any unflattering photos of the former "Full House" and "ER" star.

Coss and Sippola were convicted Thursday of conspiracy and using e-mail to threaten a person's reputation.

Coss met Stamos in Florida in 2004 when she was 17. Stamos denied using drugs.