Around the nation

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — After 35 years in prison, the man who shot and paralyzed Alabama Gov. George Wallace during his racially charged 1972 presidential campaign is scheduled to be released Friday into a society more diverse and more restrictive on guns.

The state’s automated victim-notification system sent e-mails announcing the impending release of Arthur H. Bremer, 57.

Wallace, a fiery segregationist during the 1960s, was wounded on May 15, 1972, during a campaign stop in Laurel, Md. He abandoned his bid for the Democratic nomination, spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair and died in 1998.

Bremer, a former Milwaukee busboy and janitor, was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 53 years. He has been held at the medium-security Maryland Correctional Institution near Hagerstown, about 70 miles from Baltimore, since 1979, earning his mandatory release through good behavior and by working in prison.

Bremer’s diary, found in a landfill in 1980, made it clear he was motivated by a desire for attention, not a political agenda. He had also stalked President Nixon.

A prison system spokesman declined to say where Bremer would go once he got out. The head of the state’s parole commission has said there will be restrictions on Bremer’s activities, including a requirement to avoid political candidates and events.

"My father forgave him and my family has forgiven him. That’s consistent with God’s law,” George Wallace Jr. said in Montgomery, Ala. But he added: "Then there is man’s law. I doubt the punishment has fit the crime.”

FBI says al-Qaida threat against LA malls not credible

LOS ANGELES — The FBI said Thursday it received a tip that al-Qaida was planning to attack shopping malls in Los Angeles and Chicago this holiday season, but downplayed the purported threat.

The warning, contained in an FBI memo to local law enforcement agencies that was declassified Thursday, said the terror network "hoped to disrupt the U.S. economy and had been planning the attack for the past two years.”

Federal and local officials downplayed the significance of the warning. The memo, known as an intelligence information report, was given to authorities in Chicago and Los Angeles "out of an abundance of caution,” FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said.

"Al-Qaida messaging has clearly stated they intend to attack the U.S. or its interests,” Kolko said. "However, there is no information to state this is a credible threat.”

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged residents to go about their daily routines but remain vigilant and "mindful of anything out of the ordinary.”

"I want people to know that they can shop in this city until they drop. From shopping,” Villaraigosa said.

The FBI received the tip in late September. Intelligence and law enforcement officials regularly share raw intelligence, even when the value of the information is uncertain, Kolko said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also was briefed on the threat.

Intelligence information reports routinely contain raw, unvetted or uncorroborated chatter about possible threats.

The FBI has released an estimated 8,000 such reports over the last year. Comparatively, the FBI and Homeland Security Department have released about 200 threat bulletins to alert local law enforcement authorities of possible plot trends that are based on actual events worldwide.

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Associated Press Writer Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington contributed to this report.