Clooney to receive TV academy's humanitarian award

LOS ANGELES - George Clooney will be recognized for his humanitarian efforts at the Emmy Awards.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will present the 49-year-old actor with its Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the ceremony next month.

Clooney is being honored for the "Hope for Haiti" TV special, which is nominated for an Emmy award, and his efforts to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and raise awareness about genocide in Darfur.

John Shaffner, chairman and chief executive of the TV academy, said Clooney was "an obvious choice" for the award because he used the power of television to move people to act.

The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award was established in 2002. Clooney is the fourth recipient of the honor and will receive the award at the Emmy ceremony on Aug. 29.

Sheriff investigating Gibson's ex for extortion

LOS ANGELES - Sheriff's detectives in Los Angeles are checking extortion allegations against Mel Gibson's ex-girlfriend.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore says the agency is looking into whether Russian singer Oksana Grigorieva may have tried to extort the Academy Award-winner. He declined to offer any other details on the inquiry.

Detectives earlier this month interviewed Grigorieva after she claimed Gibson abused her during an incident in January.

A spokesman for Grigorieva declined comment Wednesday.

Gibson and Grigorieva are locked in a bitter custody dispute over their infant daughter.

No arrests have been made, and neither has been charged with any crimes.

- The Associated Press