.Dallas: Jurors sentence father to death for killing girls

Rejecting pleas of mental illness, a jury sentenced a man to death Tuesday for gunning down his two young daughters in what prosecutors called the “ultimate revenge” against his ex-wife.

The same jury last week convicted John Battaglia of capital murder for killing the girls, ages 6 and 9, last May while their mother listened helplessly on the telephone.

During the punishment phase of the trial, psychiatrists testifying for the defense said Battaglia suffered from a bipolar disorder characterized by extremely manic and depressive behavior.

But prosecutors said the bipolar disorder did not cause Battaglia to kill his daughters. They said it was an act of revenge against the girls’ mother, Mary Jane Pearle, who was prosecuting Battaglia for violating a protective order stemming from an assault against her.

San Diego: Second missing child alarms community

For the second time in three months, volunteers in orange safety vests are searching canyons, missing-child posters are hanging around the city, and a mother is pleading for help from the public.

Now, the focus is on finding Jahi Turner, a 2-year-old boy police believe was abducted Thursday afternoon from Balboa Park.

Jahi’s stepfather, Tieray Jones, 23, told police he left the boy alone for about 15 minutes while he went to get a soda from a vending machine about 150 yards away. When he returned, he said, the boy was gone.

San Francisco: Book may disclose ‘Deep Throat’s’ identity

Thirty years after the 1972 Watergate break-in, former White House counsel John Dean intends to publish an electronic book revealing who he believes is “Deep Throat,” the anonymous informant who helped unseat President Nixon.

San Francisco-based online magazine Salon.com will offer the e-book June 17, managing editor Scott Rosenberg said Tuesday.

It won’t be the first time Dean has postulated on the identity of Deep Throat.

In 1975, Dean said in a speech in Natchitoches, La., that it was Earl J. Silbert, one of the original Watergate prosecutors. Silbert laughed at the idea.

In a 1982 book, “Lost Honor,” Dean said Deep Throat had to be Alexander M. Haig, who was the No. 2 aide to Henry Kissinger at the National Security Council and later Nixon’s chief of staff. Haig, who also served under President Reagan, denied it.

Arizona: Wildfire threatens at least 100 structures

Wind-driven wildfire rushed Tuesday across 9,000 acres of dry grass and oak brush in southern Arizona, threatening at least 100 buildings, fire officials said.

At least a dozen homes and ranches were evacuated as a precaution in the rural area about 40 miles southeast of Tucson, and part of state Highway 83 was closed.

Forest Service spokesman Steve Plevel said that 25 mph to 30 mph wind gusts were fanning the Coronado National Forest blaze, which was about 5 percent contained Tuesday