Firing

A Utah inmate facing the death penalty for a violent 1985 escape attempt is scheduled to die on June 18 by firing squad, an execution method that has been phased out in nearly every state, including Utah. Ronnie Lee Gardner elected Friday to face a firing squad under a provision of state law that exempts five death row inmates who signaled their preference to die by firing squad before Utah all but banned the old, frontier-style practice in 2004. "I would like the firing squad, please," Gardner, 49, told District Judge Robin Reese during Friday's hearing in Salt Lake City.

The Los Angeles Fire Commission on Tuesday delivered a strong rebuke of a highly anticipated report by the fire chief regarding a controversial plan to beef up the number of ambulances assigned to firehouses. The report by LAFD Chief Brian Cummings was intended to quell criticism of his plan to reassign 22 firefighters per shift from engines to ambulances, a move he said was necessary to address a growing load of 911 calls for medical help. But several members of the five-person civilian board that oversees the department, including the panel's president, slammed the chief's report as vague and unfocused, asking for major revisions before they would consider it acceptable.  “Because I'm a schoolteacher, I write in red,” President Genethia Hudley-Hayes said, waving the chief's report to show how she had marked it up with a red pen. “On every page of this report I had questions.

Terrance Britt Position: School counselor, Henry Clay Middle School, L.A. Unified School District Allegations: At after-work gathering in 2006, got in argument in which he grabbed a female co-worker. Her 57-year-old boyfriend later confronted Britt, 36, and Britt beat him severely. Britt pleaded no contest to assault. Defense: He paid restitution, attended AA, anger management classes. Told commission he was not "totally innocent" but believed others played a significant part in the incident.

Retired Marine Brig. Gen. Gordon Gayle, who received the Navy Cross for leadership and bravery during the assault on Peleliu, one of the bloodiest and most complex and controversial battles fought by Marines during World War II, has died. He was 95. Gayle died April 21 at an assisted-living facility in Farnham, Va., after suffering a stroke, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. As an officer with the 1st Marine Division, Gayle led troops in five key battles in World War II, starting with Guadalcanal in 1942, where Marines, after weeks of fierce jungle fighting, stopped the advance of Japanese troops toward Australia.

Ronnie Lee Gardner, the convicted double-murderer executed by a firing squad in Utah in the predawn hours Friday, died in a manner that even the state that killed him no longer wants to use. Utah essentially banned firing squads in 2004. "We had come to a point in Utah where execution by firing squad was overshadowing the victim and the crime," said Ron Gordon, who was the director of the state's Sentencing Commission, which recommended the ban. Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University who has studied execution techniques, said: "The anti-death-penalty people think it's barbaric, and the pro-death-penalty people think it detracts from capital punishment.

Re "Janitor Talks to Reporter, Is Fired (July 8)": As an employee of one of the few remaining stores at Anaheim Plaza Mall, I am aghast at the treatment of Aureliano Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez was always busy at work whenever I saw him and always pleasant. The so-called "discipline" in his work file is ridiculous. Since when are employees to be fired for speaking briefly to a spouse, arriving on time for their normal schedule and telling the truth? According to a recent Times story about mall management, the mall is empty most of the time and is scheduled for demolition in the first quarter of 1993.

Demonstrators trashed shops and smashed windows at the headquarters of the country's soccer association to protest the firing of the national team's coach. Police said they arrested as many as 35 people. Two officers were slightly hurt. The association said it fired Meho Kodro last week because he refused to let the team play a friendly match against Iran.

An overflow crowd of more than 300 Pomona residents heatedly debated Monday night the City Council's firing of City Administrator A.J. Wilson. However, the council did not rescind last week's controversial 3-2 vote to oust Wilson. Residents disagreed sharply on the firing, reflecting the schism on the council. A new majority coalition, created when Councilman Tomas Ursua took office April 24, voted to fire Wilson, citing a need for change in the city's leadership. During the past week, citizens and city employees have opposed the actions and demanded the recall of three council members who voted to oust Wilson.

Re "A talk powerhouse is shut down," April 13 Don Imus has been fired, so now what? I sincerely hope the social uproar does not end with Imus' firing. I hope we do not simply condemn Imus and be done with it because Imus represents an ideology. His voice has reached millions of people, all of whom choose to tune in and hear Imus spew hate. I can't help but feel that this whole ordeal has been about silencing someone we don't want to hear, when it should be about confronting why there are so many people who do. Racism and sexism do not start and stop with Imus.

BEIJING -- Chinese troops of the People's Liberation Army opened fire with automatic weapons early today on huge crowds of civilians in Beijing, killing at least 100 of them and perhaps many more, according to medical and diplomatic reports, in a successful effort to recapture Tian An Men Square from pro-democracy demonstrators. At least 400 people were reported wounded. For China, it was a fundamental turning point. The Communist Party leadership headed by the aging Deng Xiaoping made the decision that no matter how high the costs to its image at home or abroad, it had to overwhelm with a force the students and other demonstrators who had challenged the power and legitimacy of the regime.

After fatally shooting his unwanted houseguest in the head, Robert Charles Redd stuffed the man's body into a recycling bin and wheeled it into a room of his Pico Rivera home. When the stench of death grew too overpowering a couple of days later, Redd wheeled the bin out into the backyard and tipped Joseph Rubalcaba's corpse into a shallow grave that he topped with plants. Last month, a Norwalk jury convicted Redd, 53, of second-degree murder. But in an unusual move, a judge recently reduced Redd's conviction to voluntary manslaughter, finding that Redd feared for his life when he fired the fatal shot.

BEIJING - North Korea fired three short-range missiles off its east coast Saturday, following through on months of threats to conduct a missile launch. The South Korean Defense Ministry reported that it detected two launches in the morning and another in the afternoon. Its initial assessment was that the missiles were short-range surface-to-ship or surface-to-surface missiles capable of traveling up to 72 miles, rather than the new medium-range Musudan missile that analysts fear could threaten U.S. troops in Guam or Okinawa, Japan.

Marcel Melanson was a hero in Compton. The fire battalion chief led teams that raced to help victims of car crashes and street violence. Three years ago, he got national exposure as a star of a BET reality TV program that followed Compton firefighters on emergency calls. "We're constantly battling the perception of the city," he told the Los Angeles Times when the show premiered. "It's constantly thought of as this bad place. " On Friday, he was back in the public eye, but under very different circumstances.

A malfunctioning golf cart, a faulty electrical system or even arson could have led to the fire that triggered the deadly explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, but federal and state officials said Thursday that their $1-million investigation had yet to find the cause. Fourteen people died in the April 17 blast, including 12 first responders who arrived nine minutes after the fire was reported - and just eight minutes before the explosion shook the town, devastated two schools and shattered a nursing home.

When it comes to Southern California's increasingly perilous fire season, you can blame both the lack of rain and the little rain we did have. Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Chapman University said satellite data show the effects of a steady and largely forgettable rainfall during a roughly four-day period at the end of January. JPL scientist Son Nghiem said the rain came just as much of the vegetation throughout the region was awakening from a dormant stage.

Crews from the Los Angeles County Fire Department made quick work Sunday evening of a small brush fire near the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, authorities said. Initial reports of structures being burned could not be confirmed by the fire department or police. Firefighters gained control of the three-acre blaze shortly after it began about 5 p.m. Authorities told City News Service that the fire apparently was started by a blown electrical transformer.  The blaze -- near La Cienega Boulevard and Stocker Street in Culver City -- was doused with the help of three water-dropping helicopters, authorities said.

The Clipper brass earns yet a new layer of tarnish. They just ignored 25 years of solid coaching experience, refused all suggested strategies and then put down totally unrealistic goals as demands. Then, when their edicts weren't coming to pass, they fired a quality coach like Gene Shue and kept the likes of Benoit Benjamin . . . shrewd. BILL SCHNEIDER Los Angeles

Why does Paul Bubb, a man with no previous Division I administrative or coaching experience, deserve to replace the fired Bob Hiegert as Cal State Northridge's interim athletic director? And does he have the leadership qualities needed to move our students and athletes into the next decade? From all accounts, I would have to say no. The firing of basketball Coach Pete Cassidy is a travesty. We all know that wins and losses are important to any athletic program, so let's reveal all the facts and let the community determine whether Cassidy was allowed to play on an even playing field.

POOLESVILLE, Md.  - On a curve of the Potomac River 37 miles northwest of Washington, the Dickerson power plant has stood sentry over small villages, crop fields and horse farms for more than half a century. Burning mostly coal and some natural gas, Dickerson emitted about 1.5 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2011, akin to the pollution of about 275,000 cars. How much longer Dickerson will run depends in no small measure on the steps President Obama takes to fulfill the pledge he made in his State of the Union address to tackle climate change.

HOUSTON - A paramedic who responded to the devastating fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, last month was arrested Friday after federal investigators said they discovered he had the makings of a pipe bomb. It was not clear whether the arrest was connected to the April 17 explosion, which killed 14 people and injured more than 160 others in the small McLennan County town about 70 miles south of Dallas. The explosion had been investigated as an industrial accident, but officials said Friday they had started a criminal investigation.