Texas to execute Mexican national

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously rejected a plea Tuesday from a condemned Mexican national that his sentence be commuted to life in prison.

The board by a 16-1 vote also declined to recommend a 60-day reprieve for the inmate, meaning that Javier Suarez Medina will go to the death chamber in Huntsville this evening unless Gov. Rick Perry or the courts intervene.

Officials from the Mexican government, including President Vicente Fox, have been feverishly lobbying their counterparts in Texas to spare Suarez's life. Suarez, 33, was born in Mexico but has lived in the United States since he was 3.

Suarez was sentenced to die for fatally shooting Dallas police Officer Lawrence Cadena, a 17-year veteran who was posing as a drug buyer during an undercover operation in December 1988.

Princeton disciplines officials

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Princeton University's director of admission has been removed from his job and a number of his subordinates face unspecified disciplinary action for their roles in snooping into the admissions Web site of Ivy League rival Yale University, Princeton's president said Tuesday.

Stephen LeMenager, Princeton's associate dean and director of admission, the first Princeton official to breach the Yale site, will be transferred to a job with the university's publications staff.

The announcement by Princeton president Shirley Tilghman came after an internal investigation conducted by a former federal prosecutor. The probe found that there were 18 unauthorized log-ins in early April from Princeton computers into the files of eight students on Yale's admissions Web site.

The log-ins included 14 from the Princeton admissions office, three from students elsewhere on campus and one from a Yale applicant who was visiting Princeton.

Soldier killed in exercise

FORT STEWART, Ga. -- A soldier was killed during a training exercise when the armored personnel carrier he was in overturned in a ditch, Army officials said Tuesday.

Four other soldiers suffered minor injuries in the accident on the sprawling base near Savannah, Fort Stewart officials said. All were members of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division.

Pilot fired for drinking

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A Mesa Airlines pilot who tested positive for alcohol before a scheduled flight Friday has been fired, the airline said Tuesday.

Peter Treanor, 29, of Charlotte, N.C., had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.06 percent and 0.05 percent in two tests administered after screeners at Little Rock National Airport smelled alcohol on him, the airline said.

Federal regulations prohibit pilots from operating an aircraft or performing other sensitive functions within eight hours of consuming alcohol or if they have an alcohol concentration of at least 0.04.

Child left in hot car dies

PHILADELPHIA -- A man accused of leaving his 20-month-old granddaughter in a broiling car for nearly eight hours was charged Tuesday with involuntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors said Calvin Howell, 54, apparently forgot to drop Sasha Fogle off at a babysitter's home and went to work, leaving the child in the car as temperatures outside soared into the 90s.

Authorities said he worked his shift at the city sanitation department and visited a car repair shop before noticing Sasha's slumped body. An autopsy confirmed that the child died of heatstroke.

TENTED HOUSE EXPLODES: An explosion early Tuesday leveled a Torrance, Calif., house that had been tented for termite extermination and damaged as many as 20 others, littering the neighborhood with debris. Ten people were treated for minor injuries, Fire Department spokesman Tad Friedman said. Investigators said natural gas service in the house hadn't been shut off, which is required.

BAT STAMPS COMING: Four stamps illustrated with bats found in the United States will go on sale Sept. 13, the U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday. First day ceremonies will be held at the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas, which houses the largest urban bat colony in the world. The 37-cent stamps will go on sale nationwide the following day.

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