JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune Betsy Gill hugged her son, Charles H. Lyman V, who will graduate today from Marine basic training.

SAN DIEGO – When Pfc. Charles H. Lyman V graduates from basic training today at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, he will take his place not only in the fraternity of Marines, but also in a family line of veterans who have served in the military dating back to 1870.

NORTH COUNTY – An elderly couple who fell in love and eloped while living in a nursing home had their marriage annulled yesterday despite their pleas to remain wed. A Vista Superior Court commissioner ruled that the two-year-old marriage was invalid, agreeing with the man's sons that he wasn't mentally competent to consent to marriage.

TIJUANA – Eight bodies were found early yesterday in a residential area near the center of the city and a ninth was discovered several miles away, the latest deadly toll of what law enforcement authorities are saying is a fight between criminal groups operating in the region.

FEDERAL COURT – A peripheral figure in the bribery scandal that ensnared former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham was sentenced to five years' probation by a San Diego federal judge yesterday, bringing the three-year-old case closer to finality.

BALBOA PARK – The nonprofit Fisher House will today open its second residence for families of troops receiving treatment at the San Diego Naval Medical Center, which has seen an increase in patients from the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For decades, the entry to a Balboa Park canyon along Myrtle Way offered a shady haven from the hustle and bustle of city life. Its redwood-beam pergola – a shaded area with an open, overhead lattice covered in greenery – had benches overlooking the canyon.