TIME TO KILL: Gang gunfire that killed...

TIME TO KILL: Gang gunfire that killed three in the San Fernando Valley recently is simply a sign of summer, police say. “Traditionally crime goes up in the summer--the weather gets hotter and the days longer,” said a Foothill station lieutenant. “There’s more partying and activity going on.”. . . . The killings brought gang-caused deaths to 24 this year, keeping pace with 1992, when 53 died.

OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: Not long ago, fortunetellers were rare in the Valley, but today there are more than 25 just in the Yellow Pages. A writer with a mortal problem visits a few of the hypnotic-eyed sisterhood, finding the desperation business is booming . . . Cash preferred. See Around the Valley (B5).

RELIGIOUS STAR: She is known to millions by a single name--probably other millions than Cher and Madonna. From her wheelchair, Joni (above) made herself a superstar on the religious circuit with recordings, radio shows and a film. . . Now her Agoura Hills-based ministry is venturing beyond the mom-and-apple pie world into rough debates over euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicides (B1).

PHOENIX RISES: For five years, Lake View Terrace residents battled to prevent Phoenix House, a treatment center for teen-age drug abusers, from opening there. The battle pitted neighbor against neighbor and even pushed aside Nancy Reagan. The L.A. City Council has finally ended it: Phoenix wins (B1). . . . The council even rejected restrictions opponents won earlier from zoning officials.

QUIET GOSPEL: When Phil Sanson, a basketball player at The Master’s College in Newhall, crashed headfirst into bleachers, he suffered a crushed larynx. After five operations--with a sixth scheduled Friday--the 6-foot-7 Sanson wonders whether he will ever breathe without a tube in his throat or talk above a whisper (C10). . . .Quietly religious before, Sanson has become a spokesman for his faith.