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Heat wave continues to boil the Midwest and East Coast while storms brew behind it

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Heat wave continues to boil the Midwest and East Coast while storms brew behind it

Rafael Fontana, 8, gets cooled off by his father Carlos Fontana, both from Chicago, at the Rainbow Pool at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Friday, June 21, 2024.

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A major heat wave has blanketed much of the U.S. in scorching temperatures for about a week — and in many places the hot spell is far from over.

As of Saturday morning, more that 100 million people in the U.S. were under heat alerts, including large swaths of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, Virginia, New York and Maryland.

The Midwest is expected to see some relief from the heat after Saturday. But temperatures are expected to peak this weekend from Washington, D.C., to New York. In the South, the hottest weather — which is forecast to be well into the triple digits — is expected to arrive early next week.

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On top of the hot spell, widespread showers and thunderstorms will threaten parts of the Northeast and Midwest. Southern Wisconsin and northeast Iowa are at risk of flash flooding Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

The extreme temperatures are caused by a heat dome — a high pressure system that pushes hot air down and traps it — that is becoming more common and intense as a result of climate change.

Northeast heat will feel like triple digits this weekend

Much of the Northeast will be hot and humid this weekend, with some of the highest temperatures hitting New Jersey.

The heat index in Trenton — what the weather actually feels like when you account for both the temperature and humidity — is forecast to reach 107 degrees Saturday. In Newark, the heat index could go as high as 106 degrees, while New Brunswick could climb to 105 degrees.

The heat wave will also bake New York, though temperatures will likely not reach triple digits, according toNWS New York.

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In Pittsburgh and the surrounding area, the heat index was expected to climb to 105 degrees Saturday. NWS advised to stay indoors and warned not to leave children or pets in unattended vehicles, where the heat could reach “lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”

Temperatures in the region are forecast to cool down on Sunday as a cold front moves in. At the same time, intense thunderstorms will begin to form — possibly leading to tornadoes in western Pennsylvania.

“Some storms will be severe with winds being the main threat. A tornado or two can’t be ruled out,” NWS Pittsburg advised.

In Philadelphia, the peak of the city’s heat wave will occur this weekend, with the heat index reaching 105 degrees on Sunday. The City of Brotherly Love will also could some intense showers at the end of the weekend.

This image provided by Sioux County Sheriff shows City of Rock Valley, Iowa on Saturday, June 22, 2024. Gov. Kim Reynolds sent helicopters to the small town to evacuate people from flooded homes Saturday, the result of weeks of rain, while much of the United States longed for relief from yet another round of extraordinary heat.(Sioux County Sheriff via AP)

This image provided by Sioux County Sheriff shows City of Rock Valley, Iowa on Saturday, June 22, 2024.

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Parts of Iowa and Wisconsin are under flood watch

In Wisconsin, a flood watch has been issued for the lower half of the state, from Wausau to Janesville. So far, Milwaukee is not under a flood warning. About 1 to 3 inches of rain is expected Saturday, with some areas forecast to receive 3 to 5 inches.

Parts of northern and central Iowa, including Fort Dodge and Waterloo, are already experiencing severe flooding.

In Rock Valley, about an hour north of Sioux City, some residents were ordered to evacuate on Friday due to floodwaters. On Saturday, dive teams and swift boat crews searched for any remaining residents in the town. Local officials added that the city was without running water.

On Saturday morning, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation in the northwest part of the state, including Rock Valley and Sioux County.

The heat wave is sending many to emergency rooms

Hospital data from across the country show an uptick of emergency room visits related to heat illness or heat stroke.

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Heat stresses people’s hearts, which could lead to heart attacks. It also worsens air quality, triggering more cases of respiratory issues. Those heat risks are compounded by the humidity.

Dr. George Chiampas, an emergency medicine specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said the real danger is the humidity.

“It’s like putting Saran Wrap over you, and you can’t basically dissipate or push the heat out into a cooler environment,” Chiampas told NPR’s Morning Edition on Friday. “So that humidity, quite frankly, is the most burdensome of what we’re dealing with.”

Over the last five years, emergency rooms in the Midwest, including those in Michigan and Wisconsin, saw on average about 350 heat patients for every 100,000 admissions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In recent days, that number was nearly double.

Emergency calls have also increased in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

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NPR’s Alejandra Borunda contributed reporting.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal how their books add to their income

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Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal how their books add to their income

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaks at the Reagan Library on Sept. 9, 2025, in Simi Valley, Calif. Barrett discussed and signed copies of her new book, Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution.

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Even as the Supreme Court was handing down one legal thunderbolt after another last week, the justices were quietly releasing their annual financial reports. Justice Samuel Alito was the only sitting justice to request an extension, which he has done for 15 years. The disclosures do not give a complete account of the justices’ total income and wealth, but they give insights into their concertgoing, guest professorships and even their involvement in youth sports.

In addition to their salaries, much of the justices’ reported income came from their book deals. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson led the pack earning more than $1.1 million last year for a total of roughly $4 million since her memoir, Lovely One, was published in 2024.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy also reported income from published books. Earnings from their books ranged from $849,000 for Barrett, to $300,000 for Gorsuch and $88,000 for Sotomayor, whose books include her 2013 autobiography and five children’s books. Justice Clarence Thomas, who previously earned $1.5 million for his 2007 memoir, listed no publisher payments last year, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of 13 co-authors of a 2016 legal treatise, also received no payments last year. Kavanaugh is said to be working on a memoir but he listed no payments for the anticipated book. Alito does have a book coming out in the fall, but with his financial report still outstanding, there is no data on how much he was paid for the work in 2025.

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The only two sitting justices who have not written books are Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan.

Many justices also earned income from teaching at law schools. Roberts reported income from New England Law, located in Boston, and Gorsuch reported teaching income from George Mason University in Virginia. Thomas taught classes at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and Barrett and Kavanaugh taught at Notre Dame Law School. Barrett graduated from the school and began teaching there 23 years ago; Kavanaugh has family connections to Notre Dame.

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

At least two structural columns buckled and failed in a 37-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, prompting evacuations of nearby streets and buildings. While city officials asserted that the tower was in no danger of collapsing completely, outside engineers said further failures in the structure could not be ruled out.

A pair of columns that failed completely were part of the tower’s existing structure. A New York Times review of images and videos from inside the building has found that several floors were added atop these columns.

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City officials said in a news conference on Tuesday that the building was continuing to move, while they simultaneously assured the city that the building would not suffer “total collapse.” “The way this building is constructed, it’s a steel-frame building,” John Esposito, a chief in the Fire Department in New York, said at the afternoon news conference. “So, it would not be a total collapse. It would be more of a localized collapse.” Still, he said, “that remains our concern, that it’s moved.”

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Engineers said that the movement itself was cause for concern. In a properly designed steel building, they said, loads should redistribute quickly to surviving structural supports if columns failed.

Joe DiPompeo, a former president of the Structural Engineering Institute at the American Society of Civil Engineers, said that if the structure had been overloaded, he would expect any movement “to happen very quickly,” rather than gradually.

“Generally when a column buckles, it’s a sudden failure,” Mr. DiPompeo said. He said that a full collapse remained unlikely given the redundancies built into the building codes.

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Engineers often refer to the most dangerous possibility as a progressive collapse, a process in which structures near the initial failure become overstressed and also fail, potentially bringing down the building if the sequence continues. While unlikely, it cannot be ruled out, Mr. DiPompeo said.

Footage recorded from inside the building shows at least two structural columns appear to have failed completely, Mr. DiPompeo said. Other nonstructural, interior walls — or at least the metal “studs” that were in place to hold them up — also appear to have deformed.

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“The only way that really happens is if the floor above them dropped. It looks like the floor above could have dropped a foot or two, which is obviously not a good situation,” Mr. DiPompeo said.

@fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

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Image from @fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

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Image from @Bogs4NY via X

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The 37-story building is in the process of being converted from office space into residential units. Four new floors and a large vertical portion were added onto the existing building in recent months. The vertical portion consists of a stack of over a dozen new floors cantilevered out over the existing building below.

Engineers said that there was nothing inherently wrong with adding residential floors or the cantilevered section above the columns that failed, as long as the original structure and the modifications had properly accounted for the added weight and wind loads.

“The cantilever alone doesn’t change anything,” Mr. DiPompeo said, but it does put additional load on the columns underneath — a factor that should have been reflected in the design.

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Nathan Berman, managing principal and founder of MetroLoft, the developer overseeing the conversion, said on Tuesday that “this incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap.”

He said two columns near the northwest corner of the tower had bent under the weight of additions to the building above, most likely because those columns had not been properly reinforced, though he said an investigation would determine the cause. The rest of the columns, he said, “picked up the weight.” He estimated the affected floors above the failed columns had sagged by a maximum of four inches.

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Mr. Berman said that he expected the problems to be fixed and the project to be completed with, at most, a slight delay.

On Tuesday evening, installation of temporary shoring was set to begin shortly, in order to help stabilize the 20th and 21st floors of the building.

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