ROME — The Italian health ministry placed 12 cities under the most severe heat warning Tuesday as a wave of hot air from Africa baked southern Europe and the Balkans and sent temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), with the worst still to come.

Croatia reported the highest-ever temperatures of the Adriatic Sea, with the thermometer reaching nearly 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) at the southern walled city of Dubrovnik, the country’s most popular tourism spot. In Serbia, the state power company reported record consumption Tuesday due to the use of air conditioning.

Municipal authorities in several southern European and Balkan cities took measures to look after elderly people in particular as civil protection crews fielded calls for water-dropping aircraft such as Canadairs to douse wildfires that raged in southern Italy and North Macedonia.

“It’s hellishly hot,” said Carmen Díaz, a tourist from Madrid who was trying to keep cool with a fan at lunchtime in Rome. “These fans help a little too, but it’s really hot.”

In Greece, municipalities made air conditioned spaces available to the public. Certain forms of outdoor work were banned, such as manual labor, deliveries and construction, during the hottest time of the day when temperatures reached 40 C.

Temperatures were expected to hit 42 C on Wednesday and Thursday in several countries. Spain’s national weather service said thermometers could reach 44 C (111 F) in the southern Guadalquivir river basin in the coming days.

To beat the heat, Rome’s zoo made plans to offer popsicle respite for the animals later this week when temperatures were expected to top 38 C.

For those flocking to the Eternal City’s Coldplay concerts this week, there were no such icy treats.

“It really feels like we are in an oven with a hair dryer pointed at us,” said Patrizia Valerio, who had just arrived in Rome from Varese for the band’s final performance Tuesday night.

Fellow concert-goer Mattia Rossi was more philosophical, noting that the freak storms that hit Italy earlier this summer as evidence of climate change wreaking havoc on the southern Mediterranean’s weather systems.

“These are all symptoms of a planet that is suffering in my opinion,” Rossi said.

In Albania, where temperatures were expected to hit 42 C, a 72-year-old man was found dead at his farm in Memaliaj, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of the capital Tirana and the cause of the death is believed to be the heat, the local Panorama portal reported. There was no immediate confirmation by health authorities.

In Tirana itself, streets and cafes seemed almost empty, with the few people out and about using umbrellas to shade themselves. High temperatures and winds were fanning wildfires from the south to the north in recent weeks.

Even with temperatures a comparatively cool 34 C, the Istanbul municipality issued a heat warning on Tuesday advising residents — especially the elderly, pregnant women, children, and those with health issues — to avoid going out between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The advisory said temperatures in Istanbul were expected to remain between 3 to 6 degrees above seasonal norms until July 28 and advised residents to drink plenty of fluids and opt for light or cotton clothing.

“It’s usually windy here, like natural air conditioning, so we always come here to cool off,” said Sami Gunaydin, a 62-year-old pensioner who was swimming in the Bosporus on Tuesday. “May God help those who have no air conditioning.”

For the second time this month, North Macedonia faced a heatwave with temperatures going up to 42 C. Some 200 wildfires have been raging in the country since the beginning of the month, with one firefighter so far injured. The government has declared a monthlong state of crisis.

For Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia, it’s the second week that temperatures have been hovering around 40 C, with the Bosnian town of Mostar registering that high for the sixth consecutive day. Meteorologists said the heat wave was expected to peak on Tuesday and slowly ease toward the end of the week.

Romania and neighboring Moldova have also been gripped by an intense heatwave over the past week, with temperatures in both country’s capitals, Bucharest and Chisinau respectively, exceeding 40 C this week.

In Italy, the civil protection service reported it received 18 calls for help Monday to douse wildfires that raged in several southern regions.

The health ministry placed 12 cities – from Trieste in the north to Rome in the center – under a red alert heat warning, the highest state of heat emergency. In cities under such warnings, everyone — not just the elderly or young children — is urged to stay indoors during the hottest parts of the day and avoid strenuous outdoor exercise and heavy foods.

Palermo, Sicily was expected to join the list of red-bulletin cities on Wednesday, the health ministry said.

Much of Greece was also sweltering in a heat wave due to last until the end of the week, with temperatures in some areas forecast to reach 42 C. The heat wave was predicted to peak on Wednesday and Thursday, particularly affecting regions of central, western and northern Greece, where temperatures could rise to 43 C.

The brutal heat wave hitting southern Europe has so far spared Paris, which is set to host the Olympics later this month. Temperatures were a comparatively chilly 22 C on Tuesday, though they were expected to rise later in the week only to fall again after the weekend.

Copyright 2024 NPR

MILWAUKEE – FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith sat down one-on-one with Republican South Carolina Senator Tim Scott during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee. 

Scott spoke at length on multiple topics, including how to revitalize cities, opportunities for development, the tone of the RNC and getting out the vote among African American voters. 

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Text of interview

Sen. Tim Scott: I love a finding a way to celebrate the good Lord and be talking about the success of Opportunity Zones, talking about the success of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and how the, the the GOP should be interfacing and interacting with minority communities. Really important to me. 

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: Yeah, these opportunity zones, these are the tremendous opportunities, obviously, to rejuvenate the community, bring in development. Some of the stuff you said today. It was really interesting. You said you have to find a case for these investors. You have to make a case. Absolutely. How do you do that? How do you get this investor who could bring this infusion of money, of economic opportunity to a place like this in Milwaukee?

Sen. Tim Scott: I think cities have a tremendous responsibility and opportunity to really create something like a prospectus. You know, if you’re investing in a mutual fund, you get a prospectus to understand what the likely return on the investment is, that their communities have to do a really good job of doing that. And then when that happens, I think investors naturally come into places where they feel like the return will be good. Good news is that all across the country, we’ve had lots of communities doing that successfully. That’s one of the reasons why we have almost 70, almost $80 billion now being committed to opportunity zones nationwide. Some communities struggle with it more than others, but overall, all the opportunity zones are basically in economically disadvantaged communities. And so finding the investor that wants to have the ability to make a difference and make a profit, there are a lot of them, but you have to work hard to make sure that your state, your city, your community project gets in front of the right investors.

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: And that could include I’m just passionate about education. I used to be a former, college recruiter for Madison, and so that’s my real drive. Are there economic opportunities there for education? We have a truancy problem here in Milwaukee. That’s one of the things to get the kids, not only in school, but to stay in school and to graduate with a four year opportunity. 

Sen. Tim Scott: Those don’t necessarily impact don’t do that. But there are a lot of, schools like Northgate and NCC as NCAA, excuse me, as, opportunities as like 300 acres contiguous with their property that they’re now trying to figure out how to use in an effective manner because they’re opportunity zones. A lot of the HBCU’s around the country have opportunity zones, or they’re in one or near one. And to figure out the collaboration that would be helpful for their students to be able to prosper and flourish is a part of the component. K through 12 is different story. Some some folks are looking at creating charter schools and opportunity zones. If there’s a someone who owns a building, it makes it easier for schools to start. And that alone can reduce, frankly, the high level of, of poor grades and poor neighborhoods. 

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: Yeah. I wanted to go to Spelman, I visited, I didn’t go, but I get it. That would be a great you know. 

Sen. Tim Scott: Aladdin is a great place where you see a lot of opportunities to actually prosper in Morehouse. Spelman. 

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: Oh about eight or.

Sen. Tim Scott: So in those areas. Frankly, even I think even Emory and Georgia Tech have opportunity zones nearby. Yeah, it’s really, it’s the collaboration. The partnership is such an important part of the equation. Whether you’re talking k-through-12 education or higher education, you’ve got to be on the lookout for investors who meet the criteria that you set as, ah, as getting more dollars in those communities.

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: I couldn’t help it when I heard you talk today. What do you think about HUD, if you were appointed secretary, would you take that position? Would you want to take that position, or do you think you have more power for change as a senator? 

Sen. Tim Scott: There’s no doubt that being a United States senator gives me the widest impact I could dream up. I’ve never dreamt of being the HUD secretary, so I won’t probably start today. But I will say that having Ben Carson and the OC come together at an Opportunity Zone event highlights what you’re talking about. I did an event in South Carolina where we had HUD, and like, the SEC regulates the banks, property goes through the room. Investors and financial institutions came together. And out of that room, a few, a few deals were done is by I understand.

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: Yeah. Former President Trump talked about changing the narrative. He’s going to throw that speech out after what happened Saturday revamp he is talking about specifically I wrote down unity and calm. Yeah. You know, what do you think it will take for that to happen? And I got to tell you last night, if the Republican Party is looking for unity and calm, why they continue to test, even buy you on President Trump, why not soften that narrative in that rhetoric and speak on the platforms instead of attacking the other candidate? 

Sen. Tim Scott: Well, actually, what I did was create a contrast. The American people should be very familiar with the contrast between two presidencies that are so close together, consecutive four years, followed by four years, that they can now compare the results of those two presidencies. Number one. There’s no question that if you want to sell something, you gotta say what this product does. The number two. If you have competition, yes. With that product, with that product does not do the product of Joe Biden and Biden does not benefit working class and poor people. $28,000 of lost spending power over the last three and a half years is something should that should be highlighted. Having the lowest unemployment rate in the history of demographics African-Americans. Hispanics. Asians. Women 70 year low. It’s really important to show that contrast. Talking about the devastation of thousands of people being shot in a city controlled exclusively by Democrats for a hundred years. Comparing that to communities run like Dallas, Texas, African-American mayor, where crime is going down. That comparison is really helpful for the consumer or the voter to make their final decision.

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: But when you have over 80% of African Americans leaning Democratic, they identify with the Democratic Party. How do you get them to come over to the Republican Party, which is seeing increasing amounts of black people in that party, as you mentioned in Dallas? 

Sen. Tim Scott: There’s no doubt we’ve seen about the greatest, flight from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party of African-Americans in the last 30 years. Part of us leading that movement is our success with HBCUs. Our success with the tax code, our success with opportunity Zones are successful. Sickle cell anemia research our successful heirs property. So when we started marketing the successful issue, standpoint, we find more people interested in the party and not just believing the rhetoric that people hear on TV, but actually getting to the the nitty gritty. And that’s our job to get out into the communities and tell our. 

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: Stories and tell that’s tell brown people, if you will, that you can be part of this. We’re not this elitist group, you know, as we heard from the Teamsters union last night.

Sen. Tim Scott: Yeah, it’s like I said last night, I grew up with plastic spoons, not silver spoons. Whatever the definition of A is, it doesn’t doesn’t include plastic. And so that’s the deal.

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: Last question, which is a fun one. If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing? [00:07:06][3.5]

Sen. Tim Scott: Ministry

FOX6’s Mary Stoker Smith: Ministry.

Sen. Tim Scott: Ministering and or being a motivational speaker. I love finding ways to impact people with eternal truth. Yeah.

COLUMBIA — Just over $8 million meant to help families afford groceries went unused when debit cards with the money expired last month, according to state data.

Last August, the state Department of Social Services mailed nearly 537,000 debit cards loaded with money for groceries to families across the state. The money was part of a temporary federal program during the COVID-19 pandemic meant to help families buy groceries during the months when their children weren’t in school.

The last round of cards, which gave families $120 per child, expired in May, nine months after they were issued. Nearly 470,000 cards — 87.5% of those mailed — were activated, totaling $56.2 million.

Whether families used up all of their allotment is unknown. DSS doesn’t track how much of a card is used once it’s activated. But with the cost of groceries, it’s expected that families who activated their card at all quickly used their total available.

Cards remain good nine months after they’re used for an initial purchase of any amount. That means the 1,300 people who first used the cards between April and May have until next January or February to use the remaining money before it, too, returns to the federal government.

The exact reasons 67,000 families did not use their cards at all are unknown. There could be several reasons a parent didn’t use the money, DSS officials and advocates have said.

Millions in SC summer grocery aid will expire next month

Some cards may have been lost in the shuffle of other pandemic assistance, Sue Berkowitz, an advocate with Appleseed Legal Justice Center, said previously. Others may have thrown it out because they didn’t know what it was or that it was legitimate.

The social services and education departments tried to get the word out through news interviews and social media posts, agency spokespeople said.

Still other families may not have needed the money and overlooked the card for that reason. The cards went to the addresses listed for any student who qualifies to eat free or reduced-priced meals at school.

And the vast majority of schools statewide qualify for a federal program that allows all students to eat for free, regardless of their parents’ income. That means families who normally don’t qualify for any public assistance received the grocery debit cards anyway.

The cards sent out in August were the final of seven rounds of federal pandemic grocery aid.

In all, the state distributed 2.26 million cards between July 2020 and last August providing $1.04 billion for groceries. Parents used 90% of those cards at least once, according to DSS data.

While no complete database of states’ usage exists, South Carolina families seem to have used the money at a higher rate than other states. For instance, Missouri had about $37 million in unused grocery aid in February, and Louisiana had $16 million in April, just ahead of their cards’ expiration dates.

A new, permanent version of the program began in 35 states this summer. South Carolina was not among them after Gov. Henry McMaster declined to participate, pointing to other statewide programs that feed children over the summers.

Unlike the pandemic-era aid, which the federal government fully funded, the new program requires states to chip in half the administrative cost.

Democratic legislators lambasted McMaster for his decision, but legislation that would have required him to sign on and asking Congress to extend the Jan. 1 deadline to sign up went nowhere.