The Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed a rule Tuesday outlining steps employers must take to protect indoor and outdoor workers from the risk of heat illness, the first major regulation aimed at preventing heat-related deaths on the job.
Washington
OSHA proposes rule to protect workers exposed to extreme heat
“The purpose of this rule is simple. It is to significantly reduce the number of work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses suffered by workers who are exposed to excessive heat and exposed to these risks while simply doing their jobs,” OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor Doug Parker said on a call with reporters.
“Whether they are making deliveries, carrying mail all day, working construction, picking vegetables, repairing power lines, doing landscaping. It’s these things that put workers at risk.”
OSHA officials have been working on the proposed regulation for more than two years at the urging of public health and climate advocates.
The proposal comes as summertime heat envelopes the United States and the hottest month of the year gets underway. At the beginning of this week, over 60 million Americans were under heat alerts.
Excessive heat warnings now cover much of California, including in and around San Francisco, and the National Weather Service office that serves much of California’s Central Valley warned of a “dangerous, prolonged heat wave that will last several days.” Southeastern states are also facing hot and soupy weather and at least 45 million Americans will probably have to endure highs at or above 100 degrees this week.
Under the proposed rule issued Tuesday, OSHA would adopt two heat index thresholds that would apply nationally and would factor in humidity as well as temperature. One, at 80 degrees Fahrenheit, would require employers to provide drinking water and break areas that workers can use as needed. Employers would also need to have a plan for new and returning workers to gradually increase their workload so their bodies adjust to the heat.
More protections would kick in at 90 degrees, including monitoring for signs of heat illness and mandatory 15 minute rest breaks every two hours. Employers would be required to check on people working alone every few hours and to issue a hazard alert, reminding their workers of the importance of staying hydrated.
Juley Fulcher, a worker health advocate for the nonprofit Public Citizen, which has pushed for a national heat standard, said the proposal is based on scientific research on how the body responds to heat and borrows from state workplace heat safety laws. So far, only five states have such protections: California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington. Workers in Maryland could soon gain protections — there is a draft rule that is not yet final.
Fulcher praised the OSHA proposal, saying the agency had “done a really good job.” Although some Americans might balk at the suggestion they need protection from 80 degree weather, Fulcher said it’s important to remember that official temperature readings are taken in the shade. Once you factor in sunlight and humidity, an 80 degree day can feel more like 95 or 100, she said.
“If you’re doing really heavy work, you’re generating a lot of internal heat in addition to that external heat,” she said. “You’re not going to be able to cool off at those temperatures.”
The rule doesn’t cover everyone. “Sedentary” employees are exempt from the protections, as are those in indoor job sites kept below 80 degrees, emergency response workers and remote employees. And, because OSHA regulations do not extend to public employees, the regulation won’t apply to government workers and public school teachers, many of whom are confronting increasingly high temperatures in school buildings without air conditioning.
Some businesses and industry groups are gearing up for a battle over a regulation many see as burdensome, redundant and expensive.
Critics have made their displeasure known in letters to the agency. Some industries have argued they are already protecting employees from heat and that a new regulation would be duplicative or, worse, get in the way of what they’re doing. They have pushed back against the rule’s expected acclimatization requirements, which would mandate a gradual ramping up of work hours during high heat. Some have questioned the entire initiative, saying that a workplace heat rule is unnecessary because not many workers die of heat exposure.
From 1992-2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found there were an average of 32 heat-related workplace fatalities per year. There were 43 such deaths in 2022, up from 36 in 2021.
Agency officials and public health advocates say these numbers underestimate the scale of the problem, given underreporting and the difficulty of attributing a death to heat. Workplace data aside, deaths from heat in the U.S. have steadily increased in recent years, exceeding 2,200 last year.
A man wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of a University of Washington student was arrested after photos of him were released to the public, authorities said on Thursday, May 14.
The Seattle Police Department did not name the suspect, but said in a statement that a 31-year-old man had turned himself in to the Bellevue Police Department. In a separate statement, the Bellevue Police Department said the suspect was arrested at about 10:42 p.m. local time on May 13.
The suspect was then transferred to the custody of Seattle Police Department homicide detectives and was booked into the “King County Jail for investigation of Murder,” according to police.
The arrest comes after police released photos taken from security camera footage of the suspect on May 13 and asked for the public’s assistance in the investigation. The photos appeared to show the man inside a laundry room.
On May 10, University of Washington police officers responded to the Nordheim Court apartments, an off-campus housing complex for undergraduate students, and found a woman stabbed to death in the laundry room. The victim, who a local official previously said was a 19-year-old transgender student, was identified by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office as Juniper C. Blessing on May 14.
The incident sparked a law enforcement investigation and prompted authorities to advise Nordheim Court residents to stay in their homes and lock their doors and windows for several hours.
In a statement on May 14, University of Washington President Robert Jones announced an arrest had been made “in connection with the horrific act that took the life of one of our students on Sunday night.”
“I hope the arrest brings some sense of relief to our community,” Jones said. “But this arrest does not lessen the profound shock and grief that the victim’s loved ones and our campus are still experiencing or bring back a beloved, promising and talented member of our university.”
“Much is still unknown about what caused this tragedy, and while this development is important, we will be looking closely at the circumstances in which this event occurred as part of our continued efforts to keep our campus community safe,” he added, noting that the university “remains committed to offering resources for those who need support, including our LGBTQIA+ community, during this difficult time.”
University of Washington student was found dead in laundry room
The University of Washington also confirmed on May 14 that the suspect arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing was the man in the photos shared by police. The Seattle Police Department had described the suspect as a Black man, about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, with short black hair and a “goatee with ingrown scruff around the jaw.”
Police added that the suspect was wearing rimmed eyeglasses; a long-sleeve, dark blue full zip shirt with a white collared shirt underneath; dirty blue jeans; and “dirty dark, possibly gray shoes with a light sole.”
University of Washington police officers responded to a report of a stabbing at about 10:10 p.m. local time on May 10 at Nordheim Court, according to the Seattle Police Department. Responding officers discovered a victim in a laundry room, the Seattle Police Department said in a statement on May 11.
Responding officers and the Seattle Fire Department “attempted lifesaving treatment,” but the Seattle Police Department said the victim was pronounced dead at the scene. After campus police cordoned off the area, the Seattle Police Department took over the investigation, and detectives arrived to process the scene.
In an emergency campus alert sent at about 10:40 p.m. local time on May 10, the University of Washington said campus police were investigating a death that occurred at the Nordheim Court apartments building. The alert advised residents of Nordheim Court to “stay indoors and lock doors and windows.”
By around 11:05 p.m., the university said the area had been secured but urged residents to remain indoors. Shortly before 1 a.m. on May 11, the university told residents that they no longer needed to remain indoors but noted that the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Both police and the university later confirmed on May 11 that a student had been killed in the laundry room at Nordheim Court. The housing complex is privately managed and operated by Greystar, according to the university’s website and Balta.
Nordheim Court offers 454 units ranging in size from studios to four bedrooms, the university’s website states. The housing complex consists of eight buildings, and laundry facilities are located in Building 1 and Building 7.
The university said the student was found dead in Building 7.
‘Juniper was simply the most amazing human being we have ever known’
In a statement shared by the Human Rights Alliance of Santa Fe on behalf of Blessing’s family, the LGBTQ+ advocacy group said the family was “currently in a state of profound shock and heartbreak, processing an unimaginable loss.”
“This loss has devastated not only those closest to their child but also many others throughout the Seattle, Santa Fe, and LGBTQIA2S communities who are mourning as well,” the organization said, adding that Blessing’s family has asked for privacy.
In the statement, the family said Blessing was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and attended Littlebrook School and Princeton Middle School until they moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2018. Blessing’s family described them as a “gifted singer with a transcendent voice,” who studied at the New Mexico School for the Arts from 2020 to 2024.
The family noted that Blessing loved weather since early childhood and intended to study atmospheric science at the University of Washington while also pursuing minors in music and philosophy. They added that Blessing was “courageously living their life as who they were until it was cut tragically short.”
“Our family has been shattered by the loss of our child, Juniper Blessing, to an act of unspeakable violence near the University of Washington campus in Seattle,” according to the statement. “Juniper was simply the most amazing human being we have ever known – highly intelligent, extremely talented, and deeply sensitive to the needs of others. Juniper’s loss not only devastates us but diminishes the world.”
Federal authorities are planning a “summer surge” aimed at reducing crimes committed by young people in D.C. sources tell News4.
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro is expected to announce Friday that the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force will do additional enforcement and get more resources, law enforcement sources said.
The move comes about two weeks after the D.C. Council chose not to vote on extending Mayor Muriel Bowser’s emergency youth curfew zones over the summer.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 that established the task force. He declared a crime emergency and temporarily federalized the locally run Metropolitan Police Department in August 2025.
Trump threatened to seize control of MPD after teens attacked then-Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee Edward Coristine, who was known by the nickname Big Balls.
Pirro has repeatedly railed against youth who commit crimes and told News4 she would like to see children as young as 12 prosecuted as adults.
“The time for coddling young people – 14, 15, 16, 17 – is over. And it’s time that we lowered the age of criminal responsibility,” she said in August.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The owner of a popular Washington Avenue restaurant says he was arrested after a dispute with city health inspectors over whether his business had a valid permit to operate.
Surveillance video recorded May 6 inside Betelgeuse Betelgeuse shows owner Chris Cusack speaking with Houston Health Department officials before he was taken into custody.
“I was pretty dazed, and all I could do is comply until it all got figured out,” Cusack said.
Cusack was charged with failure to comply with local health and sanitary laws after authorities accused the restaurant of operating without a food dealer’s permit.
The Houston Health Department says food dealer permits are valid for one year and must be renewed annually.
Cusack disputes the allegation, saying he has paperwork he believes proves the business had renewed its permit in March.
“I pulled it off the wall and showed it to him,” Cusack said. “He said it wasn’t the right business. I said it has my business’ name and address on it.”
Cusack said inspectors questioned whether the permit was tied to the correct business identification number.
“(The inspector) saw the first ID and said, ‘Ah ha, that’s the one you’re working under, so therefore this isn’t valid,’” Cusack said.
ABC13 reached out to the Houston Health Department with questions about the arrest. The department referred questions to the Houston Police Department.
According to HPD, the health department ordered the business closed in October 2025 for operating without a permit, though officials did not specify which type of permit was involved.
Police said the business was instructed to remain closed until it complied with health regulations. On May 4, inspectors learned the restaurant was open, according to HPD. Inspectors returned two days later, when Cusack was arrested.
Cusack said he was never told to shut down the business and questioned why inspectors waited months before returning.
The restaurant, known for pizza and drinks, reopened following the arrest and was serving customers again on Wednesday.
Cusack also expressed concern about what he described as aggressive enforcement targeting Washington Avenue businesses.
The entertainment district has faced increased law enforcement scrutiny in recent years as city leaders attempted to curb reckless behavior and nightlife-related crime.
“Washington Avenue business owners are just being confused by these intense raids on businesses for what are typically really basic scenarios,” Cusack said.
Court records show Cusack is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday on the charge.
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