Persistent heat wave in the US shatters new records, causes deaths in the West and grips the East

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A long-running heat wave that has already shattered previous records across the U.S. persisted on Sunday, baking parts of the West with dangerous temperatures that caused the death of a motorcyclist in Death Valley and held the East in its hot and humid grip.

An excessive heat warning — the National Weather Service's highest alert — was in effect for about 36 million people, or about 10% of the population, said NWS meteorologist Bryan Jackson. Dozens of locations in the West and Pacific Northwest tied or broke previous heat records.

Many areas in Northern California surpassed 110 degrees (43.3 C), with the city of Redding topping out at a record 119 (48.3 C). Phoenix set a new daily record Sunday for the warmest low temperature: it never got below 92 F (33.3 C).

A high temperature of 128 F (53.3 C) was recorded Saturday and Sunday at Death Valley National Park in eastern California, where a visitor died Saturday from heat exposure and another person was hospitalized, officials said.

The two visitors were part of a group of six motorcyclists riding through the Badwater Basin area amid scorching weather, the park said in a statement.

The person who died was not identified. The other motorcyclist was transported to a Las Vegas hospital for “severe heat illness,” the statement said. Due to the high temperatures, emergency medical helicopters were unable to respond, as the aircraft cannot generally fly safely over 120 F (48.8 C), officials said.

The other four members of the party were treated at the scene.

“While this is a very exciting time to experience potential world record setting temperatures in Death Valley, we encourage visitors to choose their activities carefully, avoiding prolonged periods of time outside of an air-conditioned vehicle or building when temperatures are this high," said park Superintendent Mike Reynolds.

Officials warned that heat illness and injury are cumulative and can build over the course of a day or days.

"Besides not being able to cool down while riding due to high ambient air temperatures, experiencing Death Valley by motorcycle when it is this hot is further challenged by the necessary heavy safety gear worn to reduce injuries during an accident,” the park statement said.

The soaring temperatures didn't faze Chris Kinsel, a Death Valley visitor who said it was “like Christmas day for me” to be there on a record-breaking day. Kinsel said he and his wife typically come to the park during the winter, when it's still plenty warm — but that's nothing compared with being at one of the hottest places on Earth in July.

“Death Valley during the summer has always been a bucket list thing for me. For most of my life, I've wanted to come out here in summertime,” said Kinsel, who was visiting Death Valley's Badwater Basin area from Las Vegas.

Kinsel said he planned to go to the park's visitor center to have his photo taken next to the digital sign displaying the current temperature.

Across the desert in Nevada, Natasha Ivory took four of her eight children to a water park in Mount Charleston, outside Las Vegas, which on Sunday set a record high of 120 F (48.8 C).

“They’re having a ball,” Ivory told Fox5 Vegas said. “I’m going to get wet too. It’s too hot not to.”

Jill Workman Anderson also was at Mount Charleston, taking her dog for a short hike and enjoying the view.

“We can look out and see the desert,” she said. “It was also 30 degrees cooler than northwest Las Vegas, where we live.”

Triple-digit temperatures were common across Oregon, where several records were toppled — including in Salem, where on Sunday it hit 103 F (39.4 C), topping the 99 F (37.2 C) mark set in 1960. On the more-humid East Coast, temperatures above 100 degrees were widespread, though no excessive heat advisories were in effect for Sunday.

“Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors,” read a weather service advisory for the Baltimore area. “Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances.”

Rare heat advisories were extended even into higher elevations including around Lake Tahoe, on the border of California and Nevada, with the weather service in Reno, Nevada, warning of “major heat risk impacts, even in the mountains.”

“How hot are we talking? Well, high temperatures across (western Nevada and northeastern California) won't get below 100 degrees (37.8 C) until next weekend,” the service posted online. “And unfortunately, there won't be much relief overnight either."

More extreme highs are in the near forecast, including possibly 130 F (54.4 C) around midweek at Furnace Creek, California, in Death Valley. The hottest temperature ever officially recorded on Earth was 134 F (56.67 C) in July 1913 in Death Valley, though some experts dispute that measurement and say the real record was 130 F (54.4 C), recorded there in July 2021.

Tracy Housley, a native of Manchester, England, said she decided to drive from her hotel in Las Vegas to Death Valley after hearing on the radio that temperatures could approach record levels.

“We just thought, let's be there for that,” Housley said Sunday. “Let's go for the experience.”

In Arizona’s Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix, there have been at least 13 confirmed heat-related deaths this year, along with more than 160 other deaths suspected of being related to heat that are still under investigation, according to a recent report.

That does not include the death of a 10-year-old boy last week in Phoenix who suffered a “heat-related medical event” while hiking with family at South Mountain Park and Preserve, according to police.

In California, crews worked in sweltering conditions to battle a series of wildfires across the state.

In Santa Barbara County, northwest of Los Angeles, the growing Lake Fire had scorched more than 25 square miles (66.5 square kilometers) of dry grass, brush and timber after breaking out Friday. There was no containment by Sunday. The blaze was burning through mostly uninhabited wildland, but some rural homes were under evacuation orders.

This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Redding, California, and to correct that motorcyclist died Saturday, not Sunday.

Beck reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press videographer Ty O'Neil in Death Valley National Park, and writer Walter Berry in Phoenix contributed to this report.

A person cools off in misters along the Las Vegas Strip, Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Las Vegas. A heat wave is spreading across the Western U.S., the National Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People cool off in misters along the Las Vegas Strip, Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Las Vegas. A heat wave is spreading across the Western U.S., the National Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People cool off in misters along the Las Vegas Strip, Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Las Vegas. A heat wave is spreading across the Western U.S., the National Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People cool off in misters along the Las Vegas Strip, Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Las Vegas. A heat wave is spreading across the Western U.S., the National Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Alina Rogers, right, from Pennsylvania, holds an umbrella up for a family member visiting from Hungary at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park, Calif., Sunday, July 7, 2024. Forecasters say a heat wave could break previous records across the U.S. including at Death Valley. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)

Two people cover themselves in white towels as they walk around Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, Calif., Sunday, July 7, 2024. Forecasters say a heat wave could break previous records across the U.S. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)

A woman takes a photo of a thermostat reading 126 degrees Fahrenheit and 52 degrees Celsius at the Furnace Creak Visitors Center in Death Valley National Park, Calif., Sunday, July 7, 2024. Forecasters say a heat wave could break previous records across the U.S. including at Death Valley. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)

Doll Crain, with Cultivate Initiatives, marks off places for beds as workers set up the Cook Plaza cooling center on Friday, July 5, 2024, in Gresham, Ore. A heat wave is spreading across Wester U.S., the national Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Sherri Thompson, with her chihuahua 14-year-old Kiwahi, waits in her vehicle for the Cook Plaza cooling center to open on Friday, July 5, 2024, in Gresham, Ore. Thompson has lived in her car for three years, and can only run its air conditioning for about 20 minutes at a time as it causes the engine to overheat. A heat wave is spreading across Wester U.S., the national Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Signs and traffic cones block a road to Sycamore Valley Ranch, formerly called Neverland Ranch when it was owned by Michael Jackson, as firefighters work against the advancing Lake Fire in Los Olivos, Calif., Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

The gate to Sycamore Valley Ranch, formerly called Neverland Ranch when it was owned by Michael Jackson, stands as the Lake Fire advances in Los Olivos, Calif., Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Helicopters drop water on flames from the advancing Lake Fire in Los Olivos, Calif., Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

People fill up their water bottles while attending the Waterfront Blues Festival on Friday, July 5, 2024, in Portland, Ore. A slow-moving and potentially record-setting heat wave is spreading across the Western U.S., sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Ty Brown, with Cultivate Initiatives, puts ice over bottles of water as workers set up the Cook Plaza cooling center on Friday, July 5, 2024, in Gresham, Ore. A heat wave is spreading across Wester U.S., the national Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Jordan Savant, second from left, walks with his family carrying umbrellas on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol, Friday, July 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

Sherri Thompson, with her chihuahua 14-year-old Kiwahi, arrives at the Cook Plaza cooling center after waiting for the center to open on Friday, July 5, 2024, in Gresham, Ore. Thompson has lived in her car for three years, and can only run its air conditioning for about 20 minutes at a time as it causes the engine to overheat. A heat wave is spreading across Wester U.S., the national Weather Service said, sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

Wesam Horni, center, sells water on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol, Friday, July 5, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

A person cools off during the Waterfront Blues Festival on Friday, July 5, 2024, in Portland, Ore. A slow-moving and potentially record-setting heat wave is spreading across the Western U.S., sending many residents in search of a cool haven from the dangerously high temperatures. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A water-dropping helicopter drops on flames from the advancing Lake Fire in Los Olivos, Calif., Saturday, July 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — With ballot deadlines approaching, courts in Nebraska and Missouri are weighing legal arguments that could take measures seeking to expand abortion rights out of the hands of voters.

The Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments this week in an appeal over a proposed amendment to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution. And on Monday, the Nebraska Supreme Court heard arguments in three lawsuits that seek to keep one or both of the state's competing abortion initiatives off the ballot.

One initiative would enshrine in the Nebraska Constitution the right to have an abortion until viability, or later to protect the health of the pregnant woman. The other would write into the constitution Nebraska's current 12-week abortion ban, passed by the Legislature in 2023, which includes exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the pregnant woman.

Two lawsuits — one brought by an Omaha resident and the other by a Nebraska neonatologist who both oppose abortion — argue that the measure seeking to expand abortion rights violates the state’s prohibition against addressing more than one subject in a bill or ballot proposal. They say the ballot measure deals with abortion rights until viability, abortion rights after viability to protect the woman’s health and whether the state should be allowed to regulate abortion, amounting to three separate issues.

But lawyers opposing the abortion rights measure spent much of their time challenging the language of the proposal, with attorney Brenna Grasz insisting that its wording that “all persons” shall have a fundamental right to abortion would extend abortion rights to third parties. An example would be parents seeking to force a minor child to get an abortion.

“Is this a single-subject argument?” Chief Justice Mike Heavican asked.

Attorney Matt Heffron with the conservative Chicago nonprofit Thomas More Society, which has filed lawsuits across the country to challenge abortion rights, argued that the Protect Our Rights initiative logrolls competing subjects into one measure. It would force voters who support abortion up to the point of fetal viability to also support abortion after that point to protect the health of the mother, which they may not want to do, he said.

“This is a sea change in the current Nebraska law, which was popularly enacted by representatives, and each one of these should be voted on by the voters separately,” Heffron said.

Heavican countered that “virtually every bill that has gone through the Legislature” dealing with abortion has also included the subjects of exceptions and state regulation.

Heffron answered that lawmakers had the benefit of time and expertise to “hash out the terms” of those bills and that voters will go into the voting booth much less informed. But the justices noted that a nearly identical single-subject argument on an abortion rights ballot measure before the conservative Florida Supreme Court earlier this year failed.

An attorney for the lawsuit challenging the 12-week ban initiative argued that if the high court finds that the abortion rights measure fails the single-subject test, it must also find that the 12-week ban initiative fails it, too.

Attorney David Gacioch, of Boston, said that under the theory floated by opposing attorneys, the 12-week ban measure would loop in at least six separate subjects to include regulating abortion in the first, second and third trimesters and separate exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

Gacioch acknowledged that insisting on separate ballot measures for each of those issues would be as specious as trying to break down the abortion rights measure into separate issues.

“We don’t think that’s what this court has articulated under a single-subject test,” Gacioch said. “We think that would frustrate the rights of the voters to pass constitutional amendments as reflected in the Constitution.”

The state's high court has offered a mixed bag on single-subject law challenges. In 2020, the Nebraska Supreme Court blocked a ballot initiative seeking to legalize medical marijuana after finding that its provisions to allow people to use marijuana and to produce it were separate subjects that violated the state’s single-subject rule.

But in July, the high court ruled that a hybrid bill passed by the Legislature in 2023 combining the 12-week abortion ban with another measure to limit gender-affirming health care for minors does not violate the single-subject rule. That led to a scathing dissent by Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman, who accused the majority of applying different standards to bills passed by the Legislature and those sought by voter referendum.

The court agreed to expedite Monday's hearing as state law requires the November ballot to be certified by Friday.

In Missouri, the state's high court will hear arguments Tuesday in its proposed abortion rights initiative, following that state's enactment of a near-total abortion ban in 2022. The proposal had been slated for the November ballot, but a judge ruled Friday that the abortion-rights campaign did not properly inform voters during the signature-gathering process about the range of abortion laws the amendment could undo.

Tuesday is also the deadline to make changes to Missouri’s November ballot, so judges will have hours to rule on whether abortion will go before voters this year.

Abortion is currently on the November ballot in nine states. Additionally, a measure in New York would bar discrimination based on pregnancy outcomes but does not mention abortion specifically.

Abortion rights advocates have historically prevailed most of the time it’s been before voters – including on all seven ballot measures since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and ended a nationwide right to abortion. Since the ruling, most Republican-controlled states have implemented bans or restrictions – including 14 that now bar abortion at all stages of pregnancy.

With such high stakes, there have been court fights over most of the measures. An Arizona Supreme Court ruling is letting the state refer to an embryo or fetus as an “unborn human being” in a pamphlet; courts in Arkansas found paperwork problems with initiative submissions and kept the measure off the ballot. A measure is on the ballot in South Dakota, but an anti-abortion group is trying to keep the votes from being counted.

——-

Associated Press writer Summer Ballentine contributed to this report from Columbia, Missouri.

FILE - Andi Grubb, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska, speaks during the Protect Our Rights Abortion Rights Ballot Initiative launch, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, in Omaha, Neb. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP, File)

FILE - Missouri residents and pro-choice advocates react to a speaker during Missourians for Constitutionals Freedom kick-off petition drive, Feb. 6, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga, File)