Heat is Killing People, Too: Get Used to It

• In the month of August, most of the United States will see "above normal temperatures," forecasters say.

• For the long-term future, the world will see more and worse killer heat waves because of global warming, scientists say.

The other night, waiting on a shuttle at DFW, I asked a van driver--who had lingered on the sidewalk while his van idled for several minutes--if he would mind turning off the engine. The fumes had been troubling a few of us (the shuttle pick-up area is a horribly designed space if you've got to be there more than five minutes).

"I need to leave it on," he told me.

"You need to?" I asked him. "You have trouble starting it? It looks new."

"It's mine," he said. "You're welcome to go somewhere else. I need to keep the air conditioner on."