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Heat wave blamed for death in California, record temperatures in Las Vegas and high electric bills across U.S.
Dangerous heat across the U.S. has impacted millions of people, with temperatures breaking records in some areas and even causing death. Electric bills are also expected to increase this summer as Americans fight to stay cool at home. Here is how the extreme heat is affecting the country.
California heat wave temperatures
In California’s Death Valley on Sunday, temperatures reached 129 degrees Fahrenheit, tying the area’s daily heat record set in 2007, according to the service.
At least one person in Death Valley died and another was hospitalized in Las Vegas for heat exposure on Sunday. The person who died was not identified but the pair was part of a group of six motorcyclists. The other four were treated at the scene. Emergency helicopters could not respond because they cannot safely fly at temperatures higher than 120 degrees.
Most of Los Angeles County is under an excessive heat warning or heat advisory on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
Preliminary reports on Sunday showed daily heat records were broken in two cities just northeast of Los Angeles. Palmdale reached 114 degrees, and Lancaster got up to 115 degrees, breaking the city’s record.
NWS Los Angeles also warned that high wind gusts and hot and dry conditions could exacerbate wildfires in the mountains, deserts and interior valleys, with small fires at risk of growing.
At least 21 wildfires are burning in California, forcing evacuations in some parts.
Even Northern California and the Pacific Northwest are experiencing extreme heat, with the city of Redding, California, reaching a record 119 degrees this weekend and several cities in Oregon, including Portland, breaking daily heat records with temperatures expecting to persist, according to the National Weather Service Portland.
Las Vegas breaks heat record
Las Vegas shattered a daily heat record on Sunday with 120 degrees degree temperatures, according to the National Weather Service. The previous daily record was 116 degrees set in 2017. Several other cities, including Kingman, Arizona, and Death Valley, California, set or tied heat records on Saturday and Sunday and more daily heat records were expected to be set on Monday.
The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for the Las Vegas valley and several surrounding areas.
The service conducted several demonstrations to show people how hot it was. In one, they attempted to bake cookies on top of a car dashboard that was registering at 215 degrees. In about 40 minutes, the cookies began to bake.
They also tested if they could melt crayons outside. Sure enough, their art project worked — the crayons ran down a blank canvas, creating a rainbow from the melted wax.
Electrical bills expected to increase due to heat
Families are likely to see their electrical bills increase 7.9% from June to September this year to an average cost of $719, compared with $661 during the same period last year, according to projections from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association and the Center for Energy Poverty and Climate.
Over the last 10 years, as summer temperatures have increased and the U.S. has experienced more extreme heat events, the cost of cooling homes during the summer has gradually increased from an average of $476 in 2014, according to NEADA, a nonprofit that works to provided energy to low-income households.
This will impact low-income families the most, especially in states that have no summer-shut off protects for electricity, NEADA says. Only 17 states and the District of Columbia have protections for low income households, but families in the other states could face dangerous heat if they cannot pay their bills.
According to the association, nearly 20% of low-income households have no air conditioning. And on top of this, the federal funding for Low Income Home Energy Assistance was decreased by $2 billion this year. Nearly 80% of the program’s funds are used for heating, so only 20% is left over to ensure low-income families stay cool during heat.
Extreme weather coast-to-coast
The National Weather Service has also issued a heat advisory for all of Florida and parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Parts of the Northeast, including most of New Jersey and New York City and parts of Pennsylvania, the D.C. metro area, Connecticut and Massachusetts are also under a heat advisory.
Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas on Monday morning, bringing with it heavy rain and wind and an increase in tornado threats, according to The Weather Channel. Parts of Texas, Arkansas, Missouri and Southern Illinois are under a flood watch, according to the National Weather Service.
Frito-Lay is recalling a limited number of 13 oz. bags of Lay’s Classic Potato Chips after being alerted by a consumer contact that the product may contain undeclared milk.
The bags of chips affected by recall were distributed to certain retail stores and e-commerce distributors in Oregon and Washington and were available for sale beginning Nov. 3, 2024.
“Those with an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk run the risk of a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume the recalled product,” the Food and Drug Administration said in the recall notice posted Thursday.
No allergic reactions related to the recall have been reported, according to the recall. Additionally, no other Lay’s products, flavors, sizes or variety packs are affected.
FDA
The recalled chips include Lay’s Classic Potato Chips, in flexible 13 oz. (368.5 grams) bags with UPC code 28400 31041, a “Guaranteed Fresh” date of 11 Feb 2025, and one of either two manufacturing codes: 6462307xx or 6463307xx.
General guidelines from the FDA advise consumers who have purchased any recalled food to dispose of the product or return it to the retailer for a full refund.
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What is the debt ceiling? Here’s why Trump wants Congress to abolish it before he takes office
Washington — President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect JD Vance and billionaire Elon Musk blew up a GOP-backed deal to fund federal agencies into March, raising the pressure on Republican congressional leaders to craft a plan to avert a government shutdown just before the holidays.
In a statement Wednesday, Trump and Vance lambasted the agreement for including provisions favored by Democrats. But the incoming president and vice president also added a new, significant wrinkle to negotiations when they urged Congress to raise or abolish the debt ceiling now, instead of next year.
“Increasing the debt ceiling is not great but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch,” Trump and Vance said in their statement. “If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now.”
What is the debt ceiling?
Set by Congress, the debt ceiling, or limit, is the maximum amount of money the U.S. Treasury is authorized to borrow to pay debts incurred by the federal government. Lifting the debt ceiling does not authorize new spending, but instead lets the government spend money on obligations that Congress has already been approved.
Failing to address the debt ceiling could lead the U.S. to default on its debt, which would have devastating effects on the economy. The government has never defaulted, and the Treasury typically uses accounting moves, known as “extraordinary measures,” to delay breaching the debt ceiling.
While raising the debt ceiling used to be routine, legislation addressing it has in recent years been used as leverage to force policy concessions and fuel debates over government spending.
Congress last addressed the debt ceiling in June 2023 as part of a legislative package negotiated by President Biden and then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. That deal suspended the debt ceiling through Jan., 1, 2025, ensuring any fight over it would take place after the 2024 elections.
The Treasury Department will likely implement extraordinary measures to stave off a default in the new year. It will also announce an “X date,” the estimated point at which the government will no longer be able to pay its obligations. The Economic Policy Innovation Center, a conservative think tank, projected in an analysis released Monday that it’s possible the debt limit will be reached by June 16.
While the Treasury Department’s use of extraordinary measures would give Congress more time to address the debt ceiling, Trump is now urging lawmakers to take action now, before he takes office.
Why does Trump want to raise the debt ceiling?
The president-elect will come into office with a legislative to-do list that includes securing the border and extending provisions of his signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was enacted in 2017 and overhauled the tax code. But a fight over the debt ceiling could complicate efforts by the Republican-led House and Senate to focus on those legislative initiatives and pass them quickly.
Trump is urging lawmakers to eliminate the debt ceiling altogether, a position that some prominent Democrats have endorsed in the past.
“Number one, the debt ceiling should be thrown out entirely,” Trump said in a phone interview Thursday with CBS News’ Robert Costa. “Number two, a lot of the different things they thought they’d receive [in a recently proposed spending deal] are now going to be thrown out, 100 percent. And we’ll see what happens. We’ll see whether or not we have a closure during the Biden administration. But if it’s going to take place, it’s going to take place during Biden, not during Trump.”
Trump separately told ABC News that “there won’t be anything approved unless the debt ceiling is done with,” indicating any spending deal to prevent a shutdown must address the debt limit.
“If we don’t get it, then we’re going to have a shutdown, but it’ll be a Biden shutdown, because shutdowns only [injure] the person who’s president,” he told ABC News.
Whether Republicans and Democrats would go along with such a plan, though, is far from clear. GOP lawmakers in both chambers have opposed raising the debt ceiling without spending reforms, and debates over the debt limit often give way to broader fights over the federal budget, which conservatives in Congress have said is bloated and should be reduced. Plus, Democrats still control the Senate and the White House.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday that shutting down the government would harm families and endanger services Americans rely on.
“Republicans need to stop playing politics with this bipartisan agreement or they will hurt hardworking Americans and create instability across the country,” she said. “President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance ordered Republicans to shut down the government and they are threatening to do just that — while undermining communities recovering from disasters, farmers and ranchers, and community health centers.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested Democrats would not go along with a plan pushed by Republicans to raise the debt limit.
“GOP extremists want House Democrats to raise the debt ceiling so that House Republicans can lower the amount of your Social Security check. Hard pass,” the New York Democrat wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.
Jeffries also told reporters “the debt limit issue and discussion is premature at best.”
