and good morning to you. boy, the temperatures, top story again. wow. sizzling heat, and most of the country right now is dealing with triple digits or at least feeling like triple digits. as we ve been saying, not just uncomfortable, dangerous and deadly. welcome. friday, july 22nd. let s get right to it. intensely hot against across a huge portion of the country. it started in the midwest, it s come heeft. washington, the high, 103 today but it s going to feel like 115 with the humidity. triple digit temperatures are expected across the mid-atlantic, up and down the east coast and into the ohio valley and as many as 2,000 related deaths now reported. utilities around the country are bracing, asking you to conserve energy as people crank the ac. in new york, the power company said that store owners who leave their doors open could be fined. wow. trying to stay cool. match fn you re a polar bear in this heat? animals in the detroit zoo were treated to popsicles with
our main concern as public officials here, making sure our citizens are safe. state of emergency in a san francisco suburb this morning. a powerful gas line explosion triggering a deadly destruckive inferno. dozens of homes have been destroyed. heat hot enough to crack car windshields from blocks away, melt their taillights as well and people seen literally running for their lives. thanks so much for joining us on this american morning, on this friday, the 10th of september. special edition of american morning morning. i m john roberts. i m kyra chetry. we ve been on since 5:00 eastern time. meantime a new twist in the koran burning that was planned for tomorrow on 9/11. still wondering this morning will it happen. the pastor behind it said no but seemed to leave a small window open. a live report from john zarrella in gainesville, florida, in a few minutes. we re getting new details