cover their losses. cattle owners stand to take a serious hit. they are having to feed their cows more expensive feed which is raising beef prices. the drought has also lowered the water level of the mississippi river, obviously a key cargo route through the midwest and all the way down south and today officials shut down river traffic in two locations after they say barges ran aground in wisconsin and mississippi. these pictures show just how low the water level has fallen in recent weeks. snarling shipments of all sorts of cargo. along with historic drought, sweltering summer heat for folks across the country, today temperature topping 110 in some places. a look at the heat indexes, excessive heat warnings and advisories in effect now. look at the center, poor oklahoma city. forecasters say they expect some relief over the weekend. and weather alert now as tropical storm ernesto picks up speed in the atlantic it got named today. the national hurricane center reports the storm is movi