good morning and welcome to early start. i m ali velshi. zoraida is off today. i like these hours. i m eating a hot dog this morning. i love that about you, ali velshi. i m ashleigh banfield. it is 5:01. it s the holiday but this fourth of july is less about celebration and more about patience for many americans. and in some cases, even survival. because for six days now there have been many of your fellow countrymen with no power in this extraordinary heat wave. at least 20 people have now died since thursday when deadly storms slammed the east, slammed the midwest. and about 1.2 million people are still waiting to get their power back, to get a fan on, to get the ac back. this is right across the country. here are the states without power today. power companies are repairing damaged transmitters as fast as they can, but customers still could be waiting until the weekend. still until the weekend until they can get that electricity back. and all of this, while those u