[Max Flatow]

I remember the heat wave that struck Chicago in 1995 and especially July 13th, since that day was about 106 degrees. Every one I knew made it through okay. No one died. But the local media went nuts with the deaths attributed to the heat. Any death was labelled as a heat stroke death. It didn't matter if you were a hundred years old, ridden with cancer, vital organs destroyed by drug and alcohol abuse, and drowned in a pool, you were considered a heat stroke victim.

This number, 600 deaths or what ever it was, was hyperbole. You need to understand the news market here in Chicago. This place lives for a big rain, or snow fall, or cold weather. Local reporters are always standing outside O'Hare airport reporting on the snow fall, or by the Eisenhower Expressway videotaping the salt trucks as they ply the area roads.

During the heat wave of 1995, news reports showed dead bodies being lifted in coroner vans. Ten years later, even with all the killings and murders that take place in Chicago, (648 in 2002, fewer now) those scenes don't make it on the ten o' clock news.

[Free Vulcan]

Yeah, I was living there too. I've lived thru much hotter summers in Iowa. The news media was on a feeding frenzy to make money and hyped everyone into a state of fear. Most of those people died because they shut their windows and had no AC.