Free Republic

A 71-year-old Los Angeles man died in California’s Death Valley National Park on Tuesday, likely due to heat, as the afternoon high recorded in the park was 121 degrees, officials said. The Inyo County Coroner identified the deceased as Steven Curry. Curry fell to the ground outside the restroom at the Golden Canyon trailhead, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office and the national park wrote in a news release. Before collapsing, Curry had been interviewed in the early morning by a Los Angeles Times reporter at Zabriskie Point; he had hiked about 2 miles from Golden Canyon to the point. “It’s...

VICKSBURG, Miss. -- With every few inches the Mississippi River drops this summer, Billy Joe Ragland and thousands of farmers just like him lose money. The drought that is causing the Mississippi to dwindle started in the spring of 2005 and hasn't loosened its grip yet. It's bad enough that the dry conditions are hurting his yields of soybeans, corn and cotton. But now low water is beginning to affect the fragile transportation system relied upon by farmers and factories in America's heartland. And there isn't much chance anything will change for months. Little rain is in the forecast and...