Free Republic

When Michael Howard arrives for a checkup with his lung specialist, he's worried about how his body will cope with the heat and humidity of a Boston summer. "I lived in Florida for 14 years and I moved back because the humidity was just too much," Howard tells pulmonologist Mary Rice, as he settles into an exam room chair at a Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare clinic. Howard, who is 57, has COPD, a progressive lung disease that can be exacerbated by heat and humidity. Even inside a comfortable, climate-controlled room, his oxygen levels worry Rice. Howard reluctantly agrees to try...

Then Howard turns to Rice with a question she didn't encounter in medical school: "Can I ask you: Last summer, why was it so hot?" "The overall trend of the hotter summers that we're seeing [is] due to climate change," Rice says, "and with the overall upward trend, we've got the consequences of climate change." For Rice, connecting those consequences — heat waves, more pollen, longer allergy seasons — to her patients' health is becoming routine. She is among a very small but growing number of doctors and nurses who discuss those connections with patients.

“What we are experiencing is a running nightmare, quite honestly,” Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Chip Simmons said during a Monday news conference. “In short, we have a killer. He is in our midst. … Everyone, and I mean everyone, should be aware of this, should be aware of what they look like.” ... “When you go to work, when you come home, make sure a friend or family member knows where you are, what is your expected time of arrival,” Morgan said, according to the Pensacola News Journal. “These may seem like measures in the extreme, but we’re...