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The toll of heat deaths in the Phoenix area soars after the hottest summer on record_我的网站

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一 | PHOENIX -- The toll of heat-associated deaths in Arizona's most populous county — still being tallied after the area's hottest summer ever recorded — has soared over 360, alarming public health officials who say the final count will surely set a new record.Maricopa County, the hottest metropolitan area in the U.S. and home to Phoenix, reported this week that 361 heat-associated deaths have been confirmed this year as of Oct. 7. Another 238 deaths remained under investigation. As of the same time last year, 331 heat-associated deaths had been confirmed, with another 126 deaths still being studied. No other major metropolitan area in the U.S. has reported such high figures or spends so much time tracking and studying them.“It definitely looks like we'll see more deaths than last year and maybe even more than 500,” said Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, medical director for Maricopa County Public Health. "But we won't really know until the end of the season.”Maricopa County set an annual record last year with 425 heat-associated deaths confirmed. This summer, Phoenix experienced the hottest three months since record-keeping began in 1895, including the hottest July and the second-hottest August. The daily average temperature of 97 F (36.1 C) in June, July and August passed the previous record of 96.7 F (35.9 C) set three years ago.Phoenix also set a record in July with a 31-day streak of highs at or above 110 F (43.3 C).Sunenshine said Maricopa County began tracking heat-associated deaths in 2005, then gradually began collecting additional information, including the age, sex, race and ethnicity of those who died and whether they were indoors or outside when they got sick. Investigators also began noting whether those who died inside had an air conditioner, whether it was working and whether there was electricity to power it. Sunenshine said collecting that kind of information has led to rules requiring regulated power companies to keep the electricity running during hot spells even if the bills haven't been paid. “It's really important to know the circumstances around these deaths,” Sunenshine said. “It can lead to policy changes.”The number of people dying from heat-related causes has risen not only in the Phoenix area, but across the U.S. and around the world as climate change makes heat waves more frequent, intense and enduring.Counting such deaths can take months of investigation, including toxicological tests, to determine whether heat was a contributing factor in someone’s death. The deaths Maricopa County tallies include ones that were the direct result of high temperatures, such as heatstroke, as well as ones in which heat was a contributing factor, such as a heart attack provoked by the hot weather.Approximately three-fourths of the heat-associated deaths in Maricopa County so far this year year were outside. About 44% of those who died were people experiencing homelessness in a county where an estimated 10,000 don’t have permanent housing. More than a third of all the people who died were 65 or older.There have been 89 indoor heat deaths in the county confirmed so far, mostly in homes where the air conditioning was not working or turned off.。 JACKSON, Miss. -- The Mississippi sheriff who leads the department where former deputies pleaded guilty to a long list of state and federal charges for the torture of two Black men has asked a federal court to dismiss a civil lawsuit against him. Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker were abused in a case of extrajudicial violence that even the sheriff they're suing called the worst case of police brutality he had ever seen. But Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey's attorney argues Jenkins and Parker's $400 million lawsuit against Bailey should be dismissed because the sheriff is entitled to “qualified immunity,” a legal concept that often shields police officers from civil penalties for alleged abuses. Court records show that attorney Jase Dare asked to dismiss the lawsuit on Oct. 6, just one day after a settlement conference was filed with the court. A settlement conference is scheduled when the parties in a lawsuit try to settle a case before trial. On Friday, Jenkins and Parker's attorneys, Malik Shabazz and Trent Walker, called Dare's motion “meritless.”“We believe that the totality of the evidence shows the brutality of the ‘Goon Squad’ was a longstanding problem. The brutality was not just limited to these five deputies, and it’s something that has existed during the entirety of Bryan Bailey’s tenure as sheriff," Walker said. In January, five white former Rankin County deputies and a police officer from a nearby department burst into a house without a warrant after someone phoned one of the deputies and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman.The officers handcuffed and assaulted Jenkins and Parker with stun guns, a sex toy and other objects. The officers also used racial slurs over a 90-minute period that ended with former deputy Hunter Elward shooting Jenkins in the mouth during a “mock execution.” Then, the officers devised a cover-up that included planting drugs and a gun, leading to false charges that stood against the victims for months. Prosecutors say some of the officers nicknamed themselves the “Goon Squad” because of their willingness to use excessive force and cover up attacks.In March, an Associated Press investigation linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries. One of those men was Pierre Woods, who was shot and killed by Rankin County deputies in 2019. A family member sued Bailey over Woods' death. Court records show a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount has been reached through the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' mediation program. The settlement still must be approved by a chancery court. At least two of the deputies who shot at Woods, Elward and Brett McAlpin, went on to participate in the illegal raid in January. For months, Bailey said little about the episode. After the officers pleaded guilty to civil rights charges in August, Bailey promised to change the department. In his motion, Dare said Jenkins and Parker do not allege that Bailey personally participated in the events but failed to train the deputies adequately. He said internal department policies show the deputies underwent training that complies with the law. He also said none of the allegations are enough to overcome qualified immunity and hold Bailey liable for the illegal actions of his deputies. The law enforcement officers include former deputies McAlpin, Elward, Christian Dedmon, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke, and a former Richland police Officer Joshua Hartfield, who was off-duty during the assault. They agreed to sentences recommended by prosecutors ranging from five to 30 years, although the judge isn’t bound by that. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 14. ___Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.。