The next wave of cars may use Ethernet

The next wave of cars may use Ethernet
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Computerworld – The most ubiquitous local area networking technology used by big business may be packing its bags for a road trip.

As in-vehicle electronics become more sophisticated to support autonomous driving, cameras, and infotainment systems, Ethernet
has become a top contender for connecting them.

For example, the BMW X5 automobile, released last year, used single-pair twisted wire, 100Mbps Ethernet to connect its driver-assistance
cameras.

Paris-based Parrot, which supplies mobile accessories to automakers BMW, Hyundai and others, has developed in-car Ethernet.
Its first Ethernet-connected systems could hit the market as soon as 2015, says Eric Riyahi, executive vice president of global
operations.

Parrot’s new Ethernet-based Audio Video Bridging (AVB) technology uses Broadcom’s BroadR-Reach automotive Ethernet controller
chips.

The AVB technology’s network management capabilities allows automakers to control the timing of data streams between specific
network nodes in a vehicle and controls the bandwidth in order to manage competing data traffic.

Ethernet’s bandwidth could provide drivers with turn-by-turn navigation while a front-seat passenger streams music from the
Internet, and each back-seat passenger watches streaming videos on separate displays.

“In-car Ethernet is seen as a very promising way to provide the needed bandwidth for coming new applications within the fields
of connectivity, infotainment and safety,” said Hans Alminger, senior manager for Diagnostics & ECU Platform at Volvo, in
a statement.

Automotive Ethernet

Ethernet was initially used by automakers only for on-board diagnostics. But as automotive electronics advanced, the technology
has found a place in advanced driver assistance systems and infotainment platforms.

Many manufacturers also use Ethernet to connect rear vision cameras to a car’s infotainment or safety system, said Patrick
Popp General Manager at TE Connectivity, a maker of car antennas and other automobile communications parts.

Currently, however, there are as many as nine proprietary auto networking specifications, including LIN, CAN/CAN-FD and FlexRay.
FlexRay, for example, has a 10Mbps transmission rate. Ethernet could increase that 10 times.

The effort to create a single vehicle Ethernet standard is being lead by Open Alliance and the IEEE 802.3 working group. The
groups are hoping to establish the Ethernet specification “100Mbps BroadR-Reach” as the de facto standard physical layer.

The first automotive Ethernet standard draft is expected this year.

The Open Alliance claims more than 200 members, including General Motors, Ford, Daimler, Honda, Hyundai, BMW, Toyota, Volkswagen.
Jaguar Land Rover, Renault, Volvo, Bosch, Freescale and Harman.

Broadcom, which makes electronic control unit chips for automobiles, is a member of the Open Alliance and is working on the
effort to standardize automotive Ethernet.

Currently, the groups are working on interoperability requirements for devices inside of a vehicle.

Once the requirements are established, Ethernet will play a big part in the integration of different data streaming sensors,
including two and three dimensional and infrared cameras, and radar sensors for sophisticated driver assistant systems.

Netflash

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100,000 Bats Fall from the Sky in Australia Due to Extreme Heat Wave

On the opposite side of the world from the "polar vortex," dangerously high temperatures are wreaking havoc.

In a scene that could come straight out of Alfred Hitchcock"s imagination, about 100,000 bats were found littering the ground after a major heatwave hit Australia this week, causing the bats to fall from the sky and die upon impact. In addition to the bats, the heatwave—which struck the north-east state of Queensland earlier this week and hit temperatures as high as 135 degrees fahrenheit—meant mass deaths for the country’s flying foxes across an estimated 25 colonies.

“Anything over 43 degrees [celsius/ 109F] and they just fall,” Louise Saunders, a conservation worker, told The Courier Mail in Australia. “We’re just picking up those that are just not coping and are humanely euthanizing what we can…it’s a horrible, cruel way to die.”

Considering the number of fallen bats, and the vast space across which they’re scattered, health experts are doing their best to warn all residents not to touch the presumably dead creatures. Not all the bats died on impact and some residents have been treated for viruses transmitted through bites or scratches from the disabled bats. Already, at least 16 people have been receiving antiviral treatment after coming into contact with a bat that has seemed, initially, to be dead.

“Some bats may appear dead by they are not, and when people have attempted to remove them, they have been bitten or scratched,” Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr. Jeannette Young told APN. “If you find a bat, it is very important not to touch it because of the risk of infection with Australian bat lyssavirus.”

A secondary problem that has risen in the days since the heat wave first hit is the rancid smell from the rotting, uncollected carcasses. Residents have begun to complain about the smell, and authorities have dispatched additional garbage collectors to pick up the thousands of bodies that remain.

The news comes in the same week as a historic chill—dubbed a “polar vortex”—hit the midwest and eastern United States, making for the lowest temperatures on average in nearly 40 years. While climate change deniers used the big chill as fodder for thier unscientific views, taken together, the polar vortex and Australian heatwave signal an undeniable shift in the planet"s temperature patterns, climate scientists agree. 

 

 

Related Stories

• The "Polar Vortex" Has Already Left More than 20 Dead


• Will Fear for Our Imperiled Planet Be Enough to Make Me Turn Vegetarian?


• Japan whalers driven from hunting ground: Sea Shepherd

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100,000 Bats Fall from the Sky in Australia Due to Extreme Heat Wave

100,000 Bats Fall from the Sky in Australia Due to Extreme Heat Wave

On the opposite side of the world from the "polar vortex," dangerously high temperatures are wreaking havoc.

In a scene that could come straight out of Alfred Hitchcock"s imagination, about 100,000 bats were found littering the ground after a major heatwave hit Australia this week, causing the bats to fall from the sky and die upon impact. In addition to the bats, the heatwave—which struck the north-east state of Queensland earlier this week and hit temperatures as high as 135 degrees fahrenheit—meant mass deaths for the country’s flying foxes across an estimated 25 colonies.

“Anything over 43 degrees [celsius/ 109F] and they just fall,” Louise Saunders, a conservation worker, told The Courier Mail in Australia. “We’re just picking up those that are just not coping and are humanely euthanizing what we can…it’s a horrible, cruel way to die.”

Considering the number of fallen bats, and the vast space across which they’re scattered, health experts are doing their best to warn all residents not to touch the presumably dead creatures. Not all the bats died on impact and some residents have been treated for viruses transmitted through bites or scratches from the disabled bats. Already, at least 16 people have been receiving antiviral treatment after coming into contact with a bat that has seemed, initially, to be dead.

“Some bats may appear dead by they are not, and when people have attempted to remove them, they have been bitten or scratched,” Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr. Jeannette Young told APN. “If you find a bat, it is very important not to touch it because of the risk of infection with Australian bat lyssavirus.”

A secondary problem that has risen in the days since the heat wave first hit is the rancid smell from the rotting, uncollected carcasses. Residents have begun to complain about the smell, and authorities have dispatched additional garbage collectors to pick up the thousands of bodies that remain.

The news comes in the same week as a historic chill—dubbed a “polar vortex”—hit the midwest and eastern United States, making for the lowest temperatures on average in nearly 40 years. While climate change deniers used the big chill as fodder for thier unscientific views, taken together, the polar vortex and Australian heatwave signal an undeniable shift in the planet"s temperature patterns, climate scientists agree. 

 

Related Stories

• The "Polar Vortex" Has Already Left More than 20 Dead


• Will Fear for Our Imperiled Planet Be Enough to Make Me Turn Vegetarian?


• Japan whalers driven from hunting ground: Sea Shepherd

AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed

100,000 Bats Fall from the Sky in Australia Due to Extreme Heat Wave

Government, Media Cover Up Fukushima Radiation Wave Hitting US

Government, Media Cover Up Fukushima Radiation Wave Hitting US
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As radiation levels spike and mutated wildlife washes ashore, government and media promote delusion.

Anthony Gucciardi
Prison Planet.com
January 8, 2014

Radiation hot spots are popping up around the United States thousands of percentages higher than ‘background radiation’, mutated wildlife is being found dead on the same West Coast beaches where increased radiation levels have been documented by independent researchers and the Fukushima TEPCO plant workers have been caught using duct tape to fix their nuclear equipment. But according to both the Japanese and United States governments, these events mean absolutely nothing.

In fact, you must be a conspiracy theorist if you fail to believe the official story that it was likely red-painted utensils that led to a spike in documented radiation levels along the California coast (yes, the government actually offered this up as an official answer). And you must absolutely be a conspiracy theorist if you have the gull to actually look back to late 2011, when researchers presented their findings regarding the impending wave of Fukushima radiation that was already being recorded within the country.

Information going back to 2011 shows that scientists were already concerned about an increase in radiation levels and the overall fallout from the delapidated Fukushima plant. We can even go back to the declaration by scientist Marco Kaltofen of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute that radioactive ‘hot particles’ had been found at 2 out of the 3 radiation monitoring stations in Boston. As you are likely aware, hot particles are microscopic pieces of radioactive material that can absolutely wreak havoc on your body via the deliverance of concentrated radiation.

And these particles, according to Kaltofen, were already being found in Boston as far back as 2011.

Now enter a new flurry of stories that have seemingly been popping up one after another as radiation levels are continually being monitored around the nation — namely the West Coast, where the bulk of Fukushima-linked scenarios have been documented. In what sounds like an apocalyptic plot for the latest thriller film, we have mutated whales now washing up dead on the West Coast in the first ever documented case of conjoined gray whale calves. We even have elevated radiation readings as far away as St. Louis, Missouri.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Coincidentily, of course, this is happening at the same time that radiation hot spots exceeding a 1,400% increase over ‘normal’ levels are being reported by researchers. It’s even happening at the same time that similar 500% increases have been disregarded by government officials who admit they have no idea what’s going on but fervently deny any connection to Fukushima in any capacity whatsoever. In fact, that has always been the mantra of these government health officials: We have no idea what’s really going on, but it’s definitely not Fukushima!

Because just as the Japanese government has assured its citizens that Fukushima is perfectly safe and poses no real threat to your health while secretly reviewing studies that reveal the plant released massively more radiation than admitted and led to 78% of the radioactive waste being dumped into the Pacific Ocean, the United States government would much rather silently purchase 14 million doses of potassium iodide than tell you that there may be some cause for concern.

The very core of the Fukushima disaster timeline that has been regurgitated by the mainstream media and government agencies alike was almost exclusively based on information provided by plant operator TEPCO — a company that is now on record as having lied to the population of the world in a major way. And there were no signs they would ever tell the truth unless forced to. It wasn’t until an independent investigation revealed the actual levels of radiation released from the plant (around 2 1/2 times more than TEPCO would even admit) that TEPCO was forced to go on record and state that the radiation levels they released were indeed much lower than reality.

However, the independent investigation into Fukushima radiation levels not only exposed the lies by TEPCO regarding the radiation explosion at the plant, but it also found that around 78% of the caesium-137 released by the plant was funneling into the Pacific Ocean. The plant now states that the three reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant released about 900,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances. About 20% fell on Japanese land, 2% somewhere on land outside the country, and a whopping 78% remainder is believed to have entered the Pacific Ocean.

At the very least, the Japanese and United States governments should be preparing citizens for what scientists said could last ‘thousands of years’: the Fukushima nightmare. And that begins with admitting that the threat is real. Because unless we really prepare ourselves and work together as a planet to truly fix the Fukushima plant and ensure that the 1,4000+ rods do not cause yet another massive meltdown (as experts say they likely will during transfer), we really will be facing a radioactive nightmare of epic proportions.

This article was posted: Wednesday, January 8, 2014 at 2:35 pm

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What"s really behind Hillary Clinton"s latest wave of speeches?

• Hillary Clinton has made a series of public appearances in the past week


• Moves are fueling the speculation of a possible White House bid in 2016


• She may also be trying to differentiating herself from President Obama

Washington (CNN) — Three speeches, three days.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is starting to look a lot like someone who is picking up the pace of a presidential campaign — complete with the perks and the challenges that come with it.

On Wednesday, she spoke to the University of Buffalo. Thursday, she returned to Washington for her place in the lineup of high-profile public figures at a conference the Center for American Progress was hosting. Friday night she did Colgate University’s “distinguished speakers” series in upstate New York.

Asked in Buffalo what her ideal presidential candidate in 2016 would look like, she said: “I’m not as interested in what the candidate looks like as what the candidate stands for and what the candidate really believes needs to be the agenda for America’s future, particularly as it relates to young people like students at this great university.”

And in what could be interpreted as either a slight dig at President Barack Obama — or at least a way of differentiating herself — she added, “and what the candidate brings to the table in terms of being able to not only present the agenda but have a very specific set of plans of implanting the agenda and bringing the country along.”

Analysis: Why DC is like high school

Hillary Clinton speaks at Virginia rally

Hillary Clinton gets political

Candidate Obama, of course, was viewed by critics as a powerful speaker with less experience and less of a vision to implement, and Clinton could be playing on buyer’s remorse.

But the tests she might face on the left and the right were in play this week.

She didn’t veer far to the left in her remarks before the wonky liberal crowd at the St. Regis in Washington for the Center for American Progress gathering, but her presence was notable.

CNN contributor Ron Brownstein cautioned that if she faces a challenge in a Democratic primary, it’s likely to be from the liberal left.

“It is very hard to imagine somebody beating Hillary Clinton from the center of the party,” he said. “If there is going to be anybody who could even give her a tough time, it would be somebody coming from more of a fringe of the party, something kind of a tangent of the party — either a generational argument or a populist argument.”

Brownstein specifically mentioned Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has become a hero to the populist wing of the party, as a potential challenge to Clinton.

And yet, advantages come for politicians who are considered overwhelming frontrunners like Clinton. Just this week, liberal billionaire George Soros said he’s jumping on the bandwagon to draft Clinton into the 2016 race by becoming a co-chair of the “Ready for Hillary” super PAC’s finance team.

Even though Clinton is not exactly lining up donors and bundlers for her own campaign just yet, the commitment to her is a significant one in what could be a quest to sew up her left flank.

But she’ll have other issues on the right, if she reaches the general election.

On Wednesday, a protestor in Buffalo heckled her over the biggest black mark on her record, the death of four Americans at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, during her tenure as Secretary of State. Democrats and Republicans alike say it could be her biggest weakness if she becomes her party’s nominee.

“Benghazi. You let them die,” the protestor said.

And that weakness leads some to wonder why Clinton is sticking her neck out so far so soon.

Brownstein said he’s surprised by how visible and vocal she’s been this fall.

“I think a lot of people thought that she would basically go under the radar for as long as possible to stay out of the fray, kind of shorten the race,” he said. “So it is a somewhat different strategy — maybe they are trying to sort of avoid the sense that she is kind of an imperial candidate who believes that this is hers by birthright or succession.”

CNN.com – Politics

What"s really behind Hillary Clinton"s latest wave of speeches?

Wave of bombings kill at least 62 people in Iraq

Baghdad municipality workers clear debris while citizens inspect the site of a car bomb attack in the Sha’ab neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Insurgents on Sunday unleashed a new wave of car bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing and wounding some dozens of people, officials said. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

Baghdad municipality workers clear debris while citizens inspect the site of a car bomb attack in the Sha’ab neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Insurgents on Sunday unleashed a new wave of car bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing and wounding some dozens of people, officials said. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

Baghdad municipality workers clear debris while citizens inspect the site of a car bomb attack in the Sha’ab neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Insurgents on Sunday unleashed a new wave of car bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing and wounding some dozens of people, officials said. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

Citizens inspect the site of a car bomb attack in the Sha’ab neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Insurgents on Sunday unleashed a new wave of car bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of people, officials said. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

A boy inspects a destroyed car after a car bomb attack hit the Sha’ab neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Insurgents on Sunday unleashed a new wave of car bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of people, officials said. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Citizens look at the site of a car bomb attack at a bus station in the Baghdad’s eastern Mashtal neighborhood, Iraq, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Insurgents on Sunday unleashed a new wave of car bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of people, officials said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)

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BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of car bombings in Baghdad, an explosion at a market and a suicide assault in a northern city killed at least 62 people Sunday across Iraq, officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks washing over the country.

Coordinated bombings hit Iraq multiple times each month, feeding a spike in bloodshed that has killed more than 5,000 people since April. The local branch of al-Qaida often takes responsibility for the assaults, although there was no immediate claim for Sunday’s blasts.

Sunday’s attacks were the deadliest single-day series of assaults since Oct. 5, when 75 people were killed in violence.

Police officers said that the bombs in the capital, placed in parked cars and detonated over a half-hour period, targeted commercial areas and parking lots, killing 42 people.

The deadliest blasts struck in the southeastern Nahrwan district, where two car bombs exploded simultaneously, killing seven and wounding 15, authorities said. Two other explosions hit the northern Shaab and southern Abu Dshir neighborhoods, each killing six people, officials said. Other blasts hit the neighborhoods of Mashtal, Baladiyat and Ur in eastern Baghdad, the southwestern Bayaa district and the northern Sab al-Bor and Hurriyah districts.

Meanwhile, in the northern city of Mosul, a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden car into a group of soldiers as they were sealing off a street leading to a bank where troops were receiving salaries, killing 14, a police officer said. At least 30 people were wounded, the officer said. Also in Mosul, police said gunmen shot dead two off-duty soldiers in a drive-by shooting.

The former insurgent stronghold of Mosul is located about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

In the afternoon, a bomb blast killed four people and wounded 11 inside an outdoor market in the Sunni town of Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Baghdad, authorities said.

Such coordinated attacks are a favorite tactic of al-Qaida’s local branch. It frequently targets civilians in markets, cafes and commercial streets in Shiite areas in an attempt to undermine confidence in the government, as well as members of the security forces. All of the car bombings Sunday in Baghdad struck Shiite neighborhoods.

Seven medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to publicly release the information.

In Mashtal in Baghdad, police and army forces sealed off the scene as ambulances rushed to pick up the wounded. Pools of blood covered the pavement. The force of the explosion damaged number of cars and shops. At one restaurant, the blast overturned wooden benches and left broken eggs scattered on the ground. In Shaab, a crane lifted away at least 12 charred cars as cleaners swept away debris.

Violence has spiked in Iraq since April, when the pace of killing reached levels unseen since 2008. Today’s attacks bring the death toll across the country this month to 545, according to an Associated Press count.

___

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

___

Follow Sinan Salaheddin on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sinansm.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Top Headlines

Wave of bombings kill at least 62 people in Iraq

ZTE will bring second wave of Firefox OS phones to US next year

IDG News Service – ZTE plans on launching another phone running Mozilla’s Firefox OS, this time with a dual-core processor, a bigger screen,
and a revamped user experience, a company executive said on Tuesday.

The Chinese handset maker has so far sold about 100,000 of its first Firefox OS phone, the ZTE Open, said He Shiyou, the company’s
executive vice president. The low-end phone was built for developing markets such as Latin America, but later made available
in the U.S. and U.K., where it quickly sold out at prices of $ 79.99 and APS59.99, respectively.

The phone’s sales volume is small compared to the millions of Android handsets and iPhones that fly off store shelves weekly,
but ZTE has been pleased with the initial demand, and hopes sales will eventually reach 200,000 units, He said in an interview
with journalists.

“On the whole, the sales have been pretty good, especially on eBay and with third-party retailers,” he said. “The demand has
exceeded supply, but we also purposely did not want this first generation product to have a large scale.”

ZTE’s next Firefox phone will arrive in the first half of 2014, and remain priced at the lower end. The Chinese company largely
sells Android handsets, but has high hopes the Web-based Firefox operating system will eventually go mainstream.

“These Web-based OSes will develop fast, particularly because of 4G LTE technology,” he said. Higher-speed networks means
that HTML5-based apps can load quickly on phones, removing the need to download and install native apps, He added.

“In the future, the app store business model will be no more,” he said. “The Firefox OS is still new, and it will bring an
entirely different user experience.”

ZTE was ranked as the world’s fifth-largest smartphone vendor in the second quarter, according to research firm Gartner. But
the company is not widely known in the U.S., where it generally sells unbranded versions of its phones with local carriers
including AT&T and Sprint.

ZTE will begin selling its Grand S and Nubia smartphones in the U.S. in Oct.

But starting in October, ZTE will begin selling its Grand S and Nubia phones in the U.S. through retailers.

The Grand S, launched in China earlier this year, is an Android phone with a 5-inch full-HD screen. It has a quad-core processor, 13-megapixel
camera, and its U.S. edition will probably come with a 2300 mAh battery. The price will range between US$ 400 and $ 500 when
bought without carrier subsidies.

ZTE’s Nubia Z5, another Android phone, features similar specs with a 5-inch full-HD screen and a quad-core processor. Its
price will range around $ 450.

For this year, the company is aiming to grow its U.S. handset revenue by 60 percent year on year to around $ 1.6 billion.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

Netflash

ZTE will bring second wave of Firefox OS phones to US next year

Putin to US: Syria Strike Would "Unleash New Wave of Terror"

(Newser) – Citing “insufficient communication” between the US and Russia, Vladimir Putin has taken matters into his own hands—addressing the nation in a New York Times op-ed. In it, he pleads with Americans to give up support of a strike on Syria that would “unleash a new wave of terrorism,” kill innocent people, and boost violence in a conflict already “one of the bloodiest in the world”—due in part to US weapons. Military action could throw international law out of whack, even topple the UN, and paints the US “not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force,” Putin writes.

“It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States,” he writes, making the case for diplomacy—especially since Western militants could bring the violence back home. As “there is every reason to believe” the gas attack was a move by the Syrian rebels to provoke the US into action, bypassing the Security Council is unacceptable. “The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not.” But it was his closing argument—a bash of American exceptionalism—that ruffled the most feathers, according to CNN. Sen. Bob Menendez said, “I almost wanted to vomit. I worry when someone who came up through the KGB tells us what is in our national interests, and what is not. It really raises the question of how serious the Russian proposal is.” Says a White House official, as per CNN: “That’s all irrelevant. He’s fully invested in Syria’s CW disarmament and that’s potentially better than a military strike.”

Opinion from Newser

Putin to US: Syria Strike Would "Unleash New Wave of Terror"

Midwest heat wave prompts early school dismissals

Five year-old Grace Kennedy cools off from the heat in a water fountain in Stinson Park in Omaha, Neb., Monday, Aug. 26, 2013. An unusual, late-summer heat wave enveloped much of the Midwest on Monday, putting schools and sports events on hold. Some schools in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Illinois let out early as temperatures crept toward the mid-90s, and beyond in some places. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Five year-old Grace Kennedy cools off from the heat in a water fountain in Stinson Park in Omaha, Neb., Monday, Aug. 26, 2013. An unusual, late-summer heat wave enveloped much of the Midwest on Monday, putting schools and sports events on hold. Some schools in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Illinois let out early as temperatures crept toward the mid-90s, and beyond in some places. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Art Buckneberg waters his tomatoes and zinnias under the hot afternoon sun at his home in Sioux Falls, S.D., Monday, Aug. 26, 2013. Heat indices are expected to reach between 95 to 105 through Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. (AP Photo/Argus Leader, Joe Ahlquist) NO SALES

Reece Riebel, 13, of Lewiston, Minn., swings on a rope swing over Airport Lake while swimming Monday, Aug. 26, 2013, in Winona, Minn. Temperatures on Monday are forecast to approach a record 98 in the Twin Cities, but the humidity will make it feel like 100 to 110 across much of southern Minnesota. An excessive heat warning remains in effect for the region through Tuesday. (AP Photo/Winona Daily News, Andrew Link)

Hunter Bailey, top, and Cassidy Cyert hang on a rope swing over Airport Lake while swimming Monday, Aug. 26, 2013, in Winona, Minn. Temperatures on Monday are forecast to approach a record 98 in the Twin Cities, but the humidity will make it feel like 100 to 110 across much of southern Minnesota. An excessive heat warning remains in effect for the region through Tuesday. (AP Photo/Winona Daily News, Andrew Link)

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An unusual, late-summer heat wave has enveloped much of the Midwest, putting schools and sports events on hold.

Schools in Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Illinois let out early on Monday as temperatures crept toward the mid-90s — beyond in some places. After-school sports practices and evening games were canceled in St. Paul, Minn., and misting stations were keeping people cool at the Minnesota State Fair, where about 90 fairgoers had been treated for heat-related illnesses over the weekend.

The heat wave is supposed to last through much of the week, the National Weather Service said. Heat of this magnitude is unusual for this time of year, but not unprecedented. In Des Moines, Iowa, for instance, temperatures on Aug. 26 have reached at least 100 degrees at least six times since 1881.

School districts took precautions, not wanting to put students and teachers in sweaty — and possibly dangerous — situations.

In central Iowa, Marshalltown Community School District administrators canceled afternoon preschool classes on Monday and Tuesday and were planning to release other students two hours early. Parts of all 10 of district buildings have air conditioning, but some rooms aren’t connected.

“The buildings can heat up pretty fast, especially when you have kids in there,” district spokesman Jason Staker said. “It’s not a good environment for students or teachers.”

Five elementary schools in Fargo, North Dakota, canceled classes through Wednesday because the buildings weren’t fully air-conditioned. Temperatures inside them on Sunday ranged from 85 degrees to 90 degrees, Fargo Schools Superintendent Jeff Schatz said.

In South Dakota, the Sioux Falls School District continued with classes as scheduled, but spokeswoman DeeAnn Konrad said teachers kept window blinds closed and turned off lights in classrooms. The district was also prepared to move students into cooler rooms at nearby churches and a Christian school, she said.

School administrators in the western Nebraska town of Alliance decided to send students home early after local forecasters predicted temperatures in excess of 90 degrees. Some classes in the 1,600-student district are held on the third floor, and temperatures rise when students fill the room.

“It can get uncomfortable even when the temperatures are in the upper 80s,” superintendent Troy Unzicker said.

Minneapolis students had to go to school all day, but administrators canceled after-school activities and distributed 750 cases of water to schools. Officials also sent industrial fans to the 18 buildings that lack air conditioning, district spokeswoman Rachel Hicks said. Parents were advised to dress their kids in light clothing, while staffers watched for any symptoms of heat-related illnesses.

In Des Moines, organizers of a downtown farmers market set for Wednesday postponed the event out concern over the extreme heat

The Iowa Department of Public Health issued a statewide advisory for vulnerable populations, including young children and the elderly. In some cases, the heat can become so extreme that sweating isn’t enough for people to lower their body temperatures, Dr. Patricia Quinlisk said.

“Especially when the humidity is high, sweat will not evaporate as quickly, preventing the body from releasing heat quickly,” she said.

__

Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. Headlines

Midwest heat wave prompts early school dismissals

U.S. condemns Iraq bombing wave; new violence kills seven more

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Shootings and a bombing killed at least seven more people in Iraq on Sunday, after a day of carnage as sectarian tensions rise across the country.

Reuters: Top News

U.S. condemns Iraq bombing wave; new violence kills seven more

Wave of Car Bombings Target Iraqi Shi"ites, Killing 55

BAGHDAD — Twelve car bombs exploded across Iraq early on Monday, killing at least 44 people in predominantly Shi’ite areas, police and medical sources said.

At least 10 people were killed when two car bombs blew up near a bus station in the city of Kut, 150 kilometres (95 miles) southeast of the capital, police said.

Four more died in a blast in the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad.

The rest of the bombings took place across Baghdad, in Sadr city, Habibiya, Hurriya, Bayaa, Ur, Shurta, Kadhimiya and Risala neighbourhoods.

A relentless campaign of bombings and shootings has killed nearly 4,000 people in Iraq since the start of the year, according to violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count.

The violence has raised fears of a return to full-blown conflict in a country where Kurds, Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable way of sharing power.

In recent months, Sunni Islamist militants have regained momentum in their insurgency against the Shi’ite-led government, striking with a ferocity not seen in years.

In July alone, more than 810 people have lost their lives in militant attacks.

Sectarian tensions across the region have been inflamed by the civil war in neighbouring Syria, which has drawn Shi’ites and Sunnis from Iraq and beyond into battle on opposite sides.

(Reporting by Kareem Raheem and Jaafar al Taie; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by John Stonestreet)

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Wave of Car Bombings Target Iraqi Shi"ites, Killing 55

Wave of car bombings target Iraqi Shi"ites, killing 55

By Kareem Raheem

BAGHDAD | Mon Jul 29, 2013 4:14am EDT

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Seventeen car bombs exploded in Iraq on Monday, killing at least 55 people in predominantly Shi’ite areas in some of the deadliest violence since Sunni insurgents including al Qaeda stepped up attacks this year.

Police and medical sources said the attacks, which appeared to be coordinated, were concentrated on towns and cities in Iraq’s predominantly Shi’ite south, and districts of the capital where Shi’ites reside.

The car bomb attacks in busy streets and crowded markets underscore deteriorating security in Iraq, where nearly 4,000 people have been killed since the start of the year, according to violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count.

The violence has raised fears of a return to full-blown conflict in a country where Kurds, majority Shi’ite and minority Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable way of sharing power.

At least 10 people were killed when two car bombs blew up near a bus station in the city of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of the capital, police said.

Four more were killed in a blast in the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, and two bombs in Samawa, further south, killed two.

The rest of the bombings took place in regions of Baghdad, in Sadr city, Habibiya, Hurriya, Bayaa, Ur, Shurta, Kadhimiya, Risala, Tobchi and Abu Dsheer neighborhoods.

In July, more than 810 people were killed in militant attacks.

Iraqi forces patrolling alone since U.S.-led troops left in 2011 are struggling to contain a resurgent al Qaeda, which has been regrouping and striking with a ferocity not seen in years.

Sectarian tensions across the region have been inflamed by the civil war in neighboring Syria, which has drawn Shi’ites and Sunnis from Iraq and beyond into battle on opposite sides.

(Reporting by Kareem Raheem in Baghdad, Aref Mohammed in Basra and Jaafar al-Taie in Kut; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)

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Wave of car bombings target Iraqi Shi"ites, killing 55

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