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The third heat wave of the still-early summer is scorching the US South, and "it will get worse ... before it gets better," warns the National Weather Service. Over 65 million people across 16 states are under heat alerts Thursday, with triple-digit heat indexes -- or "feels like" temperatures -- expected in cities including Dallas; St. Louis; Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta; and Raleigh, North Carolina. (Major, Ward and Garrett, 7/7)

Nightfall will bring little relief, with temperatures remaining in the upper 70s and low 80s.“These multiday heat waves can become more dangerous, because the body is unable to cool off at night,” said Zack Taylor, a Weather Service meteorologist. “And it’s just repeating, day after day after day of high heat and humidity.” (Paz, 7/6)

“Heat kills more people than any other weather-related event,” explained Ashley Ward, a policy associate at the Duke Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions. Part of the reason heat is so deadly, she said, is because you can’t see it. (Donnelly-DeRoven, 7/8)

The Oklahoma City metro area's largest emergency medical service provider has issued its third medical heat advisory of the year, with temperatures across the state expected to continue climbing to the triple digits through Monday. Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) said in a release Thursday that personnel had responded to six calls that were suspected of being caused by heat-related illness Wednesday. (Williams, 7/7)

A Little Rock advocacy group is working to keep unsheltered Arkansans safe from the extreme temperatures this week. Aaron Reddin is the Executive Director of The Van, a group that does outreach work for the homeless community in central Arkansas. He spent Thursday delivering ice to six camps in the city. (Epperson, 7/7)

With a new state law addressing the clean-up of chemical compounds that have been widely used by industries, a Florida International University study says the substances have been found in oysters in Biscayne Bay, the Marco Island area and Tampa Bay. (7/7)

The reappearance of an invasive snail species forced state officials to enact a quarantine order two weeks ago for residents of Florida's Pasco County, an area north of Tampa along the gulf coast. As of Thursday, more than 1,000 snails had been captured, said agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried, with the vast majority of them found alive. (Mae Czachor, 7/7)

Four young adults participating in a swim practice were sickened at the Cohasset Swim Center on Wednesday after the facility opened prematurely and a broken pipe caused a leak in its largest pool, town officials said. The center, which is not owned or operated by the town, opened to the public without its finalized building permit or pool health inspection permit, according to a statement Thursday from the office of Cohasset Town Manager Christopher G. Senior. (Fox, 7/7)

In a weekly update, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday reported 12 more unexplained pediatric hepatitis cases in children, raising the national total to 332. The number of affected states held steady, at 42. (7/7)