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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Wisconsin Heat Wave: Don’t Be Part of Problem

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Thursday, July 21, 2016   

BROOKFIELD, Wis. — The current heat wave could directly impact more than a million Wisconsinites who have lung diseases. The high ozone levels can feel like a sunburn in your lungs, said Dona Wininsky, director of tobacco control at the American Lung Association in Wisconsin. And she said in addition to the elevated ozone levels, the heat heat dries everything out and that creates an increased chance of wildfires.

“That causes really high levels of particle pollution,” Wininsky said. "In fact, a couple of years ago there was a wildfire in northern Minnesota and people in southeastern Wisconsin were feeling the impacts of high levels of particle pollution."

Particle pollution can cause respiratory illness, cardiovascular harm, cancer, and early death. Ozone pollution can cause asthma attacks and respiratory illness.

According to Wininsky, everyone's health is at risk from air pollution, but certain populations are more at risk than others. She said the bad air associated with a heat wave can impact anyone with existing lung disease.

"Asthma, lung cancer, COPD, the whole gamut - but in the case of particle pollution, too, anyone with cardiovascular disease,” Wininsky said. "So we're talking about, in Wisconsin, close to a quarter of the population falls into one of those categories."

Children and the elderly are always at high risk of being affected by the bad air that heat waves can bring, Wininsky added.

It's a good idea to limit the time children spend playing outdoors during bad air days, she said. You can check daily air pollution forecasts at airnow.gov to get the latest information. People can help cut down on the pollution they create by driving less and not burning wood or trash.

"Limit when you run your errands to the cooler parts of the day, the mornings and the evenings so you're not contributing vehicle exhaust,” Wininsky suggested. "Also, consider other types of transportation - walking, biking, carpooling instead of just being a single-occupant car."

You can learn more about heat waves and bad air at lung.org.


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