ATLANTA (AP) – A long-lasting weather pattern is poised to blast hot air like a furnace across the eastern United States, with the unusual heat wave threatening to shatter record high temperatures on Wednesday in big cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) – A day after severe storms damaged communities in the Plains and the Midwest, forecasters warned that storms could bring giant hail, tornadoes and severe wind gusts to the regions again on Tuesday afternoon and evening.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is proposing double-digit tariffs on products from dozens of major U.S. trading partners after an investigation into imports of goods allegedly made with forced labor.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is back on Capitol Hill to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee on the department’s priorities, one day after he refused to say whether President Donald Trump and his family would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration abandoned plans for a $1.776 billion compensation fund that would have benefited the president’s allies.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Fired Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman told The Associated Press on Wednesday in his first interview since the ouster that he was “blindsided” by the move but has no hard feelings and is unlikely to sue.

MOUNT HOREB, Wis. (AP) – The mother of a freelance American journalist who was released from captivity in Iraq said Wednesday that she hopes her daughter will finally return home. Katib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia group, kidnapped 49-year-old Shelly Kittleson off a Baghdad street corner on March 31.

How does a kangaroo escape a petting zoo?

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – Prolonged disruption of energy supplies from the Middle East due to the Iran war would deal a severe blow to the global economy, sending some countries into recession and spreading inflation and higher unemployment, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report Wednesday.