Leaders of the University of Louisville medical school gave a number of assurances but few answers about the future of reproductive health services at the school’s hospital. U of L hospital is merging with Jewish Hospital and St. Mary’s Healthcare and a division of Catholic Health Initiatives. The merger has raised concerns that vasectomies, stem cell research and other procedures the Catholic Church does not approve of would no longer be available at U of L. School officials have long said those procedures are not part of the hospital and will not be governed by the new merged entity.

 With central Kentucky under an excessive heat advisory through Saturday, the city of Lexington has announced a few options for citizens seeking relief from the high temperatures. The Dunbar Community Center on North Upper Street and the Lexington Senior Citizens Center at the corner of Alumni and Nicholasville will have the air conditioning running. Senior citizens can get a free ride to those centers through LexTran.

A contracted exterminator for the University of Kentucky says his crew will be at the UK Student Center Friday to treat a sitting area where some bed bugs were found earlier this week. Donnie Blake, with OPC Pest Control of Louisville, says bedbug infestations are rapidly on the rise in this part of the country.

No story this morning is likely affecting more Americans than the deadly, record-breaking heat wave from Texas up through the Midwest and east to the mid-Atlantic states and New England. There are heat warnings up in 30 states.

And as Korva reported earlier, at least 22 deaths have been attributed to the plus-100 degree temperatures.

It's news in many places:

Victorino Matus is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard. With the magazine since 1996, he writes on a variety of subjects, including politics, Germany, military history, pop culture, and food and drink.

Robert Zeliger is an editor for Foreign Policy

Clearly, the best part of yesterday's tense parliamentary session with Rupert and James Murdoch was when Wendi Murdoch leapt up to defend her husband after a spectator splattered a foam pie in his face. She literarily jumped over people to slap the man.

Though the negotiations that many care most about are over ending the NFL lockout, we'll look first at where things stand in the deficit-reduction talks — one day before what the White House had said is the deadline for reaching a deal if everything is going to be written, passed and signed by Aug. 2, when the federal government reaches its "debt ceiling."

Edgar Mitchell traveled to the Moon aboard Apollo 14. After that 1971 journey, Mitchell took home a movie camera from the mission. He recently tried to auction it, but the space agency sued. Mitchell's lawyer says the camera was a gift, and in any event, NASA waited too long to ask for it back.

Washington, D.C. is suffering from intensive heat. The folks at The Washington Post blog "Capital Weather Gang" are trying to name it. Among the finalists: Helter Swelter, The Beltway Meltaway, and Sweat Ceiling.

After several weeks of campaigning, Michele Bachmann has become a series contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. She's been campaigning in South Carolina, which hosts the first Southern primary of 2012. The winner in South Carolina has gone on to win every Republican nomination since 1980.