Nation IN BRIEF : ILLINOIS : Chicago Heat Wave Death Toll Up to 376

Chicago’s death toll from the blistering heat wave soared to 376, and was expected to top 400, after examiners sent to funeral homes ruled that heat had contributed to scores of other casualties. “It appears that the worst is over, but nobody knows where it’s going to stop,� Medical Examiner Edmund Donoghue said at a news conference. The additional deaths in Chicago raised the national death toll to at least 669 as officials in other states ruled that heat was a cause of or had contributed to deaths last week, when the Northeast and Midwest were gripped by a suffocating combination of heat and humidity.