Weather

Holiday will be hot as a firecracker

You might want to put plenty of cold drinks and ice cream on your holiday menu — forecasters say the Fourth of July temperature will fire up into the triple digits.

They’re also keeping watch on the heat index, which is expected to make it feel like it’s well above 100 degrees during the next two days.

“If we look at our temperatures, 98 to 100, and we factor in the humidity, it’s going to feel more like 109 to 112 as we go toward the Fourth of July,” said Matt Jacobs, 6News weather forecaster.

For example, at 3 p.m. Wednesday, the temperature at the Lawrence Municipal Airport was 91.9. But factoring in the 48 percent humidity made it feel like 97.3 degrees.

Today’s high is expected to get up to 98 degrees under steamy conditions.

“It will be very warm, with high humidity,” Jacobs said. “It’s going to feel like 105 on the heat index.”

Hit-and-run

Driver of semi remains at large in fatal accident

The Kansas Highway Patrol on Wednesday continued to search for the driver of a tractor-trailer involved in a hit-and-run fatality accident in Franklin County.

The patrol identified the fatality victim as Quang Dinh Tran, 17, Kansas City, Mo. The boy was one of four people who early Tuesday were traveling in a minivan when it pulled to the side of Interstate 35 just east of Ottawa because of a flat tire.

Tran was struck by the southbound tractor-trailer as he stood outside the van while another man was changing the tire. That man, Trong Tinkieu Nguyen, 18, Kansas City, Mo., also was hit. He was taken to a Topeka hospital, treated and released. Tran was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident occurred about 2 a.m.

The Highway Patrol is checking leads in its attempt to find the tractor-trailer, which had the name “Schneider Trucking” printed on the side.

Anyone who saw or knows anything about the accident or the tractor-trailer is asked to call the Highway Patrol at (785) 296-3102.

Region

Funeral set for K.C. man killed in porch collapse

Kansas City, Mo. — The funeral for a Kansas City native killed in last weekend’s porch collapse at Chicago will be Thursday at St. Peter’s Catholic Church.

John T. Jackson, 22, was among the 13 who died when a third-floor porch filled with partygoers collapsed early Sunday. He had graduated in May from Georgetown University in Washington and had just begun work with a Chicago real estate firm.

Jackson was one of three children of Robert Jackson, a Kansas City pediatrician, and his wife, Linda.