An Ignoble Experiment: The 7: Why this heat wave is so dangerous; Stonehenge sprayed with paint; summer solstice; and more

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Good morning. It's Thursday, June 20th, and if your house plants are struggling in the summer heat, here's how to help them. Let's start with the latest on the weather.

A heat wave will continue to bake much of the eastern U.S. today.

What to expect: High temperatures will persist in the Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic — follow live updates here. The heat is hitting early in the summer, making it more dangerous.
In Texas: The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Alberto, caused flooding rains and an ocean surge yesterday. Experts are expecting a lot of storms this year.

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Louisiana will require public classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.

What to know: The law, signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry yesterday, gives schools until Jan. 1 to display the commandments. Critics vowed to challenge it in court.
Zooming out: Public education has become a political battleground. More Republican-led states are introducing measures to mingle church and state in schools.

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Hundreds of Muslim pilgrims were reported dead in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.

What happened? Several days of extraordinary heat took a major toll on the Hajj, one of the world's largest religious gatherings. Temperatures reached 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
The bigger picture: Such mass-scale outdoor gatherings have the potential to become more lethal over time as parts of the world warm beyond what humans can withstand.

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Climate protesters sprayed Stonehenge with orange paint.

What happened? Two people ran toward the 5,000-year-old monument in England yesterday and covered parts of it with paint made of corn flour. Police made two arrests.
The latest: Protesters also sprayed two private planes at an airfield near London where they claimed Taylor Swift's jet is parked. Stansted Airport denied that Swift's jet is there.

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A rare gene mutation helps people resist Alzheimer's disease.

What to know: A study, published this week, followed 27 people from one family who were genetically at risk of Alzheimer's, but also had a gene thought to stave off the disease.
What happened? Cognitive decline in the group was delayed by about five years.
Why it matters: The discovery could lead the way to new treatments for a disease that afflicts millions of people.

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A Vermont lawmaker apologized for repeatedly drenching a colleague's bag.

A still from a video appearing to show Mary Morrissey pouring water into the bag in April. (Jim Carroll/AP)

The drama: Mary Morrissey, a Republican in Vermont's House of Representatives, admitted this week to pouring water into Democratic Rep. Jim Carroll's bag over five months.
She's very sorry: Morrissey described her behavior — caught on a secret camera set up by Carroll — as "most unbecoming" of her position and said she was "truly ashamed."

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Today's summer solstice is the earliest since 1796.

What is it? The longest day and shortest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, when the sun takes its highest path in the sky. After today, we'll slowly start to lose daylight.
Why is it so early? Because of the complicated way our calendar works. Leap years — like 2024 — will cause the solstice to drift earlier until 2100, when the cycle will reset.

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Before you go … running or hiking solo? Here are nine ways to stay safer while exercising alone. Plus: Doing this weightlifting workout in your 60s can preserve strength for years.

One more good read: In 1964, the Ku Klux Klan killed three young activists and shocked the nation. A Mississippi town still grapples with that history.

And finally … test your news knowledge with The Post's daily quiz, On the Record. Click here to play. Or try our word game, Keyword.

You're all caught up. See you tomorrow.