Jazz

Today is the summer solstice in the western hemisphere: It marks the longest day of the year and also marks the first day of summer.

That's pretty obvious in the northeast today. Here in Washington, D.C., it's still 97 degrees and it's almost 7 p.m. The AP reports that New York City, Boston and Philadelphia all hit the 90s.

The AP adds:

During a recent video to the KCRW studios, Ane Brun danced her way through a performance of her single "Do You Remember," her hands waving in the air as if she were conducting the song.

We were stunned by the photographs coming out of a wildfire near Athens today. They were taken by Angelos Tzortzinis after a fire that burned inside an air force base.

The AP moved a story about it, earlier today. But Tzortzinis found that the fire had also affected an encampment of Romas and took these haunting images for the Agence France Presse:

In preparation for Pie Week (airing July 2-7), and just in time for the 4^th of July, Morning Edition and The Salt are asking listeners and staff to weigh in on the food that never misses a picnic: pie. The research got heated yesterday at an in-house pie contest where NPR staff submitted sweet and savory treats representing regions across the country.

Minnesota is seing the worst flooding in decades. Heavy flooding in Duluth caused the evacuations of homes and also caused the death 11 zoo animals at the Superior Zoo in Duluth.

Minnesota Public Radio reports that two seals escaped from their exhibits. MPR reports: