On July 10, the area entered the history books when the mercury climbed to a blistering 134 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius) at Furnace Creek, California, breaking the record for the highest temperature ever recorded.
Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a major American city: Black History Month. View full sizePlain Dealer file photoCarl Stokes, shown in 1968 in downtown Cleveland, focused many of his efforts as mayor on improving city services and helping Cleveland's poorest residents.
As part of Black History Month, we remember Carl B. Stokes -- the first black mayor of a major American city. Stokes, the great-grandson of a slave, rose from poverty to defeat Seth Taft, the grandson of a president, in Cleveland's close 1967 mayoral race. The victory put him on the cover of Time magazine.