Cities Throw Shade at Rising Heat

Stateline: Rudy Lane is a two-lane road that curves through the leafy suburb of Windy Hills east of Louisville, Kentucky. Broadway is a main drag downtown where the federal and state courthouses bump up against the 1920s-era Brown Hotel.

In the hottest spots near the two streets, the average temperatures in summer differ by 6 degrees. Why? Trees. Windy Hills has them. Downtown Louisville: Not so much.

But in November, an anonymous donor gave Louisville a $1 million matching grant to plant trees. And now “we’re planting furiously,” said Maria Koetter, director of the Office of Sustainability for the Louisville metro government, which includes surrounding Jefferson County.

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