Rural America Lags Cities in Helping People Beat the Heat

In Caribou, Maine, a town of 7,400, the splash pad was packed with children at noon on Wednesday as temperatures soared. But next to it, at a cooling center for the rural area’s many elderly residents, all the folding chairs were empty, even though three air-conditioners were blasting a frigid breeze.Officials had spread the word across Aroostook County about the cooling center on social media, on radio stations…