At 10:40 AM in Chicago, the temperature is 91 degrees. It's looking like we'll approach or break the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Chicago: 105 degrees on July 24, 1934. The following day, during the worst summer the city had ever seen at the height of the Depression, was a busy news day. Headlines read THIRSTY CATTLE SHOT AS MEN DIG NEW WELLS; ORDER ARREST OF ALL PERSONS OPENING CITY FIRE HYDRANTS; CROWDS OF HOME FOLKS SEE DILLINGER BODY; FREE ICE FUND HAS BANNER DAY.
And, of course, TRIBUNE TOWER COOL DESPITE SWELTERING WEATHER IN STREETS.
(That's just under five grand in 2012 dollars.)
I liked @Kyle_Ryan's take: "I'm pretty sure that was written by T. Herman Zweibel."