Ice, air-conditioning, and water fountains that spurt water are great to have in the place with the hottest recorded temperature on Earth, and so it's great to hear that Southern California Edison has moved a power generator into Death Valley National Park, which has endured four power outages this summer.

After months of reconstruction, the highway leading over Jubilee Pass into Death Valley National Park is open to traffic. To celebrate, the National Park Service and Federal Highway Administration are hosting a ribbon cutting on Friday.

Running more than 160 pages, the National Park Service Management Policies provides park managers with quick reference to how they are to manage their units, what uses are appropriate, and how to usher visitors out of the park when Congress fails to fund the National Park Service. But the Management Policies, which last were updated in 2006, also leave much to interpretation and exception.

We're just getting into the heart of summer, but already Death Valley National Park is setting records for heat.