Heat, weed and Kid Cudi: Looking back at the best photos of November

Independence Heights in Houston, which features a “Black Towns Matter” message, is one of the oldest Black communities in Texas where more homes could be taken for I-45 and I-610 freeway expansions. In the mid-20th century, the federal interstate highway program was notorious for building new roads through Black and Latino neighborhoods, a practice that displaced hundreds of thousands of families and ruined long-standing communities.

Diane McClinden, 63, and her dog Frankie try to stay cool in their trailer in Almar Acres RV Park in Desert Hot Springs. “It’s pretty miserable here,” McClinden said on a day when temperatures reached 97 degrees. “I don’t know what the first electric bill will be. I’m scared,” she said.

Ernest Siva, 84, is one of the last remaining oral historians of the Indigenous Serrano language. “My great-grandfather told his family: ‘You have to remember your culture and language, or else you’ll be left a wandering tribe,’” he said.

Lil Uzi Vert performs in the middle of the crowd on the final day of the three-day Day N Vegas hip-hop music festival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds.

Bill Crawford, a diabetic and double amputee, lies in his bed in his living room in Watts. Because of delays in treatment, Crawford hasn’t been able to get approval for the physical therapy he needs to walk on his prosthetic legs, which have been sitting in his garage for nearly two years.

The Port of Los Angeles is backed up with incoming cargo ships waiting offshore. The port was set to begin operating around the clock on Oct. 13.

Rapper Kid Cudi’s success has expanded beyond music to acting and to the creation of his own fashion line.

The Colorado River cuts through the Grand Canyon as seen from the Hopi Viewpoint on the South Rim at dusk. The second-most popular of America’s national parks, the Grand Canyon attracts about 6 million visitors annually.

Gondola operations supervisor Vincent Valencia closes large steel doors at the Panorama Gondola summit station as a storm bears down atop Mammoth Mountain. For much of the last 18 years, Valencia has lived alone at the summit — a frozen world that is lashed regularly by the harshest weather California has to offer.

Ludernilce Peixoto Costa, 43, embraces her daughter Adrielly, 6, at their home on the outskirts of Manaus, Brazil. Peixoto works at one of the city’s main hospitals treating COVID-19 patients. She lost both of her parents to COVID-19. Her father died in the ICU where she works, holding her hand.

June Spencer, 6, daughter of cinematographer Alice Brooks, right, stands on the red carpet of the 2021 AFI Fest Opening Night Gala Premiere of Netflix’s “tick, tick … BOOM!” at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

As dusk settles in, Sammy Potter rubs his feet inside his one-man tent after a day of hiking more than 25 miles with Jackson Parell along the Pacific Crest Trail in Plumas National Forest in Little Grass Valley, Calif. The Stanford students are attempting to complete the Triple Crown of hiking in one calendar year.

Los Angeles Chargers outside linebacker Kyzir White touches a lightning orb on his way to the field to play the Vikings at SoFi Stadium.

UCSB student Kris Hotchkiss lives in a van borrowed from a close friend. California faces a statewide student housing crisis, with some UCSB students forced to live in vehicles and hotels. The crisis led the UCSB campus to move forward with a plan to build a massive 4,500-bed dorm with tiny rooms and few windows — dubbed “Dormzilla” — which sparked widespread student protests, national headlines and the resignation of the consulting architect.

Gov. Gavin Newsom lifts his chin to the sun while attending a news conference after visiting a COVID-19 vaccine and flu shot clinic and taking a tour of tiny houses for homeless vets. The governor was trying to highlight the state’s ongoing efforts to increase vaccination rates and promote booster shots for eligible populations.

George Hodgin, CEO of Biopharmaceutical Research Co., stands inside the room where marijuana is being grown for federally approved drug trials. The result could be an entirely new generation of medical marijuana that is scientifically tested and dispensed with the oversight and precision of conventional pharmaceuticals.

Doing the backstroke, Maurine Kornfeld swims at 6:30 a.m. at Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena. Kornfeld, known to her team as “Mighty Mo,” turned 100 in November.