A version of this story first appeared in the Morning Update newsletter. Sign up here to receive the Morning Update and other BDN newsletters directly in your inbox.
Happy Friday!
What may not be so happy is the sticker shock if you had to fill your heating oil tank recently.
The average price for a gallon of heating oil hit a new high this week, reaching $6.04, up 83% from this time last year.
That means it will cost about an additional $750 to fill a standard 275-gallon tank.
The news comes after a series of moves from the Trump administration to tamp down on rising energy costs stemming from President Donald Trump’s war in Iran.
The administration made one of the earliest releases in the history of the federal low-income heating assistance program. It’s tapped the Northeast heating oil reserves, which hasn’t happened since 2012 when Hurricane Sandy devastated the northeastern U.S. Additionally, the administration is offering one-time payments to farmers and fishermen to offset high diesel costs and Trump controversially wants to import Russian diesel, despite recently signing into law stronger sanctions punishing Russia for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Given the consumption of both heating oil and diesel, it’s unclear whether these moves will meaningfully bring down prices, especially with the coldest months still to come.
But you don’t need to worry as much about the cold today. We have highs ranging from the 40s up north to the 50s down south with sunny skies.
A split vote could save the Maine sheriff that Janet Mills wouldn’t remove
Oxford County Sheriff Christopher Wainwright has weathered several scandals and a push to have him removed from office by the governor. Now he’s in a decent position to get reelected by virtue of having two people running against him.
His challengers on Nov. 3 include one he previously beat in 2022, and one who said his campaign is going well but that he’s “highly concerned” that any votes against the controversial sheriff will be split.
Wainwright, a 36-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, was elected to the top position after helping blow the whistle on his boss, who was accused of sexually harassing several people.
But his own tenure has been marked by accusations that he’s misused his power and played fast and loose with the law. One of several investigations by the Bangor Daily News found that Wainwright had quietly traded guns from evidence to a pawn shop for credit.
For all the press and pressure, the sheriff said the headline-grabbing parts of his record haven’t been coming up on the campaign trail.
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From the Opinion Page
“Two decades of healthcare reforms have contributed to this imbalance without delivering the promised cost savings.”
Opinion: Consolidation is worsening Maine’s rural Healthcare crisis
