Federal cuts give Maine a chill as winter approaches, By Abby Goodnough, November 27, 2011, New York Times: “Michele Hodges works six days a week but still cannot afford a Maine winter’s worth of heat for her trailer in Corinth, a tiny town where snowmobiles can outnumber cars. Ms. Hodges and her two teenage daughters qualified for federal heating assistance last year, but their luck might have run out. President Obama has proposed sharply cutting the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and Maine is at this point expecting less than half of the $55.6 million that it received last winter, even as more people are applying. The average state benefit last year was about $800 for the season; now it may be closer to $300. Eligibility requirements have tightened too, and with oil prices climbing – the average in Maine was $3.66 a gallon last week, up from $2.87 a year ago – many here are anticipating days or weeks of forgoing heat…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty