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.
You made it — Friday is here!
Heating oil prices are again nearing the $6 mark, with a gallon of fuel going on average for $5.97 this week. That’s up 79% from this same time last year, when it cost $3.34 a gallon.
In eastern and Down East Maine, prices range from a low of $5.50 to a high of $6.30.
Some low-income households will benefit from leftover federal funds from last season, offering nearly $4 million in early aid.
Meanwhile, a new report from the Maine public advocate offers insight into the factors driving up electric bills. That report attributed half the increase over the past few years to rising natural gas prices, largely driven up by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Donald Trump’s ongoing war in Iran has been the primary factor driving up heating oil and gasoline prices. The war effectively halted shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas flows.
Additionally, Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and Houthi strikes on Saudi energy production sites have further constricted global supplies in recent weeks.
While the adage holds that “all politics is local,” we’re seeing clearly how conflicts halfway across the world have direct impacts on us here.
Jonathan Bush is spending thousands on the Bangor City Council race
One of the early practitioners of “disruption” as a business strategy is trying his hand at municipal politics. Not by running for office, but by dumping a bunch of money into three Maine city council races.
The goal? To tip the balance toward “more reasonable, independent-minded, kind of what I would call ‘Chamber of Commerce’ candidates,” said Jonathan Bush, co-founder of the online medical billing company athenahealth and cousin of former President George W. Bush.
Bush, who lives in Cape Elizabeth and ran a losing campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination this year, plans to invest $100,000 in the Bangor, Lewiston and Waterville council elections this year through his nonprofit, Maine for Keeps. In Bangor, he has joined forces with a local PAC that has already raised more than $20,000.
City council elections aren’t typically magnets for outside spending, or much spending at all, but it was probably only a matter of time.
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From the Opinion Page
“When Paul LePage met Matt Dunlap on the debate stage on Oct. 1, the contrast between the two times and current candidates could not have been starker.”
Opinion: Debate made it clear why Matt Dunlap is the best choice in 2nd District