Higher energy costs accompany bitter cold snap in United States
PORTLAND, Maine — Plunging temperatures across half the country on Thursday underscored a stark reality for lowincome Americans who rely on heating aid: Their dollars aren’t going to go as far this winter because of rising energy costs.
Forecasters warned people to be wary of hypothermia and frostbite from an arctic blast that’s gripping a large swath from the Midwest to the Northeast, where the temperature — without the wind chill factored in — dipped to minus 32 on Thursday morning in Watertown, New York.
Even before the cold snap, the Department of Energy projected that heating costs were going to track upward this winter, and many people are keeping a wary eye on their fuel tanks to ensure that they don’t run out.
Elizabeth Parker, 88, of Sanford, Maine, said she lives in fear of running out of fuel and remains vigilant in monitoring the gauge outside her trailer, just in case, especially during cold weather.
She said she is allowed to request a fuel delivery thanks to federal aid — but only when her gauge dips to one-eighth of a tank.
“I couldn’t get along without it,” said Parker, who lives with her 93-year-old husband, Robert, along with a cat, dog and four birds.
Prolonged, dangerous cold weather this week has sent advocates for the homeless scrambling to get people off the streets and to bring in extra beds for them. Frozen pipes and dead car batteries added to the misery across the region.
In western New York and Erie, Pennsylvania, residents were still cleaning up from massive snowfall. Firefighters had to use a bucket loader to rescue someone trapped in her home in Lorraine, New York.
In Ohio, a third body was recovered near a car that slid off an icy road and flipped into a canal days earlier in Oregon, near the Lake Erie shoreline.
Despite the cold, there was some good news for recipients of federal aid from the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. President Donald Trump released nearly $3 billion, or 90 percent, of the funding in October after previously trying to eliminate the program altogether.
But projected energy cost increases will effectively reduce the purchasing power by $330 million, making it imperative that the remaining funding be released, said Mark Wolfe, of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association.
This winter, energy costs were projected to grow by 12 percent for natural gas, 17 percent for home heating oil, 18 percent for propane and 8 percent for electricity, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration.
But energy prices this winter may even be higher than those projections. According to Wolfe, colder weather could lead to even higher levels of consumption, and resulting prices could push the cost of winter heating up to $1,800 this winter for those using heating oil, 45 percent more than last year’s level.
“That’s a scary situation for people who’re really struggling to heat their homes,” said Barbara Crider, of Maine’s York County Community Action Agency. The Associated Press
HOUSTON — Authorities say an intoxicated Dallas woman on a first date with a prominent Houston trial lawyer caused at least $300,000 in damage to his art collection, including two Andy Warhol paintings.
Lindy Lou Layman was arrested Saturday on criminal mischief charges after her date with Anthony Buzbee. She was released on $30,000 bond. Online court records don’t list an attorney for her.
Prosecutors say Buzbee told investigators that the 29-year-old Layman got too intoxicated on their date, so he called her an Uber after they returned to his home. She allegedly refused to leave and hid inside the home, and that when Buzbee found her and called a second Uber, she got aggressive.
Authorities say she tore down several paintings and poured red wine on some, and she threw two $20,000 sculptures.
The damaged Warhol paintings were each valued at $500,000.