Rep. Jack Ducharme discussed the financial challenges in Maine’s state government, focusing on the biennial budget and the anticipated revenue shortfalls. Despite passing a $11.3 billion biennial budget, a $120 million gap remains due to unfunded continuing services. Ducharme highlighted a $123 million shortfall in 2027 for MaineCare. Republicans have participated in discussions but emphasized the need for clear funding sources and priorities before committing to additional spending. Ducharme criticized the majority’s approach, noting a $156 million tax increase proposal would still leave a $85 million shortfall. He stressed the importance of bipartisan collaboration and transparency in budgeting.
Days of downpours have begun in Hawaii. The Southwest will soon bake with day after day of record 100-degree-plus (38 Celsius-plus) heat. Two storms will dump snow by the foot over northern Great Lakes states. And the dreaded polar vortex will again invade the Midwest and East with soul-crushing Arctic chill. This forecast of extremes comes as weather whiplash has already hit much of the East.
An inflation gauge closely monitored by the Federal Reserve moved higher in January in the latest sign that prices were persistently elevated even before the Iran war caused spikes in oil and gas costs.
A man with a rifle who crashed into a large Michigan synagogue in what federal officials are saying was an attack had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon last week, an official said Friday.
House lawmakers were digging into Jeffrey Epstein's sprawling financial portfolio on Wednesday as a committee deposed his former accountant and tried to understand his connections to some of the world's wealthiest men.
