Press Herald
- Forecasts by the National Weather Service call for routine winter temperatures, not too much hotter or colder than Mainers have come to expect between December and March. Precipitation is also expected to be about average, though if it teeters in one direction, it likely will be on the dry side, forecasters said. The average high temperature in Portland from December to February is 35.2 degrees and the average low is 18.4 degrees. Annual snowfall in the city averages 68.7 inches, although last year was well below that amount, at 54.1 inches. “There could be a very slight chance that we see a little bit less precipitation than normal,” said Jon Palmer, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Gray office.
- Drug overdose deaths in Maine have fallen by 23% so far in 2025, continuing a trend of declining fatal overdoses over the last three years. Maine recorded 292 overdose deaths from January through September of this year, compared to 379 deaths during the same period in 2024, according to state data released late last week.
- Maine’s two U.S. senators, Susan Collins and Angus King, were closely involved in negotiations over the weekend to end the longest federal government shutdown in history, resulting in a proposal that could restore government funding later this week. “We’re now into the longest shutdown in American history,” King said. “And the question is, is it accomplishing anything? And the answer is no.”
- Mainers on Monday began receiving full monthly food assistance benefits again, despite lingering confusion nationwide over federal court rulings and conflicting guidance from the Trump administration. The uncertainty over SNAP benefits, on top of the largest ever cuts to the program that went into effect in October, has put heightened pressure on Maine food pantries that are scrambling to keep up with demand for assistance.