In our Your Choice, Your Voice series, you told us you were interested in learning about a variety of issues and the top response was inflation.The annual inflation rate reached a 40-year high of 9.1% by the middle of 2022. As of last month, it has eased to just 2.4 percent. Even though the inflation rate has eased, prices are still about 20% higher than when President Joe Biden took office.To highlight the inflation issue, Maine’s Total Coverage visited the Augusta Food Bank on Free Food Thursday. Jon and Sandy Willette started coming to the Augusta Food Bank about a year ago. We asked him if he thinks inflation is the problem. “Oh wicked, wicked,” Jon said. “When we go to the store, we go to Sam’s Club once a month, and we don’t get out of there less than 300 bucks, and we don’t have much.”The Willettes have a garden that supplies them with produce during the summer, but needed some help during the colder months because they, like many Mainers, are on a fixed income.”We wouldn’t have any fruits or vegetables, yeah we wouldn’t have vegetables now because winter, we’d struggle. I’d have to put it on a credit card and pay by the month,” Jon said.”We’re three people living in a one-bedroom,” Jacob Kanaris added. He also utilizes the Augusta Food Bank.”This place has been an amazing help,” Kanaris said.Kanaris and the Willettes aren’t alone in their need. On Thursday morning, when the food bank is open to surrounding communities, cars line the road, and sometimes people have to wait for hours.In 2019, the Augusta Food Bank distributed 600,000 lbs of food. By 2023, that number was 1.2 million lbs.Bob Moore is the food banks director, he said over the last few years he’s seen a lot of people who are part of the ALICE program which stands for asset limited, income constrained, employed.”It’s people who are gainfully employed or people that are on fixed income like social security, and the rising costs of everything else, whatever they’re receiving for money hasn’t kept up with inflation,” Moore said.”We used to be ashamed we didn’t want to go, and we just struggled,” Jon Willette said when asked how he decided to start going to the food bank.Moore said it’s hard for people to admit they need help and go to the food bank, so he and his team try to make it as comfortable as possible for people and set it up like a grocery store. With one goal in mind, to help neighbors in need.”We might not be able to help them with their rent, we might not be able to help them with other bills and things they have on their plate, but don’t let food be the thing you go without,” Moore said.Vice President Kamala Harris is proposing some additional tax hikes on wealthy Americans and continue President Biden’s pledge to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000.Former President Donald Trump wants to extend all the individual income and estate tax cuts that his 2017 law provides, which includes an increase to the standard deduction, lower marginal income tax rates for most income brackets and an increase to the estate tax exemption.
business capital
One of the organizations recently authorized to help homeowners and business owners financially recover from Potential Tropical Cyclone 8 has run out of funding.
If elected president Donald Trump plans to further slash the corporate tax rate and introduce a wide array of tariffsnot all in the GOP are having it.
Businesses at the Lynnfield shopping center that were gutted by raging flames last month have some financial relief coming their way.
Del Rio sits along the French Broad River, which took record-levels of water that day and dumped it and debris right inside Del Rio Baptist Church.
County residents, businesses and Private Non-Profit Organizations (PNPS) have until noon on Friday, Nov. 1 to apply for low-interest disaster loans.
U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) joined Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.), and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) in announcing plans to introduce legislation that would replenish the SBA Disaster Loan Program.
Governor Gavin Newsoms proposed plan to boost the tax credit program from $330 million to $750 million in the next year to help keep TV and film production in California has evoked mixed feelings from some in the industry.
Black women entrepreneurs from key swing states gathered to explore the implications of the upcoming election on their businesses.
Black women entrepreneurs from key swing states gathered to explore the implications of the upcoming election on their businesses.
The MBTA is under fire again. This time over allegations that nearly a dozen workers were working on private vehicles while on the clock at a maintenance facility. “My reaction is frustration and anger,” Brian Kane, Executive Director of the MBTA Advisory Board, said. “These are public resources that are being used by what are supposed to be public servants for their own private use.”Sources tell 5 Investigates that the probe now underway includes surveillance video of T employees detailing and working on non-MBTA vehicles while on the job at Cabot Yard in South Boston. The facility stores and maintains Red Line vehicles as well as buses. After we first reported the allegation on Friday, the T’s General Manager confirmed that an investigation was underway and that 10 workers were placed on administrative leave. Kane gave the GM credit for taking action. “We’re starting to see that his style and his approach and his oversight is getting down into the proverbial trenches at the T,” Kane said. “If there are criminal charges to be brought, I certainly hope that prosecutors will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. But this is also a good thing that his approach and his management is starting to get there.”It’s a sentiment echoed by Sen. Ed Markey when NewsCenter 5 asked him about the investigation.”Governor Healey, General Manager Eng are doing a very good job in helping to make the T more accountable. A system the voters, the riders can trust,” Markey said. “It’s important for us to ensure that this is the case.”In a statement, Eng said in part: “We take these allegations very seriously, and any findings from this investigation will be addressed appropriately and in alignment with our core values.”
Here are all of the Rossen Reports from this past week.This trick could save up to $500 on your next flightNeed to book a flight? Google just updated its Price Guarantee feature on Google Flights which pays you back the difference if the price of your flight drops before your trip.Google will monitor the price until your trip, and if it drops more than five dollars, they will pay back the difference up to $500 using Google Pay.Watch the video above for more on this story.For the full story, click here.Save money with this trick at the checkout lineHave you ever bought something only to find out you could have paid less elsewhere? Here are some retailers Rossen Reports found that still honor price matching.Read the fine print on each retailers price matching policy. Most stores won’t price match third-party sellers, such as items sold by non-Amazon sellers on Amazon. Items on super markdowns, like closeout sales, also usually don’t qualify.For the full story, click here.Top brands targeted by scammersA Federal Trade Commission report highlights the top companies being impersonated by scammers, with PayPal, Amazon and Best Buy’s Geek Squad leading the list.Scammers often claim your account is suspended or that there’s an unauthorized charge, urging you to click on malicious links.Best Buy’s Geek Squad is the most impersonated, with fake emails claiming a service renewal you never signed up for.For the full story, click here.How to understand and monitor your credit reportMonitoring your credit report is crucial for maintaining a healthy credit score.Many of you have reached out to Rossen Reports, wanting to know what to look for in your credit report.If you find an error, you can dispute it online, by phone, or by mail with Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion.For the full story, click here.