15 Oct WCME Midcoast News 10-15-2015
In Brunswick, a familiar scenario for the school board. Another long meeting featuring a long and winding discussion of what to do and what not to do about declining structural building conditions at the Coffin elementary and junior high schools. No decisions have been reached, but the board has asked its architectural consultants to provide updated cost estimates on repair and renovation work at both schools and for an update on projected costs for a possible new elementary school on the town-owned Jordan Acres property.
Ken Albert, the director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is now taking back comments he made supporting legislation that would make it more difficult for parents to opt out of having their children get vaccinations. One day after saying he favored such legislation Albert now says that a reporter for the Portland Press Herald “leapt to the conclusion” that he supports a so-called informed consent bill that would have made it harder for parents to get such exemptions. In a letter to the editor of the Press Herald Albert now says he was speaking generally and in fact doesn’t support that bill.
The Governor’s Energy Office says the statewide average cash price for No. 2 heating oil is $2.04 per gallon, up three cents over the last week. Average kerosene and propane prices were similar; the average statewide kerosene price this week is $2.60 per gallon (two cents higher), and the average statewide propane price for heating customers is at $2.18, also up three cents since last week.