ME-GOV: How Paul LePage, Running to Lead Maine, Benefited From Florida Tax Breaks

Making a comeback attempt now against his successor, Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, Mr. LePage is focusing heavily in his campaign on a push to phase out Maine’s income tax. He argues that the change is needed to keep wealthy residents from moving to Florida for just long enough each year to take advantage of the Sunshine State’s tax breaks.

But Mr. LePage and his wife, Ann LePage, who have owned property in Florida for over a decade, have themselves benefited from that state’s tax laws while living in the Maine governor’s mansion, and again as he campaigns to return to the job. From 2009 to 2015, and also from 2018 through the end of this year, the couple received property tax breaks reserved for permanent Florida residents, public records show.

The properties in question, both in Ormond Beach, Fla., are a home that the LePages bought in 2008 and sold in 2017, and another that they purchased in 2018 and still own. For both homes, the couple have sought and received what is called a homestead exemption, which is meant to apply only to primary residences in Florida.

The sum the couple saved over the years is relatively small: A little over $8,500, according to a New York Times analysis of public records.

But this is not the first time the LePages have faced scrutiny over such a tax matter — in 2010, Florida officials fined Mrs. LePage $1,400 before rescinding the penalty — and Mr. LePage’s focus on taxes in the current campaign for governor could open him up to attacks from Democrats.



https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/us/politics/paul-lepage-maine-taxes.html

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Over 1,000 Russian Protesters Arrested After Putin Mobilizes More Troops

Protesters across Russia took to the streets to show their disapproval of the “partial mobilization” policy announced by President Vladimir V. Putin on Wednesday morning that would press 300,000 into military service. At least 1,252 people from 38 cities were detained, according to OVD-Info, a human rights watchdog that monitors police activity.

In Moscow, hundreds of protesters gathered on the Old Arbat, a well-known pedestrian street in central Moscow. They screamed “Send Putin to the trenches!” and “Let our children live!” Footage showed riot police dragging people away.

In Tomsk, a woman holding a sign that said “Hug me if you are also scared” smiled serenely as she was dragged away from a small protest by three police officers. In Novosibirsk, a man with a ponytail was taken away after he told police officers, “I don’t want to die for Putin and for you.”

Protest is effectively criminalized in Russia, where before this week almost 16,500 people had been detained for antiwar activity, according to OVD-Info — including the simple act of an individual standing in a public place holding a blank piece of paper. Since March, it has been illegal to “disseminate false information” about the war and to “discredit the Russian Army.”




https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/21/world/russia-ukraine-war-putin

Russia announces immediate 'partial mobilization' of citizens for its offensive in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens in an escalation of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine more than six months after its invasion began.

“In order to protect our homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and people in the liberated territories, I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff to conduct partial mobilization in the Russian Federation,” Putin said in a highly anticipated speech to the nation Wednesday.

Efforts to begin partial mobilization will begin on Wednesday and the decree has already been signed, Putin said.

The mobilization would mean citizens who are in the reserve and those with military experience would be subject to conscription, he added.

Putin framed the fighting as part of a larger struggle for Russian survival against a West whose goal is it is to “weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country.”


https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/europe/ukraine-russian-referendums-intl-hnk/index.html

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Stock futures flat with Fed set to kick off September meeting on Tuesday

Stock futures were flat on Tuesday morning as Wall Street looked to build on a modest rebound ahead of another rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were marginally lower. S&P 500 futures shed 0.05%, and those for the Nasdaq 100 also fell 0.03%.

The Federal Open Markets Committee kicks off its September meeting on Tuesday, and the central bankers are expected to announce a 0.75 percentage point rate hike on Wednesday. Stocks have tumbled in recent weeks as comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and an unexpectedly hot August consumer price index report caused traders to prepare for even higher rates until inflation cools.

“I think last week a lot of the work was done to reset interest rate expectations,” said Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones.

“The momentum in equity markets is to the downside. … Until we establish that pattern of lower [inflation] readings, it’s going to be hard to reverse that elevated uncertainty and volatility that we are seeing,” Kourkafas added.

During a choppy trading session on Monday, stocks rose in the afternoon to snap a two-day losing streak and claw back some of their recent losses. The Dow rose 197 points, or about 0.6%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained roughly 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively.



https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/19/stock-market-futures-open-to-close-news.html

'Crippling' Energy Bills Force Europe's Factories to Go Dark

The furnace, heated to 1,500 degrees Celsius, was glowing red. Workers at the Arc International glass factory loaded it with sand that slowly pooled into a molten mass. Nearby on the factory floor, machines transformed the shapeless liquid with a blast of hot air into thousands of delicate wine glasses, destined for sale to restaurants and homes worldwide.

Nicholas Hodler, the chief executive, surveyed the assembly line, shimmering blue with natural gas flames. For years, Arc had been powered by cheap energy that helped turn the company into the world’s largest producer of glass tableware — and a vital employer in this working-class region of northern France.

But the impact of Russia’s abrupt cutoff of gas to Europe has doused the business with new risks. Energy prices have climbed so fast that Mr. Hodler has had to rewrite business forecasts six times in two months. Recently, he put a third of Arc’s 4,500 employees on partial furlough to save money. Four of the factory’s nine furnaces will be idled; the others will be switched from natural gas to diesel, a cheaper but more polluting fuel.

“It’s the most dramatic situation we have ever encountered,” Mr. Hodler said, shouting to be heard over the din of clinking glasses. “For energy-intensive businesses like ours, it’s crippling.”

Arc is not alone. High energy prices are lashing European industry, forcing factories to cut production quickly and put tens of thousands of employees on furlough. The cutbacks, though expected to be temporary, are raising the risks of a painful recession in Europe. Industrial production in the euro area fell 2.3 percent in July from a year earlier, the biggest drop in more than two years.





https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/business/europe-energy-crisis-factories.html

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