Copyright The Boston Globe
Write to us at startingpoint@globe.com. To subscribe, sign up here. Many Mainers just call it The County. Aroostook, named for an indigenous description of a nearby river, is Maine’s northernmost county, located a few hours’ drive from Portland. It’s also New England’s biggest, as if Connecticut and Rhode Island were nestled together along the Canadian border. Like other rural counties, Aroostook has trended rightward in recent elections. It handed President Trump a 26-point win last year and is the birthplace of Susan Collins, Maine’s long-serving Republican senator. A recent Portland Press Herald headline asked “Is Aroostook County more politically conservative than Alabama?” (It isn’t, but just asking the question says a lot.) And here’s another factor that sets Aroostook apart: It’s the Trump-voting New England county that relies most heavily on SNAP, the federal aid program commonly known as food stamps, which has come under strain as the government shutdown drags on. That, in turn, has strained food banks and pantries that distribute aid across the county. SNAP is “the 8,000-pound gorilla in the room,” said Jon Blanchard, an Aroostook native and program director for Catholic Charities Maine. “To have it just disappear when families are counting on it as part of their monthly budget, it shocks the system.” A few factors make Aroostook especially vulnerable. Math is the main one. Overall, SNAP disburses $29 million in aid to 170,000 Mainers each month — $7 million more than the annual budget of Good Shepherd Food Bank, the state’s biggest hunger-relief organization. “When you remove that safety net, those 170,000 people fall to the emergency food network,” said Heather Paquette, Good Shepherd’s president. “We’re not built for that.” By the numbers, Aroostook’s needs are greater. About 20 percent of the county’s roughly 67,000 residents get food stamps, surpassing the state and national rates. It’s among the oldest counties in the oldest state, with more than a quarter of residents aged 65 or older. Its residents also have fewer resources, with one of Maine’s highest unemployment rates and a median household income of around $54,000, about 25 percent lower than the statewide figure. Aroostook’s size also makes it harder to reach those in need. Catholic Charities has as many distribution trucks for Aroostook alone, Paquette said, as Good Shepherd does for the entire state. Pantries, which need residents to come to them, are less efficient than SNAP, which deposits money directly onto a debit-like card. Courts have ordered the Trump administration to tap emergency funding to restore SNAP benefits, which lapsed Saturday. But the administration initially agreed to disburse just half the normal amount. “ Fifty percent would be way better than zero,” said Paquette. “That’s still going to have a catastrophic impact.” (Yesterday, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the administration to fully fund this month’s SNAP benefits by today.) Still, the reductions might bite less if Aroostook hadn’t already been struggling. Well before the shutdown, inflation and Trump’s tariffs helped push up food costs, leaving food banks with less buying power. His threats to annex Canada tanked tourism, hurting local businesses. And the Agriculture Department canceled funding for food banks to buy from local farmers. Now the need has deepened. On Wednesday, Blanchard traveled to a parking-lot food pantry in the county seat of Houlton. Last year, he told me, the site distributed between 30 and 40 boxes of food each week. That morning, it had already given out 120. Aroostook highlights one political tension of the Trump era: voters who depend on government benefits like SNAP, Obamacare, and Medicaid but back candidates who tend to favor cutting them. Asked who his constituents faulted for Aroostook’s struggles, Trey Stewart, a state senator who represents part of the county, blamed Maine Democrats. “This hardship isn’t Trump’s doing,” he said in a statement. Until SNAP is restored, aid groups are adapting. When I spoke to Blanchard, he was driving a 26-foot box truck to pick up donated clothes, which Catholic Charities sells to benefit Aroostook food pantries. “There’s definitely people coming out of the woodwork” to help. For now, giving is unlikely to be enough. Supplemental funding from private donors and the state only amounted to about $1,000 per food pantry Good Shepherd works with, Paquette said. Some are discussing restricting how many times someone can visit or limiting which zip codes they serve. “These are not decisions pantry partners should have to make,” Paquette said. “And they’re not decisions they’ve ever had to make before.” Read more: Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey urged residents to donate to local food banks to offset lost SNAP aid. If you’re interested in helping Maine, here are links to Good Shepherd and Catholic Charities. 🧩 3 Down: Essentials | ⛅ 56° Storm’s a-brewin’ Pet issue: Skyrocketing veterinary care costs have some Massachusetts pet owners taking drastic measures — like traveling to Mexico for checkups. False start: High home prices and still-high interest rates have left a growing number of Greater Boston millennials stuck in their so-called starter homes for far longer than they expected. More GBH cuts: The station is laying off 15 employees — including some who work on children’s programing — after Republicans cut funding for public broadcasting, its fourth round of layoffs this year. Chicago shooting: A Border Patrol agent from Maine who shot a woman in Chicago later bragged in a text about being “up for another round of ‘f— around and find out,’” the woman’s lawyer claimed in court. She faces charges for allegedly boxing in the agent’s car before the shooting. (Chicago Sun Times) ‘Scandalous’: Maine asked the Trump administration for help controlling an HIV outbreak in the Bangor area that has sickened dozens of people, the largest in state history. The CDC, citing the shutdown, put the request on hold. Transgender rights: The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to bar trans and nonbinary people from changing the markers on their passports to align with their gender identity. (The 19th) ‘Sandwich guy’: A jury acquitted a man who threw a hoagie at a Customs and Border Protection officer during Trump’s federal crackdown in Washington, DC. (Lawfare) Zdeno Chara: The longtime Bruins captain will return to Canada, where his illustrious career began almost 30 years ago, to enter the Hockey Hall of Fame. The world’s first trillionaire? Tesla shareholders approved a record-setting pay package for Elon Musk that could give him as much as $1 trillion in additional stock. He’d threatened to leave the company if shareholders rejected it. (WSJ 🎁) Nancy Pelosi retires: Little was expected of the 47-year-old mother of five when she arrived in Congress nearly four decades ago. When her current term is up, the former House speaker will depart as one of American history’s most accomplished congressional leaders, writes Molly Ball, Pelosi’s biographer. (Time) What’s next for Michelle Wu? The mayor won big, including with allies elected to the City Council on Tuesday. Her second term should focus on housing and education, Boston’s two biggest needs, the Globe’s editorial board writes. Invisible woman: Would hair extensions bring better treatment and new life for this middle-aged mom? Tracy Brady finds out. Don’t feel sorry for Usha Vance: Americans may be scrutinizing her marriage and faith, but the second lady knows exactly what she signed up for, argues Renée Graham. By David Beard 🇨🇦 Who took my flag? Why are Americans putting maple leaves and little Canadian flags on their gear before traveling abroad? Oh, they don’t want to be hassled overseas for US government tariffs or foreign aid cuts. Some Canadians, upset already, aren’t thrilled with this American trick, writes Christopher Muther. 🎥 More Pedro Pascal: This weekend’s streaming picks include the versatile actor as a sketchy genius in the latest “Fantastic Four” and, with Dakota Johnson, as two thirds of a modern love triangle in “Materialists.” Or you can catch Mia Goth in two roles in Guillermo del Toro’s well-regarded “Frankenstein.” We’re told it’s alive! ✂️ Price cut + fewer steps: In health news, some obesity drugs may go down to $149 a month, and a new study says you may need to walk as few as 3,000 steps a day for good health. 🎟️ Stub Flub: The Globe gets results when a teacher was charged $1,780 for Doobie Brothers tickets she didn’t order — and her credit card refused a refund. 🌲 Did you hear what I hear? Strange AI-generated music may be taking over your holiday playlists. ❤️🔥 Blind Date: Passionate about nature, but what about life? 🫢 OMG, ngl: Decoding teen slang isn’t easy. Here are some key translations. Thanks for reading Starting Point. This newsletter was edited by David Beard. ❓ Have a question for the team? Email us at startingpoint@globe.com. ✍🏼 If someone sent you this newsletter, you can sign up for your own copy. 📬 Delivered Monday through Friday.
