THUMBS UP to news that Maine will receive $35.3 million in federal funds for heating assistance. That puts the state on track to receive roughly the same amount as last year, though the lower price of heating oil means the amount will go further in heating the homes of low-income Mainers.

Despite their necessity for many homes in the Northeast, heating assistance funds have been far from a sure thing the last few years, as many in Congress fight for lower government spending. So it is encouraging the funds, which go to Maine’s Low Income Heating Assistance Program, came through this year without drama or delay.

Still, it is important that the Maine delegation continue to push for reliability when it comes to LIHEAP funding, and that more effort and money be allocated to the federal weatherization program, which can help Maine’s oldest-in-the-nation housing stock get through the winter without wasting so much fuel. About 50,000 households in Maine are eligible for heating assistance, but only about 200 homes are sealed and insulated each year.

And while the $35.3 million will help thousands of Mainers this winter, it is important to remember that it is just a fraction of the $56.5 million the state received in 2010-11, when the price of heating oil was more than 60 cents less per gallon at the start of the heating season than it is today.

THUMBS DOWN to a USA Today report showing top administrators at Veterans Health Administration hospitals throughout the country received millions in dollars in bonuses in recent years.

According to the report, at least a dozen of the administrators, who received a total of $612,000 in bonuses recently, have now resigned or retired under fire, or are facing dismissal, as a result of the scandal involving delays in health care for veterans (which has thankfully missed Maine’s Togus hospital).

It appears the VA set goals for its hospitals, including a 14-day goal for seeing new patients, that were clearly unrealistic given the rising number of patients and the shortage of doctors.

Then, when the hospitals were successful in meeting goals unheard of at private hospitals, the VA wrote bonus check after bonus check without hesitation, or the least bit of curiosity.

THUMBS DOWN to the panic defining the public debate over the Ebola virus.

Ebola is certainly a problem in West Africa, where unsanitary conditions and a poor health care system mean the virus can spread and kill easily. It is certainly an issue at transportation facilities and hospitals in the United States, both of which must be vigilant in watching for people exhibiting symptoms. Airport checkpoints and improved protocols at hospitals are certainly warranted, as is increased aid to West African countries.

But there is no reason for the general public to get worked up about a virus that has killed one person in the United States and has virtually no chance of causing a wider outbreak.

For comparison, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says between 1977 and 2007, the flu contributed to at least 3,000 and as many as 49,000 deaths every year. In addition, the flu costs employers more than $10 billion a year.

The energy spent worrying over Ebola would be better used to walk to the corner pharmacy and get a flu shot.