Achieving Maine’s goal of extending natural gas lines to unserved areas — and cutting energy costs for major employers — may partly hinge on state government’s willingness to offer loan guarantees for private-sector projects.

CHINA — Monday’s selectmen’s meeting will begin after two public hearings scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the Town Office. The first hearing is on amendments to the appendices to the town’s general assistance ordinance, changing the maximum allowable assistance in different categories.

I do not have an air conditioner. “So what?” you say. “There are many cars on the streets without any air conditioning, most of them old, rusted-out beaters.” But I have a 2010 Chevrolet Cobalt, base model XFE. My boss bought it for me because he couldn’t pass up a $6,000 brand-new car. So now I am driving hell on wheels … literally. It would be one thing if I lived in Alaska or Siberia. But I’m in the middle of the country, where temperatures were regularly 95 this past summer. The dealer wants $2,500 to install air conditioning. Are there any cheaper alternatives? Thank you so much, guys. I am truly grateful. — Thomas the “Roast Duck”

AUGUSTA — Traffic returned to normal on Interstate 95 Saturday near the Bond Brook overpass following efforts to clean up a tanker truck crash that happened about 2 a.m. Friday.

PORTLAND — Kyle Clukey, a 27-year-old, has used lots of different drugs during the past 10 years. Then, this summer, something new arrived in Bangor, and he gave it a try. It was a strong, synthetic cocaine-like powder sold in stores as “bath salts” and known on the street as monkey dust.

PALERMO — Selectmen have a chance to acquire, for free, a strip of land that would provide access to Beech Pond off Cain Hill Road.