Things You Need to Know Today: Weekly Snow Reports Coming Wednesdays Starting in January

Here are the things you need to  know today......

Some of Maine's lakes and ponds are icing over BUT not all of them are safe to be on. The Maine Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Facebook page is urging folks to use caution before heading out on the ice.

Presque Isle Police are have a warning for the Aroostook County area on their Facebook page, they saw 5 overdoses yesterday, none of them fatal. The continue on to say it appears this may be a more dangerous batch of the drug circulating in Northern Maine. They also were encouraging people to reach out for help.

From the Associated Press:

The Maine Office of Tourism, Ski Maine Association and Maine Snowmobile Association are collaborating to provide weekly reports on snow conditions across the state. The snow reports, posted on visitmaine.com, will be posted each Wednesday starting in January.

The average retail price of gas has risen 3.2 cents in Maine over the past week. GasBuddy's says the average price is $2.34 on Tuesday.The national average has also gone up. It is now $2.28, having risen 2.7 cents in the last week.Maine's average gas price was 26 cents per gallon higher than the same day a year ago and 13.3 cents higher than a month ago. The national average increased 28.4 cents over the past year and 16.5 cents over the past month.

More winter weather is on the way for Maine and New Hampshire this week. The National Weather Service says its computer models point toward a nor'easter taking shape with a foot or more of snow across inland portions of New Hampshire and Maine.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency is presenting the University of Southern Maine with an award for its efforts to reduce food waste. The university says it recovered 5.5 more tons of food in 2015 than it did in the previous year. The school says it looks like this year's numbers will surpass last year's record total of 71.3 tons of recovered food.

Dozens of sparsely populated areas across Maine have won special protections that could pose a hurdle to companies looking to build wind power turbines in the state's windiest areas. Milton Plantation is the only community where an effort failed after opposition from EverPower Wind Holdings, which wants to build a wind turbine on a nearby mountain.

A national organization that advocates for Muslim civil rights is calling for state and federal investigations of vandalism that targeted a halal market in Portland, Maine. Police in Portland were looking on Tuesday for someone suspected of using a baseball bat to smash six windows at Ahram Halal Market in the city.

She's being remembered for her on-screen talent and her openness about real-life challenges. Actress Carrie Fisher has died. She's best known as Princess Leia of the "Star Wars" franchise. But she also authored books in which she shared her journey though drug addiction, mental illness and electroshock treatment. Fisher, who was 60, told the AP in a 2009 interview that people related to her stories and helped her not feel alone. Fisher died Tuesday in Los Angeles, reportedly from a heart attack.

President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have paid their respects to the war dead at Pearl Harbor in a historic first joint pilgrimage by an American president and a Japanese prime minister. Abe said Japan "must never repeat the horrors of war again."

Afghan officials say that at least three people have been wounded by a roadside bomb blast in the capital, Kabul. The bomb was placed under a bridge and the target might have been an Afghan parliamentarian. No one has claimed responsibility, but Taliban insurgents frequently use roadside bomb and suicide attacks to target government officials as well as Afghan security forces across the country.