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against vendors, investigate claims of price gouging and increase aid to low-income customers.
• The propane drain coincides with extreme cold temperatures in several Midwestern and Southern states where residents and business owners are struggling to keep heating tanks filled due to increased costs or supply cut-offs.
• "The industry as a whole should have been prepared for this," Missouri state Sen. Mike Parson said Wednesday. Parson is urging the U.S. Justice Department to investigate rising prices in his state. "We should be able to figure out what our supply and demand is."
• National supplies of propane were depleted by a late harvest that increased demand from farmers who needed to dry an unusually large amount of grain before storage. As colder-than-normal temperatures spread across much of the country, supplies dropped to the lowest level ever during the second week of January.
• The national average price for a gallon of propane spiked this week to a little over $4, up from $2.96 from the previous week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Association. About 5.5 million homes are heated with propane, mostly in rural areas.
• Kentucky's attorney general was granted an injunction against a major propane supplier that had stopped delivering to commercial customers in several states. The court order allows customers of Paducah-based United Propane Gas to get their tanks refilled from other sources without seeking permission from the company. Calls to the company were not returned on Wednesday.
• In Washington, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri requested on Wednesday that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examine whether price manipulation is a factor in the increased propane costs.
• Officials in Minnesota and Wisconsin earlier this week boosted aid for low-income residents who have been unable to refill tanks as prices spiked. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed an executive order prohibiting suppliers from price-gouging, and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday asked farmers and other propane users to return unused portions to suppliers. Lawmakers in Illinois were drafting legislation that would help low-income families buy propane by increasing the number of families eligible for energy assistance.
• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he would address the propane shortage with President Barack Obama during a presidential visit to the state on Thursday.
• Last week, dozens of states loosened transportation rules to allow for extended hours for propane haulers to make deliveries.
• "Our sense is that it's slowly moving in a positive direction," said Mollie O'Dell, a spokeswoman for the National Propane Gas Association. "A lot of these immediate

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