Lissa Harris in The Watershed Post reports that the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), a federal program that one in five New York State households rely on to help pay their winter heating bills, is facing drastic cuts. New York State officials have already announced that, "the program would be cutting benefits, delaying the start date of the program from November 1 to November 16, and cutting almost two months off the end of the season, meaning that heating aid will be available only until mid-March, when snow is still on the ground in much of upstate New York," Harris writes in an exhaustive investigation. The Times Herald-Record reports, she relays, that President Barack Obama's proposed 2012 budget reduces funding from $5.1 billion to $2.57 billion. "Current residential heating oil prices average $3.86 per gallon for the state, up from $3.10 the first week of October 2010, according to an Energy Information Administration," Harris reports. "Current residential propane prices in New York average $3.14 per gallon, up from $2.70, said the group, which also expects electricity prices to increase by 2.3 percent in 2011 and by 0.6 percent in 2012." Read the long, well-researched story at The Watershed Post. Harris and Julia Reishcel host "The Half-Hour News Hour" from The Watershed Post at 3 p.m. every Wednesday on WGXC (90.7-FM), and at 1 p.m. Wednesday on WIOX in Roxbury.