Things You Need to Know Today:

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

A couple of Boothbay area businesses are closing early this season, they just did not have the staff to keep be open.  According to WMTW, the business community is looking at how to avoid such issues in the future.

Gas prices have gone up, way up. According to the price monitoring website GasBuddy.com, gas prices in Maine now average $2.18 per gallon, up from $2.13 per gallon last week. Nationally, gas prices went up by almost 4 cents per gallon and are now at $2.16 per gallon.

The National Park Service is celebrating its 100th anniversary with free admission Thursday through Sunday this week. According to WABI, in Acadia that does not mean free camping, boat cruises and entry to the Abbe Museum.

Maine Farm Days at Misty Meadows Farm in Clinton is this Wednesday and Thursday.  According to centralmaine.com the free, two-day event is for famers and the public to check out new technology and demonstrations.

From the Associated Press:

State police are investigating after authorities say about $2,300 in tools were stolen from a construction site in Rome that is expected to become a retreat for veterans who were injured during combat. The Travis Mills Foundation is renovating the former summer home of Elizabeth Arden. The group says workers on Monday noticed tools had disappeared.

The state of Kansas is asking a federal appeals court to keep thousands of people from voting in November if they haven't already supplied documents to prove they're U.S. citizens. Since 1993, states have been required to allow people to register to vote while renewing their driver's licenses, using minimal information. But Kansas requires citizenship paperwork, like a birth certificate or naturalization papers. The judges in Denver will hear arguments Tuesday.

Donald Trump says that if he's elected president, "You'll be able to walk down the street without getting shot." Trump made the comment Monday as part of his recent pitch to minority voters. Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton says she wants more Americans to start and expand businesses. Clinton on Tuesday will introduce a new tax cut for small businesses.

President Barack Obama travels to southern Louisiana Tuesday to get a first-hand look at the damage caused by flooding that also killed 13 people. More than 60,000 homes are damaged and the devastation is described as the worst since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

The Islamic State group is starting to show the strains of losing ground in Iraq. Residents who've fled areas IS still controls say militants have become even more brutal, killing deserters and relying on younger and younger recruits. In Qayara (KAH'-yah-rah), the main town in the area still in IS hands, one man who fled says beheadings and extrajudicial killings are more commonplace.