Extra $8 million in heating assistance

Low-income Utahns will receive another $8 million in federal funds to help pay their heating bills.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday announced the extra money, part of an additional $1 billion recently released to states in block grant and emergency contingency funds to cover the season's unusually high gas bills.

The money will be distributed through the department's Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which serves nearly 5 million low-income households across the country.

The amount released Thursday brings Utah's total to $23 million for fiscal year 2006. Nationally, the federal government has awarded $3.1 billion in emergency funding.