WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Audio Archives

Around Town 4/6/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 12:00:50 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Friends of Sears Island’s April activities About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 4/3/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:00:21 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Poetry Celebration at the Statehouse this afternoon, organized by the Maine Arts Commission in honor of National Poetry Month Witherle Library and Castine Arts Association invite you to join them on Saturday afternoons in April for A Little Afternoon Music, from 1:30-2:30 in the Witherle’s Reading room The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is looking for seasonal workers including life guards, rangers and customer service representatives to fill jobs at state parks and historic sites this summer The Department of Marine Resources is looking for a volunteer island caretaker duo for the 2026 season, at Burnt Island Light in Boothbay Harbor. For more information or to apply, send a letter of interest to: burnt.island.dmr@maine.gov The Maine Association of Broadcasters is accepting applications for $2000 scholarships for Maine students enrolled in a college communications-related field. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 4/2/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows responds to Trump’s latest attempt to federalize elections The Maine Department of Marine Resources Bureau of Sea-Run Fish and Habitat (BSRFH) is announcing the return of Alewife Days, a spring program that connects students with Maine’s annual alewife run through hands-on field trips timed with peak alewife migration in local rivers and streams. FMI and to register Alewife Days coincides with World Fish Migration Day, with events happening globally leading up to May 23. Participating schools are encouraged, but not required, to register their trip as part of this international effort, themed “We Are River People.” Registration is open for the American Lung Association’s 42nd annual Trek Across Maine in June. Organizers say they expect about 1000 participants this year, for the 3-day, 180-mile mile trek that will start and end at Pineland Farms in Gloucester. FMI and to register About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 4/1/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:00:39 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Chrissy Fowler from Belfast Flying Shoes with events over the next two weekends to get YOUR shoes flying! About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/31/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:00:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Hungry Now screening and discussion at the Colonial Theatre in Belfast tonight, a benefit for Waldo County Bounty “Get Them Out of the Attic! Caring for Family Photos and Papers with Archivist Jules Thomson, tonight at the Wilson Museum’s Hutchins Education Center on Perkins street in Castine, or go to tje museum’s calendar for the zoom link. League of Women Voters of Maine alert: Starting on Wednesday, April 1, the Maine Supreme Court will begin reviewing oral arguments for LD 1666, our bill to expand Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) to gubernatorial and state legislative races in general elections. Oral arguments are scheduled for Wednesday, April 1 at 1:30 PM and will be livestreamed at this link Maine AFL-CIO update on strike at Bath Iron Works About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/30/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:00:25 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne No Kings Day #3, March 28th, 2026 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/27/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 12:00:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne No Kings Day #3, March 28th, 2026 No Kings info and event calendar About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/26/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:00:18 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Mary Ann Larson with the details about No Kings Day in Bangor (Saturday 3/28, 12-1 pm), and an Empty Chair Town Hall (Susan Collins has declined to attend), next Monday, 3/30, doors open at 5:30pm) at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer FMI: Indivisible Bangor Maine People’s Alliance No Kings info and event calendar About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/25/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne “Youth Ask the Questions: Gubernatorial Primary Candidate Forum” tomorrow evening, 6-8pm, at the Portland Media Center, hosted by Community Organizing Alliance, Maine Youth Power, and Young People’s Caucus. Click here FMI and to register for link to watch remotely There will be a watch party in the basement stacks at the Jesup Library in Bar Harbor. Points North, the nonprofit organization behind the Camden International Film Festival, is launching a monthly documentary screening series at the Strand Theatre in Rockland. The series kicks off tomorrow night at 7pm, and will continue on the fourth Thursday of April and May. Each screening will be followed by a Q&A session or facilitated discussion, often with the filmmaker in attendance Tomorrow night’s inaugural film will be The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, 2026, directed by Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell – and will be offered free of charge. Also tomorrow / Thursday night, at 7pm: the group RESTORE: The North Woods will continue their speakers series with a zoom presentation called Big Changes and Big Opportunities in the Maine Woods, by Jym St. Pierre, RESTORE’s Maine Director. Click here for more information and to register for the link About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/24/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:00:07 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A Maine Monitor investigation by reporter Josh Keefe has found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has a new internal affairs office in Bangor, strike at BIW, EMMC nurses cancel strike and vote on new contract tomorrow, No Kings Day, “Empty Chair”/Susan Collins town hall About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/23/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 12:00:02 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Tomorrow evening, 6-7:30PM, the group “No Penobscot County Jail Expansion” is offering a virtual community presentation called Rethinking Incarceration: The Myth of Public Safety Register for zoom link The 3rd No Kings Day is coming up on Saturday the 28th. For more information and to find an event near you: NoKings Mobilize Activate Maine About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Democracy Forum 3/20/26: Constitutional Crisis: All Hands on Deck to Protect Our Elections

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:00:17 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: Maine has some of the best-run, highest-turnout elections in the country. We want to hold onto that, so we’re taking election threats seriously. We’ll talk about how elections work now and why we should be confident in our elections. But we’ll also talk about what can go wrong and how we can prepare. Guest/s: Shenna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State. Patti DuBois, City Clerk, Waterville, Maine. Archon Fung, Director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and the Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. To learn more about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 3/20/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:00:08 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The 59th annual Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race Midcoast Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build 2026. and Maine headlines from 50 years ago today! About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/19/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 12:00:07 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Wabanaki Alliance 2026 Maine Gubernatorial Forum at Community Resource Center in Houlton, tonight at 6:00 PM, at the Houlton Band of Maliseet Community Resource Center, 654 North St, Houlton The Ellsworth Public Library (EPL) invites gardeners and plant lovers of all ages to its third annual Seed Swap on Saturday, March 21, 2026, from 10 AM – 1 PM. This free event is inspired by the library’s Seed Library initiative. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/18/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:00:29 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The 3rd No Kings Day is coming up on March 28th FMI re No Kings Day FMI re No Kings Day events in Maine The Digital Security Discussion Group at the Witherle Memorial Library in Castine meets tonight from 5 to 6 pm. This week’s topic is This month’s topic is the Pros and Cons of Digital Surveillance and ID Verification. Moderated by Tom Lamontanaro. In person in the Downstairs Community Room at the Witherle, and over Zoom. To request the zoom link, email kathryn@witherlelibrary.net 36th Maine Women’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony coming up this Saturday, March 21st, at the University of Maine at Augusta, starting with a reception at 1 p.m., followed by the induction ceremony at 2 p.m. The 2026 inductees are Alane O’Connor, Director of Perinatal Addiction Medicine at MaineHealth Maine Medical Center “who has been in the forefront of addiction medicine in the state”, and the late Frances Perkins, U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Roosevelt “and architect of New Deal programs that Americans rely on today”. Live and online. RSVP if you plan to attend, by emailing mainewomenshalloffame@gmail.com. FMI: Maine Women’s Hall of Fame website Snow date is March 22 The League of Women Voters – Downeast is hosting an in-person and online discussion on county government in Maine, on Saturday in Ellsworth. Panelists will be Kate Cough, Editor at the Maine Monitor; John Wombacher, Hancock County Commissioner; and Nina Milliken, Hancock County Budget Committee and House Representative for District 16. The event is free and open to the public, Saturday from noon to 2pm at the Moore Community Center in Ellsworth Register here for the zoom link Questions may be submitted in advance by email to downeast@lwvme.o About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/17/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:00:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne An update on Belfast resident Lawrence Reichard’s upcoming trip to Colombia where he plans to meet with the family of one of the fishermen identified by the US government as a drug trafficker and killed while out on his boat. Earlier report with links to Lawrence Reichard’s writing About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/16/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 12:00:53 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Berit Becker from the Ellsworth Public Library is here with information about the Indie Lens Pop-up documentary film series that kicks off on Saturday, March 21st at 2pm with The Inquisitor: The Life and Legacy of Barbara Jordan. There are 2 more films in the series, to be shown in April and May – Berit will be back later to say more about those. For more information and to register to attend About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 3/15/26: Sailing Through Plastic Along the Maine Coast

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 13:30:18 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Recorded while sailing east along the Maine coast in the summer of 2025, this episode reflects on the striking absence of visible plastic at sea and the far more pervasive presence of microplastics throughout the water column. Glen explains how these long-lived fragments move through marine food webs, from plankton and shellfish to birds and seals, and why reducing single-use plastics remains one of the most direct ways individuals can make a difference. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Around Town 3/13/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 12:00:51 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maria Girouard, co-founder of the Sunlight Media Collective, stops by to invite you to a showing of two of their short documentaries [Environmental Justice: An Age-Old Saga: Penobscot Nation Takes a Stand Against Juniper Ridge Landfill (2025), and It’s Not Just Us: Penobscot Nation Puts Environmental Justice to the Test (2026)] on the battle to protect the Penobscot watershed from the Juniper Ridge landfill, just upriver from Indian Island. The event will take place tomorrow (Saturday 3/14) at 2pm at the Sockalexis Arena on Indian Island. No tickets required. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/12/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:00:44 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Big changes to LD2176 as the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee holds a second public hearing About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/11/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:00:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Loaves & Fishes internet cafe is now open to the public The Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor is currently accepting donations for the 56th Annual Booksale. Call or text Ruth at 207-610-2355 for more info Maine Bicentennial news in the local papers 50 years ago today About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Dawnland Signals 3/10/26

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 20:00:42 +0000

Hosts: Nolan Altvater and Nick Bear Zoom Recording Technician: Scarlett Tudor Producer: Esther Anne Original music: Nick Bear Dawnland Signals highlights indigenous topics not immediately represented in mainstream media and is meant to share, inspire, and inform. This month: – Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement. – Beyond the Claims: Stories from the Land and Heart, Wabanaki REACHs truth seeking oral history project. – Maine Wabanaki-State Truth and Reconciliation Commission. – Where the River Widens, a community devised play. – Public access to the Beyond the Claims archives at Bowdoin College. Guests: Maria Girouard, Penobscot Nation citizen and Tribal historian who served as Executive Director of Wabanaki REACH and is the visionary behind the Beyond the Claims oral history project. Kat Stefko – Interim Director of the Bowdoin College Library – former Director of Special Collections and Archives Collections – facilitates access to the TRC and BTC archives library.bowdoin.edu/ Links: Wabanaki REACH: www.wabanakireach.org/ Dawnland Signals: www.wabanakireach.org/dawnland_signals

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Outside the Box 3/10/26: “Danger to the World”

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:30:30 +0000

Producer/Host: Larry Dansinger About the host: Larry Dansinger (no pronouns) of Bangor came to Maine in 1974 and has been here ever since. Some of Larry’s activities since then: Done community organizing on numerous issues through INVERT and then Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), committed civil disobedience several times, grown a garden yearly since 1977, joined various food cooperatives and two men’s groups, refused to pay federal income taxes for war, lived on a community land trust for 23 years, and met a wonderful partner whom Larry has loved for over 40 years. Larry has produced Outside the Box features on WERU since 2007 and continues to look for unique ways of seeing almost any problem or situation.

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Around Town 3/10/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 12:00:20 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Ashley Megquier, Outreach Coordinator for Friends of Sears Island, is here with a run down of the activities they have planned this month – for all ages About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/9/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 12:00:38 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine AFL-CIO rally at the Statehouse for affordable childcare Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 of 2. Part 1 aired Friday, 3/6/26) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 3/9/26: Women’s History Month, Jimmy Carter, & Fatimah Asghar . . .

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 11:30:33 +0000

Producer/Host: R.W. Estela Hi, I’m RW Estela: Since 1991, I’ve been presenting A Word in Edgewise, WERU’s longest-running short feature, a veritable almanac of worldly and heavenly happenings, a confluence of 21st-century life in its myriad manifestations, international and domestic, cosmopolitan and rural, often revealing, as the French say, the more things change, the more they stay the same — though not always! Sometimes in addressing issues affecting our day-to-day lives, in this age of vagary and ambiguity, when chronological time is punctuated elliptically, things can quickly turn edgy and controversial, as we search for understanding amid our dialectic. Tune in Monday mornings at 7:30 a.m. for an exciting journey through space and time with a few notable birthdays thrown in for good measure during A Word in Edgewise . . . About the host: RW Estela was raised as a first-generation American in Colorado by a German mother and a Corsican-Basque father who would become a three-war veteran for the US Army, so RW was naturally a military brat and later engaged in various Vietnam-era civil-service adventures before paying his way through college by skiing for the University of Colorado, playing Boulder coffeehouses, and teaching. He has climbed all of Colorado’s Fourteeners; found work as an FAA-certificated commercial pilot, a California-licensed building contractor, a publishing editor, a practitioner of Aikido, and a college professor of English; among his many interdisciplinary pursuits are the design and building of Terrell Residence Library (recently renamed the Terrell House Permaculture Living & Learning Center at the University of Maine), writing Building It In Two Languages (a bilingual dictionary of construction terminology), aerial photo documentation of two dam removals (Great Works and Veazie) on the Penobscot River, and once a week since 1991 drafting an installment of A Word In Edgewise, his essay series addressing issues affecting our day-to-day lives — and WERU’s oldest continuous short feature. When pandemics do not interfere, he does the Triple Crown of Maine open-water ocean swims (Peaks to Portland, Islesboro Crossing, and Nubble Light Challenge) and the Whitewater Downriver Point Series of the Maine Canoe and Kayak Racing Organization. RW is the father of two and the grandfather of three and lives with his partner Kathleen of 37 years and their two Maine Coons in Orono.

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 3/8/26: Lion’s Mane Jellyfish Along the Maine Coast

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:30:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Recorded while sailing east along the Maine coast in the summer of 2025, this episode reflects on sightings of Lion’s Mane jellyfish and how their presence varies with water temperature and coastal geography. Glen describes their immense size potential, surprising life cycle, and their place in Maine’s cold-water food web, contrasting them with the more familiar moon jellyfish of Penobscot Bay. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 3/8/26: What Dreams May Come

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 11:30:03 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 3/7/26

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:30:04 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: BHPL.net reversingfalls.org deerislelibrary.org penobscotmarinemuseum.org artwavesmdi.org bagaducemusic.org mainewriters.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 3/7/26: The Story of March

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 13:30:18 +0000

Producer/Host: Anu Dudley About the host: Rev. Dr. Anu Dudley is an ordained Pagan minister and a retired history professor. She continues to teach classes, including the three-year ordination curriculum at the Temple of the Feminine Divine, and others such as History of the Goddess, Paganism 101, Ethical Magic, and Introduction to the Runes. Currently she is writing a book about how to cast the runes using their original Goddess meanings. She lives in the woods off-grid in a small homesteading community in Central Maine.

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The Cosmic Curator 3/7/26

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 12:30:35 +0000

About the Host: Tom Yaroschuk is a Vedic Astrologer. His intention is to help people understand their karma and the issues they may confront to cultivate more fulfilling lives. Tom is writing a memoir of the spiritual lessons derived from his work in a Homeless Day Center in between a career as an award winning television and documentary producer.

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Conversations from the Pointed Firs 3/6/26: Dan Bartlett

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 21:00:43 +0000

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Around Town 3/6/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 13:00:05 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine AFL-CIO rally at the Statehouse for affordable childcare Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 will air Monday morning, 3/9/26 at 8am) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 3/5/26

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 21:00:54 +0000

Host: Erin Rhoda, Interim Deputy Editor at The Maine Monitor. The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: This episode covers how tariffs have affected Maine’s loggers and sawmills, the debate over whether federal immigration agents can wear masks or otherwise conceal their identities and how that compares to rules for local police, and more. Guests: Sean Scott, religion, society and politics reporter for The Maine Monitor and Report for America corps member. Emmett Gartner, environmental reporter for The Maine Monitor. FMI: themainemonitor.org/loggers-tariff-impact/ themainemonitor.org/sawmill-tariffs-boom-or-dust/ themainemonitor.org/forest-pests-diseases-outlook/ themainemonitor.org/immigration-agents-identification-concerns/ themainemonitor.org/faith-leaders-discuss-helping-mainers/

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Around Town 3/5/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 13:00:14 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine CD1 Congresswoman Chellie Pingree speaking to the House Agriculture Committee Tuesday as they debated “The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026” About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Healthy Options 3/4/26: Hospice Volunteers of Waldo County

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 21:00:24 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: Hospice Volunteers of Waldo County is community-based, with neighbors helping neighbors. They work closely with volunteers, families, and healthcare partners in their mission to help ensure that no one in Waldo County is alone when facing serious illness, end-of-life decisions, or bereavement. Their services include educational resources on grief, death, and dying; support for caregivers working with those at the end of life; workshops on end-of-life issues and advance care planning, and also, grief support services to anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one, whether or not that person has received hospice care. Guest(s): Flic Shooter, the Executive Director of Hospice Volunteers of Waldo County. FMI: Hospice Volunteers of Waldo County: hospicevolunteersofwaldocounty.org Hospice Volunteers of Waldo County Resources: hospicevolunteersofwaldocounty.org/resources The Conversation Project: theconversationproject.org About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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World Ocean Radio 3/4/26: Ocean, Water and War

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 13:30:31 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE We are at war. There can be nothing good about it. Climate crisis, drought, sources of fresh water at risk, population growth, nuclear weapon development, our preoccupation with oil, the passage of the Strait of Hormuz threatened with closure and interrupting supply chains, maritime insurance cancelling coverage in war zones. Water and oil are functions of the climate-ocean connection. Thru our indifference to them we are acting against the best interest of all mankind. What is happening? WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 3/4/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 13:00:12 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Healthy Peninsula fundraiser for their health programs, featuring the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers “The Legend of the Banana Kid” at the Blue Hill Town Hall Theater for two shows on March 7, 2026 (10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.) The Singing Journalist (Andrew Revkin) event we covered last week is happening tomorrow (Thursday) evening, 6:30-7:30pm, at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor. The public is invited to attend the Second Annual Community Ramadan Iftar and Dinner on Friday evening in Bangor. Guests will gather to break the fast at sunset (5:30 PM) and share in an evening of reflection, fellowship, and connection. Ramadan is a sacred month observed by Muslims worldwide, centered on fasting, prayer, gratitude, and compassion. The Second Annual Community Ramadan Iftar and Dinner is happening on Friday, March 6, from 5:00–9:00 PM at the Cross Insurance Center. Admission is free, but registration is required. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 3/3/26: “Narcissism”

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:30:15 +0000

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Around Town 3/3/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:00:22 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Indivisible Bangor Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century, March 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th at 7 p.m. at the Thomas S. Gates, Jr. Community Center, 105 Eden Street, Bar Harbor Tickets are free but you must register in advance at this link The University of New England Online (UNE Online) College of Professional Studies is offering new, 100% online certificate programs for those interested in careers in the cannabis industry. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 3/3/26: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 3/2/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:00:09 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Jud Esty-Kendall from the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine is here with an invitation to join the P&J center and a coalition of social justice groups for “Singing In Solidarity”, Saturday, 3/7/26, 3pm-5(ish) at Saint John’s Episcopal Church on French Street in Bangor About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 3/2/26: Martius, Year of the Horse, Keats, Yeats, & Full Blood Moon Eclipse . . .

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 12:30:43 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 3/1/26: Molluscan Mystery in Acadia, Part 2

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:30:11 +0000

Host: Celeste Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser In Part 2, Jovan Grollino recounts the careful observation, rearing, and documentation of the mystery aeolid nudibranch, from egg-laying to larval development. The episode traces how these findings helped rule out known species and culminated in the specimen being sent for DNA analysis, with the possibility of a species new to science. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 3/1/26: Halos

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 12:30:53 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/28/26

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 14:30:27 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: bhpl.net en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edward_Crockett wendellgilleymuseum.org/events ellsworthlibrary.net TheMusicHall.org mainewriters.org/crimeflash About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 2/28/26: The Chickadee

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 13:30:52 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 2/28/26

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:30:38 +0000

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Power for the People 2/27/26: 2026 Maine Legislative Session Energy Bills

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:30:35 +0000

Producer/Host: Steve Kahl Power for the People: Energy education and solutions for Mainers and Maine communities This month: Energy and climate related bills under consideration until April 2026. Guest/s: Jack Shapiro, Climate and Clean Energy Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine FMI: www.nrcm.org About the host: Steve Kahl developed and has hosted Power for the People since 2015. He retired after 9 years as Professor of Environmental Science at Thomas College in 2024, where he taught environmental and energy courses and advised the student sustainability club. He is a member of the Friends of Quarry Road Trails board of directors in Waterville where he is the main advocate for a net-zero energy welcome center. Steve advised the board of WERU-FM on making the station studios 100% solar powered and worked with Sundog Solar in Searsport to make it happen back in 2020. Steve is a career lake researcher in addition to roles in energy and sustainability, and was a founding member of the Lake Stewards of Maine in the 1990s and is currently back on their board. He is past board President of Maine Lakes, the NH Lake Association, and the Lake Winnipesaukee Association. Prior to moving home to Maine in 2004, he was a member of the Energy Commission in Plymouth NH where he obtained Dept of Energy funding for the renovation of a town office building to net-zero energy as well as the installation of 160 KW of solar PV panels on town properties, including a major PV array at the sewage treatment plant that offsets 40% of its electrical costs. Steve’s past positions include Sustainability Director at Unity College where he developed a plan for the college to become 100% solar powered and earned the college the prestigious STARS Gold sustainability ranking with the American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education. Before that, he was Director of Environmental and Energy Strategies for the James Sewall Company of Old Town where he led a Maine Technology Institute research project that found that the Maine electric grid could be 100% solar powered if all suitably-oriented rooftops had solar PV panels. His lake research was done while serving as founding director of the Senator George Mitchell Center for Environmental Research at the University of Maine. His own 1940s-era home is 100% electric, where he has installed two air-source heat pumps to eliminate heating oil, a hybrid hot water heater to reduce his water heating costs by 70%, and insulated the basement and attic to reduce the ‘stack effect’ of cold air coming in the basement and forcing heat out of the attic. He has solar panels on his summer place at the lake and hasn’t paid for any electricity there since 2011. In 2025, he added 6 KW of solar PV on his main home, with the goal to be net zero energy on an annual basis. Steve has a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of Maine.

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Coastal Conversations 2/27/26: Innovations In Materials

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:00:18 +0000

Host: Galen Koch Editorial Help: Natalie Springuel Theme Music: Paul Anderson – A Following Sea Most of the music in the episode is by cue-shop.com. Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. Abbey Barrows and Ben Jackson, owner and operators of Deer Isle Oyster Company bought their farm that came with an array of equipment all made out of plastic. Abby, being a marine researcher that focuses on mitigating microplastics in our coastal ecosystems, knew there had to be a different way of farming oysters while reducing their plastic footprint. With collaboration from other people with similar interests and passions, listen in to hear about how they are fabricating their own path to a plastic-free business. Guest/s: Abbey Barrows – Owner and operator of Deer Isle Oyster Company. Ben Jackson – Employee at Deer Isle Oyster Company. Katie Weiler – Founder and President of Viable Gear. FMI: Deer Isle Oyster Company – www.deerisleoysterco.com/ Viable Gear – viablegear.com/ Shaw Institute, Blue Hill – shawinstitute.org About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 2/27/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:00:36 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne LD 1822, An Act to Enact the Maine Online Data Privacy Act Find Your State Senator (includes contact info) OUT Maine is hosting the 3rd annual Rainbow Gala & Dance Party tonight in Rockland On Saturday, the Stonington Opera House invites you to travel back to a galaxy far, far, away with their free screening of The Empire Strikes Back. Belfast’s Annual Ice Festival is also happening this weekend On Sunday, Great Pond Conservation Trust will hold their monthly meet up at the Joost Family Preserve on Verona Island, for snowshoeing along the shores of the Penobscot. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 2/26/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 13:00:06 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Following up on yesterday’s report, today organizers of The Consequence of Palestine- (Maine Coalition for Palestine, www.mvprights.org/ -weigh in on the controversy in a press release. Resources included with the press release: “[E]stablished case law pertaining to nearly identical conferences and academic events” provided by organizers “Trump Administration Concedes U.S. Researchers may Talk with Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on Palestine, Despite Sanctions” – “The First Amendment generally forecloses the government from using its sanctions authority to suppress the exchange of ideas—and it certainly prohibits the government from preventing scholars from engaging with one of the foremost experts in their field,” says Xiangnong (George) Wang, staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute. “The Treasury Department’s concession is a significant reprieve to the many American scholars, journalists, and advocates that have been chilled from exercising their rights because they fear liability under U.S. sanctions laws.” “OFAC SIGNALS POLICY CHANGE ON HOLDING CONFERENCES WITH SANCTIONED SPEAKERS” – “Marking what appears to be a reversal of previous policy, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) determined that US persons can, subject to certain limitations, include sanctioned persons as speakers at overseas conferences without specific authorization.” “The authority granted to the president of the United States under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the regulation or prohibition of most types of communication that do not involve the transfer of anything of value (50 USC § 1702(b)(1)). The Berman Amendment, added to IEEPA in 1988, stipulates that the president cannot regulate or ban the import or export of “informational materials” to or from adversarial nations or individuals.” “By reversing its stance in the GPE case, and by issuing the letter as part of the public record in the court proceedings, OFAC appears content to publicly clarify and refine its position on this issue: allowing sanctioned individuals to speak at events organized by US citizens is not a service so long as no financial transactions or other exchanges of benefits take place” Letter to Middle East Studies Association from OFAC Media Advisory – The Consequence of Palestine, February 16 Support for Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories: 30 Jewish Organizations: We Support UN Human Rights Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, Independent Jewish Voices, Canada, November 5, 2024 “Jewish Voice for Peace strongly condemns the Trump administration’s announcement of sanctions against UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese. This is a blatantly political attack that seeks to silence Palestinian rights advocates and undermine international law”, social media post “Impunity will end: Francesca Albanese keeps hopeful”, Jewish Voice for Liberation, Wed 28 Jan 2026 Links from Part 1 (aired 2/25/26): “The Consequence of Palestine” Conference Coming to USM, Munjoy Hill News, Portland, 18 February 2026 (NOTE: CANCELLED) Press Statement, US Imposing Sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, 9 July 2025 Report: “Gaza Genocide: a collective crime” by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, United Nations Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Global: European states must retract outrageous attacks on UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, Amnesty International, 13 Feb 2026 They tried to silence her – they failed, Jewish Voice for Liberation, 23 Feb 2025 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 2/25/26: The Energy Grid

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 13:30:51 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE How do we generate the energy we need to meet the demands of consumption for the future? Any plans to meet future climate challenges and technological advancement will require not only sustainable sources of energy, but must also include the grid: our national transmission system that delivers energy to homes, businesses, data centers, and manufacturing. This week we’re discussing the energy transmission network in the USA, including policy decisions, environmental impacts, land ownership, mineral demand, and the realities of an already overwhelmed grid. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 2/25/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 13:00:36 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne “The Consequence of Palestine” Conference Coming to USM, Munjoy Hill News, Portland, 18 February 2026 (NOTE: CANCELLED) Press Statement, US Imposing Sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied since 1967, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, 9 July 2025 Report: “Gaza Genocide: a collective crime” by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, United Nations Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Global: European states must retract outrageous attacks on UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, Amnesty International, 13 Feb 2026 They tried to silence her – they failed, Jewish Voice for Liberation, 23 Feb 2025 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 2/24/26: “Upbeat”

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 13:30:09 +0000

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Around Town 2/24/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 13:00:55 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Singing Journalist, Andy Revkin, joins us today with an invitation to his upcoming talk at the Jesup Memorial Library, Thursday 3/5 at 6:30pm “In this evening of storytelling and songs, longtime journalist, author, educator and performing songwriter Andy Revkin will explore the evolution of his dual-path journey aimed at connecting the public with ideas, issues and solutions using any means possible. For decades, Andy Revkin has split his time between prize-winning environmental journalism, mostly for The New York Times, and songwriting, including music featured on NPR and an inaugural album described by the Jambands music magazine as a “tasty mix of roots goulash.” His reporting has taken him from the burning Amazon rain forest to the melting North Pole sea ice. As a musician, Andy was a frequent accompanist of folk legend Pete Seeger at Hudson Valley events and has quickly built a presence in the Downeast Maine folk scene since moving here in 2022.” (Source: Event announcement from the Jesup) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 2/23/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 13:00:57 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine CD 1 Congresswoman Chellie Pingree will boycott Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday and instead participate in a “People’s State of the Union” rally. She joins a growing group which- as of Friday afternoon- included 20 Democrats representing 17 states. The boycott and an alternative “People’s State of the Union” rally are being organized by a coalition including MoveOn. The “People’s State of the Union” Rally will be held on the National Mall in DC and livestreamed at MeidasTouch YouTube and MoveOn.org/Live, Tuesday (tomorrow) night starting at 8:30pm The lottery for a spot at Maine’s Camp North Woods (closes March 1st) Union River Center for Innovation highlights small, Ellsworth-area businesses on National Be Heard Day, March 4th. If you would like your business to be featured, the submission form must be completed by February 28th. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 2/23/26: Of Milano-Cortina, Grenoble, Fleming, Killy, & Sandburg . . .

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:30:35 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 2/22/26: Molluscan Mystery in Acadia, Part 1

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 14:30:53 +0000

Host: Celeste Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Part 1 of an essay by Jovan Grollino introduces listeners to the surprising diversity of nudibranchs and sea slugs in Acadia’s tide pools and the obsessive pull of studying these intricate marine mollusks. The episode follows the discovery of an unfamiliar aeolid nudibranch on Mount Desert Island and the early clues suggesting it may be something new. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 2/22/26: About Time

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 12:30:59 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/21/26

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 14:30:19 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: friendml.org anodynebookshop.com schoodicartsforall.org wendellgilleymuseum.org jesuplibrary.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 2/21/26: The Element of Ice

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 13:30:59 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 2/21/26

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:30:54 +0000

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Democracy Forum 2/20/26: Constitutional Crisis: What Does Civic Courage Look Like?

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 21:00:09 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: We’ll talk about how civic courage and neighborliness create solidarity under stress. How are communities under pressure holding it together? — in Minneapolis, in Maine, and in other communities around the country. What do we have in common with pro-democracy resistance movements around the world? Guest/s: Oliver Kaplan, Associate Professor, Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs, University of Denver, Visiting Scholar, Stanford University, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. Amy DeBeck, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Church of Castine. Julia Edwards, SoPo Helps Mutual Aid Network. To learn more about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 2/20/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 13:00:11 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne LD 395, An Act to Restore Access to Federal Laws Beneficial to the Wabanaki Nation LD 785, An Act to Enact the Remaining Recommendations of the Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) update Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center’s 2026 Youth Mental Health Summit About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Creative Maine 2/19/26: Maine Theater Initiatives

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 21:00:56 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. This episode covers some innovative theater happening in Maine, including presenting and teaching Financial Literacy through the circus; Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas, updated; and a new youth theater program Downeast at the Milbridge Theatre and Community Arts Center. Guest/s: Lisa Leaverton, Chief Collaborator, Circus of Finance – inquirewithinproductions@gmail.com Deirdre McArdle and Deiran Manning – winterharbormusicfestival.org gilbertsullivanmaine.org Kimberly Laine, Executive Director, Milbridge Theatre and Community Arts Center – milbridgetheatre.org kimberly@milbridgetheatre.org About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach in the JMG program. She performs with the Bangor Band, where she has been a Board Member at Large for four years, and is a member of a trombone quartet based at The University of Maine, The Bear Bones.

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Climate & Community 2/19/26: Coastal and Marine Resilience in Maine with Dr. Hillary Smith (Part 2)

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:30:08 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims This week: This week Climate and Community continues last week’s conversation with Dr. Hillary Smith, an interdisciplinary social scientist and professor at the University of Maine and the College of the Atlantic. In this segment, we learn more about the intended impact of the Dr. Smith’s research on incorporating green crabs into Maine’s seafood economy and how women involved in working waterfront industries are adapting to climate change. Listen to hear Hillary’s advice on how you can support local coastal climate resilience throughout the state! About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 2/19/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:00:46 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Brook Minner and Emily Burnham from the Maine Women’s Lobby stop by to invite listeners to the 2026 Hot Ticket Hootenanny: A Very Feminist Variety Show, Thursday, February 26, 2026. 7-9 PM, Next Generation Theatre, Brewer Tickets are available on their website and at the door About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 2/18/26: The Wrong Side of History

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:30:28 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE A recent report by InfluenceMap, a UK-based think tank that tracks pertinent climate trends, declared that 32 companies emit more than half of the world‘s CO2 emissions. Negative consequences of changing climate are measured by air quality, extreme weather, pandemic, ocean acidification, freshwater pollution, financial inequity, social unrest, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of very few to the detriment the millions of us otherwise. We can sustain the ocean, or we can corrupt it. Who will be on the wrong side of history? WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 2/18/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne In Augusta today, the legislature’s Committee On Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services will be taking comments from the public on a slew of bills related to healthcare in Maine, including: LD 2189, which, if passed, would “require a hospital to provide at least 120 days’ notice prior to the termination of maternity or newborn care services or of a change in the level of care a hospital provides for maternity and newborn care services”, and LD 2197 which would prohibit the licensure of any health care entity that “enter(s) into any arrangement with a real estate investment trust for the sale and leaseback of the health care entity’s main campus or primary location to the real estate investment trust” 5 Consequences of Private Equity’s Expansion in Health Care Services, Brian Keyser, Alexandra Thornton, Claire Koyle, Oct 30, 2025, Center for American Progress And a story from the Maine headlines, 100 years ago today… About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 2/17/26: “More Reasons to Be Cheerful”

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 13:30:50 +0000

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Around Town 2/17/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 13:00:13 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne John Jurcheck of the Counter Current Collective is here with a suggestion for your weekend plans (yes, we’re already thinking about the weekend). THey’ll be presenting Tögal – A world premiere original work- on Friday and Saturday (2/20 and 2/21) at 7pm at the UU Church in Belfast. Click here for more info and tickets About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 2/16/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 13:00:02 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Presidents’ Day 2026 reading from the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 2/16/26: Lulu, Sledding, Han Kang, & Presidents’ Day . . .

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 12:30:21 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 2/15/26: Observations at a Dug Pond

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 14:30:06 +0000

Host: Celeste Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser In this episode, Celeste reads an essay by Janet Galle reflecting on decades of close observation at a small dug pond, from frogs and aquatic insects to the arrival of leeches. Through a memorable encounter with a determined leech, the piece explores resilience, instinct, and the shifting balance of a backyard food web. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 2/15/26: The New Physics

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 12:30:29 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/14/26

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 14:30:44 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: bookstacksme.com ebbandflowfiberarts.com ellsworthlibrary.net tenbuckstheatre.org bhpl.net penobscottheatre.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 2/14/26: Valentine’s Day

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 13:30:04 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 2/14/26

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:30:14 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 2/14/26 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 2/13/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 13:00:27 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne World Radio Day 2026 The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) has announced two funding opportunities now open to Maine farmers to support investments in soil health and specialty crop production: Soil Health Implementation Grants and Maine Specialty Crop Minor Equipment Grants Valentine’s Day author talk at the Ellsworth Public Library, “Recipes for a Healthy Heart” with Jane Crosen. “Local author Jane Crosen will share poems, excerpts, and recipes from her new cookbook, Culinary Landscapes: A World of Delicious Discoveries in a Maine Mapmaker’s Kitchen” Saturday, February 14th at 2 PM at the Ellsworth Public Library About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Common Ground Radio 2/12/26: Honoring Black History Month

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 21:00:48 +0000

Host: Holli Cederholm Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: On this episode of Common Ground Radio, we’re celebrating Black History Month and revisiting a conversation from 2023 discussing “Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists,” a book of essays and interviews by Leah Penniman that explores Black people’s spiritual and scientific connection to the land, waters, and climate. Guest/s: – Leah Penniman, farmer and author of Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists and Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land. – Rue Mapp, founder of Outdoor Afro and author of Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors. FMI- • “Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists” by Leah Penniman — blackearthwisdom.org • “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land” by Leah Penniman — www.farmingwhileblack.org • “Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors” by Rue Mapp — www.chroniclebooks.com/products/nature-swagger • Outdoor Afro — outdoorafro.org • Soul Fire Farm — www.soulfirefarm.org About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Climate & Community 2/12/26: Coastal and Marine Resilience in Maine with Dr. Hillary Smith (Part 1)

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:30:48 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims This week: Climate and Community speaks with Dr. Hillary Smith, an interdisciplinary social scientist and professor at the University of Maine and the College of the Atlantic. In this segment we learn about Dr. Smith’s research questions related to coastal resilience in the face of climate change. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 2/12/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:00:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Voter information update cards from the Secretary of State’s office Rockland’s Emergency Warming Center at the Flanagan Community Center, 61 Limerock Street, will be open tonight and Friday and Saturday nights, from 7pm to 7am FMI or to request transportation, call or text Jessica (207) 230-4258 The next national No Kings protest is on March 28th For more information, updates or to sign up to be involved: Indivisible Bangor and No Kings Maine DOT is holding a public hearing tonight in Orland about plans to address the dangerous intersection at Rt 1 and Schoolhouse Road near the H.O.M.E. Coop, at 6pm at the Community Center gymnasium FMI: Town of Orland (207) 469-3186 or email Selectboard at selectmen@townoforland.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 2/11/26: Town Meetings in Maine: A primer on local democracy

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 21:00:42 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves College of the Atlantic provides help with production. Engineering by Joel Mann of WERU Community Radio. Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: What is a town meeting in Maine? What decisions are made at town meetings? Who moderates town meetings and how are they elected? What is the town meeting warrant and how is the warrant created? Guest/s: Merton Brown, Kennebunk Town Clerk Harvey Kelley, former Town Meeting Moderator Ethan Andrews, Bangor Daily News FMI: www.memun.org/Media-Publications/Town-Meeting- About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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World Ocean Radio 2/11/26: The Collapse of US Ocean Policy

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 13:30:19 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Over the past several years, US national investment in challenges of climate change and ocean policy has collapsed. This week on World Ocean Radio we lay out an incomplete and ever-growing list of unilateral actions taken to disengage from relationships, leases, treaties, and to turn away from alternative conservation-based invention. What can one person do? Tune in this week to learn more. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 2/11/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 13:00:26 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne ACLU of Maine‘s Guide to Legislative Advocacy, online, 6-7pm tomorrow/Thursday. Register here At 7pm tomorrow/Thursday evening: Indivisible joins partner organizations in hosting (online) “Resist and Reimagine: Lessons from MN on Fighting Authoritarianism” Register here Saturday February 21st, Bangor Pride will host its Inaugural Queer Prom: Enchanted Forest, a 21+ celebration of queer joy, creativity, and community connection. Tickets About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 2/10/26: “Siege Mentality”

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 13:30:57 +0000

The post Outside the Box 2/10/26: “Siege Mentality” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 2/10/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 13:00:25 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine CDC Confirms Case of Measles in Maine LD 2071, An Act to Expand Access to Vaccines Approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration by Allowing Pharmacists to Prescribe, Dispense and Administer Vaccines and Require Insurance Coverage LD 2146 An Act to Increase Access to Critical Vaccinations Maine State Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee On Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 2/9/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Lynn Boulger, Vice President of Advancement at College of the Atlantic, with details on their annual 24 hour fund-raising challenge which starts tonight at midnight About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 2/9/26: Woodson, Millay, Lawless, & the Moon at Apogee . . .

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 12:30:31 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 2/9/26: Woodson, Millay, Lawless, & the Moon at Apogee . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 2/8/26: Cold Currents and the Downeast Coast

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 14:30:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Recorded while sailing east along the Maine coast in the summer of 2025, this episode explores how cold ocean currents shape the ecology of Downeast Maine. Glen explains how the Labrador Current, Bay of Fundy tidal mixing, and underwater topography deliver cold water to eastern Maine, supporting Arctic plant communities on coastal and offshore islands and highlighting why baseline ecological data are essential as the Gulf of Maine warms. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 2/8/26: Mysterious Tech

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 12:30:18 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/7/26

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 14:30:33 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: wendellgilleymuseum.org bhpl.net sargentvillelibrary.org reversingfalls.org cynthiawiningsgallery.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 2/7/26: Porcupine, Wise Woman of the Woods

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 13:30:09 +0000

The post Earthwise 2/7/26: Porcupine, Wise Woman of the Woods first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 2/7/26

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 12:30:23 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 2/7/26 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Conversations from the Pointed Firs 2/6/26: Earle Shettleworth

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 21:00:09 +0000

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Around Town 2/6/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 13:00:08 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Cathy Rees, Executive Director and Co-founder of Native Gardens of Blue Hill stops by to talk about Native Gardens of Blue Hill’s 2026 Workforce Training in Landscape & Garden Management – which is now accepting applicants. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 2/5/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 13:00:28 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Public hearings and work sessions today in the state legislature’s joint standing committees February 7th is “Take Your Child to the Library” Day Ellsworth Public Library is participating with activities for kids in grades 2-4 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Healthy Options 2/4/26: How We Can Stay Calm & Resilient Through Stressful Times

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 21:00:51 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: What is trauma resiliency and how do our nervous systems respond to trauma & stress? How the nervous system responds to accumulated trauma. How generosity & gratitude can enhance resiliency. What role tears and/or laughter may play when we experience distress or trauma. The iChill App & how it can help calm us during periods of stress. Guest(s): Elaine Miller-Karas, co-founder- and former Executive Director- of the Trauma Resource Institute, a notable nonprofit dedicated to promoting resilience and trauma-informed care. Under her guidance, the Trauma Resource Institute has pioneered groundbreaking initiatives, such as the Community Resiliency Model and the Trauma Resiliency Model, both of which have become widely acknowledged interventions for addressing- and preventing- traumatic stress. She has led projects to help communities recover after earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, and mass shootings. Elaine Miller-Karas shares her experience & insights in her writings on trauma-related subjects, as a regular contributor to Psychology Today, and as the host of the weekly podcast, “Resiliency Within”, which is heard on VoiceAmerica. She is the author of “Building Resilience to Trauma: the Trauma and Community Resiliency Models”, a work commended by the United Nations for its alignment with the U.N.’s sustainable development goals. She has shared her expertise and has given presentations at numerous prestigious institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control, the United Nations, the Global Fund, Catalyst 2030, and the Skoll World Forum. FMI: Trauma Resiliency Institute: www.traumaresourceinstitute.com iChill is a free app from the App store, or try it online HERE: www.traumaresourceinstitute.com/ichill Psychology Today- Article by Elaine Miller-Karas: How to Cultivate Inner Harmony in Stressful Times: www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/building-resiliency-to-trauma/202601/how-to-cultivate-inner-harmony-in-stressful-times Elaine Miller Karas podcasts on VoiceAmerica: www.voiceamericamedia.com/show/resiliency-within/ April 2025 HEALTHY OPTIONS interview on the Trauma Resource Institute (with links to previous HEALTHY OPTIONS programs on the work of the Trauma Resource Institute): Healthy Options 4/2/25: Building Resiliency to Trauma: archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2025/04/healthy-options-4-2-25-building-resiliency-to-trauma/ About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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World Ocean Radio 2/4/26: Sewersheds and Septic Systems

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 13:30:10 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Water is part of an integrated system worldwide. What happens downstream? Consider waste water–from home and from manufacturing–that is corrupted by use, disposed of, treated (or not), and returned to the water system. Where wastewater has historically been planned as an afterthought, we must now consider its downstream effects and the long term implications of the water supply for human health and survival. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 2/4/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 13:00:29 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne This weekend the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport is offering workshops on Sailor’s Valentines and Sardine Snacks. Space is limited and registration is required. FMI: Penobscot Marine Museum Free tax support is once again available at the Ellsworth Public Library (EPL) from February 3 through April 14, 2026. AARP Tax-Aide will be offered in the library’s Riverview Room every Tuesday from 9 AM–5 PM. Registration is required and now open. An EPL library card is not required to use this service. Click here for more information and registration or call 207-667-6363 The Wilson Museum in Castine is offering an Arts & Adventure camp for kids in grades K to 4 during February vacation week. Georgia Zildjian and Haley Blake will lead the campers as they celebrate the wonders of nature through outdoor exploration and artistic expression from 9 til noon from Tuesday, February 17 to Friday, February 20. Kids are not required to attend all 4 days. There is a fee to cover materials and resources, and needs-based scholarships are available upon request. Space is limited. For more information and to reserve a spot, email Georgia at education@wilsonmuseum.org with the names and ages of your explorers. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Dawnland Signals Returns! 2/3/26

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 21:00:45 +0000

Hosts: Nolan Altvater and Nick Bear Zoom Recording Technician: Scarlett Tudor Producer: Esther Anne Original music by Nick Bear Join co-hosts Nolan Altvater and Nick Bear as they engage in conversations of truth, healing, and change in the Dawnland with special guests. Dawnland Signals highlights indigenous topics not immediately represented in mainstream media and is meant to share, inspire, and inform. This month: – Lynn Mitchell and Stephanie Bailey journeys into cultural teachings with youth. – Youth access to cultural teachings, the land, and elders. – Youth enriching community through cultural responsibilities. Guests: Lynn Mitchell. Stephanie Bailey. Links: Wabanaki REACH: www.wabanakireach.org/ Dawnland Signals: www.wabanakireach.org/dawnland_signals

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Outside the Box 2/3/26: “Immigration”

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 13:30:30 +0000

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Around Town 2/3/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 13:00:49 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Updates on the situation with ICE in Maine from the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project and a summary of headlines on stories about the situation by news outlets across the state, aggregated by the Maine Monitor and available on their website along with their reporting. Be sure to catch The Maine Monitor Radio Hour here on WERU on the 1st Thursday of every month at 4pm Reminder: Nick Bear and Nolan Altvater from Wabanaki REACH are the new hosts of Dawnland Signals, a monthly public affairs show that returns TODAY at 4pm and will continue on the 1st Tuesday of every month. Don’t miss it! Dawnland Signals Archives About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 2/2/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 13:00:41 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Meet Nick Bear and Nolan Altvater from Wabanaki REACH – the new hosts of Dawnland Signals, a monthly public affairs show that returns on Tuesday, February 2nd at 4pm and will continue on the 1st Tuesday of every month. Dawnland Signals Archives About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 2/2/26: Februum, Punxsutawney Phil, Anna Vischer, Eric Furry, Maggie Smith, & the Snow Moon . . .

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 12:30:20 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 2/1/26: Maine’s Marauders, Bandits, and Thieves

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 14:30:06 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser In this episode, Logan introduces listeners to the robber flies—voracious predatory insects with names like “marauder,” “bandit,” and “thief”—and describes their surprising diversity in Maine, from garden-perching hammertails to the formidable marauders of the pine barrens. He also highlights their ecological value, noting how these agile hunters help keep insect populations in balance despite their fearsome reputation. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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The Cosmic Curator 2/1/26

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 12:30:36 +0000

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Esoterica 2/1/26: Advice

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 12:30:14 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 1/31/26

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 14:30:21 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: facebook.com/audrey.gidman friendml.org mainewriters.org belfastpoetryfestival.com wordfestival.org uubrunswick.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 1/31/26: The Element of Snow

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:30:59 +0000

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RadioActive 1/30/26: ICE in Maine: Organizing and Rally in Lewiston; LD 2106 to Protect

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:00:13 +0000

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco A grassroots environmental and social justice news journal, collaboration of WERU and Sunlight Media Collective. Learn more at sunlightmediacollective.org. Today we speak with Somali American community organizer Safiya Khalid with Community Organizing Alliance in Lewiston on the ICE surge and the community’s reaction. We hear some of the speeches by Somali American community leaders at a rally against ICE in Lewiston January 24th. And we hear some of the public testimony before the judiciary committee on LD 2106, a bill that would prohibit immigration agents from entering healthcare facilities, schools, libraries and daycare facilities or accessing records from those institutions without a judicial warrant – a protection that had been in place nationally prior to the Trump administration’s rollback last January. Guests: Safiya Khalid, founder and director of Community Organizing Alliance in Lewiston. Speakers at January 24th Rally in Lewiston: Amran Osman, founder and director of Generational Noor. Shukri Abdirahman, Androscoggin County Commissioner. Ifraax Saciid-Ciise, founder and director of IFKA Community Services. Testimony given on LD 2016, including: Sponsor Rep. Ellie Sato, Gorham. Ashley Ward, Maine Nurses Association. Alysia Melnick (Attorney with Bernstien Shur) reading for the Maine Nurse Practitioners Association. Taylor Trease, RN Augusta. Jane Makela, Unitarian Universalist, Falmouth. Susan Kiralis, Vassleboro. FMI: www.communityorganizingalliance.org www.Ilapmaine.org www.maineimmigrantrights.org/mirc-resource-hub/ www.aclumaine.org www.Presentemaine.org www.ifkacommunity.org www.generationalnoor.com To contribute to the Maine Solidarity Fund offering financial aid for legal and family support: www.mainesolidarity.org Ilap and Maine ACLU now have a form to apply for detention attorneys: www.ilapmaine.org/detention

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Around Town 1/30/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:00:58 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Pete Nichols, Executive Director of Penobscot Bay Waterkeeper, with an update on the Little River site (on the Belfast/Northport line) that was saved from industrialization- and an invitation to come hike or ski there. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 1/29/26: Mica Gonzalez

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 22:00:03 +0000

Host/s: Emily Goulette Editor: Sarah Johnson Music: Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Emily’s interview with second year law student Mica Gonzalez about inequity and inaccessibility in our criminal legal system and the path forward. FMI: ruffnerlaw.com/ About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Around Town 1/29/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 13:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The No Kings! Coalition has announced March 28th as the next national day of action. Nurses United Against Violence invites the public to join them Friday evening for a candlelight vigil for Alex Pretti at 5pm in front of the Federal Building on Harlow Street in Bangor From from Indivisible Bangor: 3 short whistle blasts means ICE is nearby and one long blast means they are detaining someone. They say “Stay non-violent, but don’t stay silent” Maine Immigrant Rights Hotline 207-544-9989 Maine Immigrant Rights Resource Hub Immigration Legal Advocacy Project Maine update on ICE in Maine About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 1/28/26: Morocco Water Shadow

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:30:55 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week we’re wrapping up a four-part series dedicated to Morocco and its relationships to ocean and fresh water. Morocco is one of the only nations in the world to have a National Water Policy. Our big challenge today is to raise water consciousness to the level required to sustain water globally. This series is designed to get us to look at our own water habits, to examine our individual water footprints, our water shadows, and to consider the little and big things that we can do and change to bring each of us into relationship with water. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 1/28/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:00:10 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Immigration Legal Advocacy Project Maine update on ICE in Maine The Digital Security Discussion Group at the Witherle Memorial Library in Castine meets from 5 to 6 pm today and all are welcome. To register ffor the zoom link contact kathryn@witherlelibrary.net On Saturday, Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust, Native Gardens of Blue Hill and 5 Star Orchard will present a screening of “The Buzz on Native Plants”, followed by a discussion and seed sowing – at the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport at 1pm Tickets and more information Maine Immigrant Rights Hotline 207-544-9989 Maine Immigrant Rights Resource Hub About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Wabanaki Windows 1/27/26: Wabanaki Alliance

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 21:00:45 +0000

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Outside the Box 1/27/26: “History of Ending Poverty”

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:30:49 +0000

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Around Town 1/27/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:00:56 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey has announced that his office now has an email address dedicated specifically to reports of federal government actions in Maine, along with the following statement: AUGUSTA – “Across our nation, we are seeing numerous reports of apparent civil rights violations and improper use of force by federal agents who have been sent into areas targeted for immigration enforcement by the federal government. With the federal government now surging federal agents into Maine under the banner of immigration enforcement, evidence of constitutionally-deficient, excessive, and intimidating enforcement tactics is quickly emerging in our own state. In order to better assess the impacts of these questionable immigration enforcement activities on Mainers, as well as evaluate what action this office may take in response, the Office of the Maine Attorney General has established a dedicated email address for Mainers to share such information with the office for potential investigation. The email address will be monitored for documentation of potential violations of the Maine and federal Constitutions, as well as Maine laws such as the Maine Civil Rights Act. We invite the public to submit any descriptions of observed intimidating or excessive behavior used by federal agents. Information that would be helpful to provide includes: date, location of incident, names of any individuals involved as actors or witnesses, if known, and contact information. We will not be accepting photographs and videos through this email address. However, please let us know if photographs or videos are available and provide contact information so the office can arrange to obtain copies if deemed necessary. Emailers should be advised that any content sent may be subject to public dissemination under Maine’s Freedom of Access Laws. Finally, please also be advised that this email address is not for seeking legal advice, legal representation, or for requesting feedback.” The email address is CitizenReporting.OAG@maine.gov Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows issued the following statement in response to US Attorney General Pam Bondi’s offer to withdraw federal immigration officials from Minnesota if the state gave in to demands including handing over their voter records to the federal government. Maine is one of the other states refusing to give the administration that information (see USA vs Shenna Bellows) “Attorney General Bondi’s letter to Minnesota made explicit what has long been clear: ICE is invading our states and inflicting violence in order to create chaos and control our states and elections. These sinister actions are Donald Trump’s attempt to assume absolute power. Let me say this clearly for President Trump: Maine will never turn over our voter rolls as a ransom payment to get ICE to end its unconstitutional assault on our state. Our founders designed a system where states and local governments, not the federal government, oversee elections to safeguard us from exactly this — a tyrannical, power-hungry president trampling on our constitutional rights. As Maine’s top election official, I stand with Minnesota Secretary of State Simon as we fight back against this dangerous assault together.” Maine Immigrant Rights Hotline 207-544-9989 Maine Immigrant Rights Resource Hub Immigration Legal Advocacy Project Maine Indivisible Bangor and others hold a weekly vigil every Tuesday at 11 in front of the federal building on Harlow St, near the Bangor Public Library. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 1/26/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 13:00:09 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Dr. Charles Rolsky from the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill is here with news of their upcoming events – including a Valentine’s Day event inspired by the success of last year’s event. Adults only. And seahorses! Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project – Maine “As Maine’s only state-wide immigration legal services organization, ILAP advances justice and equity for immigrants and their families through direct legal services, community education, and systemic advocacy” Statement from the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) on the First Few Days of ICE’s Operation in Maine Maine Immigrant Resource Hub & Hotline 207-544-9989 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 1/26/26: Huey Smith, Unpredictability, Susan Griffin, & Vesna Vulovi? . . .

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 12:30:19 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 1/25/26: Saw-whet Owls at Petit Manan Point, Part 2

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 14:30:25 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser In this episode, Tracy and Coco Faber explain why Petit Manan Point, despite its sparse vegetation, is an effective place to band migrating Northern Saw-whet Owls. They discuss how coastal landscapes funnel migrants, why most Saw-whets they capture are females, and how cone-mast cycles drive dramatic swings in owl numbers from year to year. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 1/25/26: StoBluften, Ice + Elves

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 12:30:46 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 1/24/26

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 14:30:48 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: aragostamaine.com shawinstitute.org wendellgilleymuseum.org swhplibrary.org sargentvillelibrary.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 1/24/26: The Story of January

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 13:30:59 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 1/24/26

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 12:30:23 +0000

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Coastal Conversations 1/23/26: Cranberry Isles Wintertime Working Waterfront

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 21:00:32 +0000

Host: Keegan Claunch, assistant producer Editorial Help: Natalie Springuel Music: Paul Anderson – A Following Sea Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. Working waterfront, in the winter, how it functions, its role to the island, coastal resiliency. Guest/s: Richard Howland – Lobsterman at Little Cranberry Lobster Coop. Amy Palmer – Little Cranberry Lobster Coop office manager. FMI: littlecranberrylobster.com/ About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 1/23/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 13:00:08 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Information from the ACLU of Maine Know Your Rights: Immigration Enforcement and Warrants Know Your Rights: Electronic Device Searches During Travel Know Your Rights: Protesting KYR: Filming and Photographing the Police Know Your Rights: Customs and Border Patrol and the 100-Mile Border Zone LD 1383, An Act to Require State Divestment from Perpetrators of International Human Rights Violation Committee On State and Local Government – contact info and schedule About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 1/22/26: Beneath the Surface with the Groundwater Institute

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 22:00:57 +0000

Host/s: Linda Small Editor: Sarah Johnson Music: Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. FMI: groundwaterinstitute.com/ About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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RadioActive 1/22/26: ICE in Maine: Know Your Rights, Resources and Stop ICE Terror Rally

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 21:00:51 +0000

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco A grassroots environmental and social justice news journal, collaboration of WERU and Sunlight Media Collective. Learn more at sunlightmediacollective.org. As immigrant rights and community action networks activate a response to the surge of ICE activity in Maine communities, we share reactions, information on peoples rights, resources and a Hotline to report and receive information on ICE activity. We also hear from some of the speakers at the Stop ICE Terror rally in Bangor on January 10th. Guests: Zachary Heidan, head legal counsel at ACLU of Maine. Mufalo Chitam, executive director of Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition. Lokotah Sanborn, community organizer. Speakers at January 10 Stop ICE Terror rally. FMI: Maine Immigrant Rights Hotline and Resource Hub: maineimmigrantrights.org/mirc-resource-hub/ MIRC ICE hotline : 207 544-9989 Maine ACLU resources, know your rights and how to report ICE conduct: www.aclumaine.org/preparingforice/ www.aclumaine.org/app/uploads/2026/01/Preparing-for-and-Responding-to-ICE-in-Maine-2.pdf forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=6XZWc5QkD0q_MUveoekZhjUggYzdj_xAi_tyvPFHO99UMlhUWlpBQThRQThPOVBDRU1YNFlTUExGTS4u&route=shorturl www.aclumaine.org/know-your-rights-training-ice-privacy-protests/

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Around Town 1/22/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 13:00:21 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Courtney and John from Counter Current Collective are here with details of their latest (roving!) production: A Number by Caryl Churchill About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 1/21/26: Morocco Water to Scale

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:30:57 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio: part three of a four-part series dedicated to Morocco and its relationships to ocean and fresh water. Morocco provides myriad examples of real success as an international exemplar of viable, enduring water management. How might the world emulate their progress and success? WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 1/21/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:00:55 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne LD 1383, An Act to Require State Divestment from Perpetrators of International Human Rights Violations Public hearing today at 11 (more info and live stream)- Joint Standing Committee on State and Local Government American Civil Liberties Union National Town Hall, today at 4pm Click here for more info and to register Indivisible Bangor Weekly vigils Tuesdays at the Federal Building in Bangor – 11:00 amNEW WEEKLY THURSDAY VIGIL! at the Federal Building in Bangor – 3:00 p.m. Bangor Visibility Brigade About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 1/20/26: “Poverty and Power”

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 13:30:44 +0000

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Around Town 1/20/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 13:00:05 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Faith Linking in Action Opera House Arts “Island Women Speak 2026” About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 1/19/26: A Heat Shield, Meghan O’Rourke, & MLKJr 2026 . . .

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 12:30:17 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 1/19/26: A Heat Shield, Meghan O’Rourke, & MLKJr 2026 . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 1/18/26: Saw-whet Owls at Petit Manan Point, Part 1

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:30:49 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode features sisters Tracy and Coco Faber, who spend their nights banding migrating Northern Saw-whet Owls at Petit Manan Point. They describe how mist nets and audio lures help capture these tiny, nocturnal migrants and how recent banding efforts have revealed the species to be far more abundant than once believed. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 1/18/26: UFO-UAP Update

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 12:30:26 +0000

Andree Bella | Reader/Writer

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 1/17/26

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 14:30:20 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: freeportfolio.org linktree.com/truenorththeatre schoodicartsforall.org BHPL.net operahousearts.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 1/17/26: Porcupine, Wise Woman of the Woods

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 13:30:10 +0000

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Democracy Forum 1/16/26: Constitutional Crisis: Can Democracy Survive Billionaire Economics?

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 21:00:47 +0000

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Around Town 1/16/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:00:36 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Suzanne Kelly joins us with news about Faith Linking in Action’s 4th annual MLK celebration, coming up on Sunday, January 18th at 3pm at the First United Methodist Church, 703 Essex Street, Bangor Reggie Harris will perform, tell stories and lead sing-a-longs, and Robert Shetterly will be there with some of the portraits from his Americans Who Tell the Truth series. Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition Resource Hub Their hotline is 207-544-9989 Photos and videos can be sent to them at info@maineimmigrantrights.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Creative Maine 1/15/26: Maine Photographers

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 21:00:29 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. The episode covers Maine photographers past and present. Listeners will learn about wildlife photography, train photography, and historic pictures. Guest/s: Chris L’Abbe, Wildlife photographer @wildlife_by_chris Joey Kelley, Train photographer www.joeykelleyphoto.com/ Kevin Johnson, Photo Archivist, Penobscot Marine Museum penobscotmarinemuseum.org/ About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach in the JMG program. She performs with the Bangor Band, where she has been a Board Member at Large for four years, and is a member of a trombone quartet based at The University of Maine, The Bear Bones.

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Climate & Community 1/15/26: Designing the Future with Isidora Munoz (Part 2)

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 13:30:25 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims This week: Climate and Community continues the conversation with Isi Munoz, learning more about the structure of the Designing the Future Program and why Isi believes community-driven climate action is essential. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 1/15/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 13:00:07 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne US – El Salvador Sister Cities statement on Trump’s actions in Venezuela Applications are now open for Maine Initiative’s 2026 Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 1/14/26: Conversation with Sylvia Torti, President, College of the Atlantic

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 21:00:38 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves College of the Atlantic provides help with production. Engineering by Joel Mann of WERU Community Radio. Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: What is College of the Atlantic’s focus on human ecology and its approach to education? What are the results of a recent study of College of the Atlantic’s contribution to the regional economy and cultural landscape? How has College of the Atlantic benefited from an ongoing relationship with United World Colleges and it’s scholarships for international students? What has led to the success of College of the Atlantic’s decade long Summer Institute? How is College of the Atlantic responding to challenges facing higher education, including the shrinking number of traditionally-aged college students? Guest/s: Dr. Sylvia Torti, President, College of the Atlantic FMI: www.coa.edu About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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World Ocean Radio 1/14/26: Morocco Water Museum

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 13:30:38 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio we’re exploring an extraordinary museum in Marrakesh, Morocco that celebrates the long history of the sustenance and management of water in the region, from the mountain ranges to the desert to the coastal plain, displaying the nature of water through systems of engineering, communal participation, spiritual dimension, and governance. It is the first such museum in Africa and is part of a UNESCO International Network of Water Museums that collectively document the hydraulic focus of societies, past and present. This episode is part two of a four-part series dedicated to Morocco and it’s relationships to ocean and fresh water. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 1/14/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 13:00:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Maine State Legislature’s Taxation committee will hold a public hearing this morning at 10 for LD 382 “An Act to Establish a System of Revenue Sharing for the Use and Management of Coastal Resources”(concept draft), and LD 1939 “An Act to Close Maine’s Tax Loophole for Offshore Profit Shifting” Live Stream of Taxation Committee public hearing About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 1/13/26: “Gender Identity”

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 13:30:06 +0000

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Around Town 1/13/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 13:00:03 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Author and AI expert Jeff Pennington will give a presentation called “You Teach the Machines: From Virtual Hearts to Smarter Harbors” at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor Wednesday from 6-7pm, in-person only. Registration is encouraged. Seaweed Valentine workshop, Saturday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m, at College of the Atlantic’s Dorr Museum of Natural History in Bar Harbor, led by Ecologist and seaweed expert Jordan Chalfant ’12 of the Maine Natural History Observatory. Registration required. The Ellsworth Public Library series of Creative Winter Programs for Kids, this week: Afterschool Beach Party, “a lighthearted program that brings summer vibes indoors through games, activities, and relaxed afterschool fun”, Friday, January 16 at 3:30 PM Winnie-the-Pooh Birthday Picnic, a cozy and cheerful gathering honoring A.A. Milne’s classic stories, Saturday, January 17th at 11 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 1/12/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 13:00:24 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne LD1671 – An Act to Establish Disclosure Requirements Regarding Law Enforcement Officer Credibility Information. A public hearing was held last week and a work session is scheduled for Wednesday starting at 9:45 am (along with 2 other bills). Read the text of LD1671 Bill tracker: Bill sponsors, testimony from the public, history of the bill Maine State Legislature Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety – Live stream, contact information, schedule About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 1/12/26: Resegregation, Shara Lessley, & the Red Star Antares . . .

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 12:30:02 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 1/11/26: Maine’s Pine Barrens, Part 3

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 14:30:38 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser In this episode, Logan shares nighttime experiences studying whip-poor-wills in Maine’s barrens, describing the shifting soundscape, dense scrub oak nesting sites, and the remarkable protection these habitats offer to ground-nesting nightjars. He also highlights other rare wildlife that depend on these young forests, from Black Racers to New England Cottontails, underscoring the importance of conserving these resilient but vulnerable landscapes. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 1/11/26: Krampus + Kirk

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 12:30:38 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 1/10/26

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 14:30:52 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: BHPL.org wendellgilleymuseum.org witherlelibrary.net pullingcorksmaine.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 1/10/26: The Sign of Capricorn

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 13:30:52 +0000

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Let’s Talk About It 1/9/26

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 21:00:37 +0000

Producer/Host: Patrisha McLean Production Assistance: Tammy Oropesa Music: Jackie Lee McLean Let’s Talk About It: Conversations with Survivors of Domestic Abuse Topics: 1. No accountability for DV perps 2. Sexual abuse 3. Impact on family Guests: Katherine Erbes About the host: Patrisha McLean is the founder/president of Finding Our Voices, the grass roots survivor-powered non profit organization breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time all across Maine.

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Around Town 1/9/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 13:00:31 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Frenchman Bay Conservancy has some good news to share! Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition’s Immigrant Resource Hub and Hotline Information is available in several languages. Hotline: 207-544-9989 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 1/8/26: It’s Hard to Talk About, Part I

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 22:00:40 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Editor: Sarah Johnson Music: Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Catherine interviews the cast of the Freedom & Captivity performance. FMI: www.freedom-captivity.org/ About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Climate & Community 1/8/26: Designing the Future with Isidora Munoz (Part 1)

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:30:28 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims This week: Climate and Community speaks with Isi Munoz, a graduate of the College of the Atlantic and Just Me for Just Us rural youth organizer. In this segment, Isi shares what inspired her to pursue facilitating community-driven climate resilience and introduces us to the program she created called Designing the Future. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 1/8/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:00:09 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The state legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology committee held a work session this week for LD 343. The original title of the bill (and the title still posted on the legislature’s website as of Wednesday afternoon, was “An Act to Direct the Public Utilities Commission to Seek Informational Bids Regarding Small Modular Nuclear Reactors in the State”, but the committee chair noted that the name was changed by amendment last October to “An Act to Ensure Periodic Assessment for Clean Energy Technology”. Here are some clips from the discussion at the work session. You can listen to/watch the entire meeting, archived here About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 1/7/26: Morocco as Hydraulic Exemplar

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 13:30:22 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE In September, Morocco became the 60th country to ratify the UN High Seas Treaty, designed to protect marine biodiversity and establishing new high seas marine protected areas: a precedent and context for a giant step forward for ocean sustainability. This week on World Ocean Radio: part one of a four-part series dedicated to Morocco and it’s relationships to ocean and fresh water. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 1/7/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 13:00:50 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Witherle Memorial Library‘s Foreign Affairs Discussion Group meets tonight from 5 to 6 pm over Zoom. The topic will be the Administration’s National Security Strategy dated November 2025 and released on December 4. Click here to link to more information and to register. Hollywood Factotum talk with author Celeste Donohue, Thursday evening, 6:30-7:30pm at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor with an option to join remotely. For more information and to register, follow this link The Ellsworth Digital Inclusion Task Force monthly “Bring Your Device to Lunch” event, Thursday from noon to 1:30 at Loaves and Fishes in Ellsworth. Participants should bring their devices and a wish list of what they’d like to learn. The event is free and open to all. A light lunch will be provided. Space is limited and registration is required. Call 664-7110 to register From Indivisible Bangor (no further information or contact info included): “Thursday, January 8, there is a one-time protest against Trump’s weekend action in Venezuela. Anyone who is interested in joining, please meet at 3:00 in front of the Federal Building on Harlow Street. From the Federal Building, there will walk to City Hall.” About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 1/6/26: “Girls’ Sports”

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 13:30:32 +0000

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Around Town 1/6/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 13:00:29 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Maine Congressional District 1, and Graham Platner, candidate for the Democrat’s nomination for Senate, hoping to unseat Senator Susan Collins in the next election, issued statements over the weekend in response to the situation in Venezuela. Indivisible Bangor’s weekly “No Kings” rallies at the Federal Building in Bangor, Tuesdays, 11am-1pm Friends of Sears Island annual meeting in Searsport on Saturday, January 10th, 12:30-2:30 at the Mermaid Plaza. Watch the Friends of Sears Island facebook page for updates including weather-related cancellation if needed. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 1/5/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 13:00:51 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Applications open tomorrow / Tuesday for Haystack Mountain School of Crafts upcoming 75th season. “Supporting Older Mainers: A Legislative Conversation” will be held at the Durgin Center in Brewer on Saturday, January 17th from 11-1. Space is limited. Registration is required, and closes on January 9th For more details or to register, click on the link (above) or call 941-2865 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 1/5/26: Janus, New Heat, & Regulus in the Sickle . . .

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:30:39 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 1/4/26: Maine’s Pine Barrens, Part 2

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 14:30:10 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser In this episode, Logan explores the plant communities of Maine’s pitch pine–scrub oak barrens, from fire-adapted pines and dense thickets of scrub oak to rare wildflowers, grasses, and sandplain specialists. He highlights the insects and butterflies that depend on these habitats, including several rare species, and the management efforts that help maintain these declining ecosystems. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 1/4/26: 12 Days of Christmas

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 12:30:34 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 1/3/26

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 14:30:02 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: toadhalleditions.ink schoodicartsforall.org deerislelibrary.org surrygatherings.org nehlibrary.org lilykingbooks.com mdihistory.org reversingfalls.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 1/3/26: Moon Walking

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 13:30:50 +0000

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Conversations from the Pointed Firs 1/2/26: Richard Parsons

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 21:00:21 +0000

The post Conversations from the Pointed Firs 1/2/26: Richard Parsons first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 1/2/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:00:17 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne LD 287- “An Act to Require and Encourage Safe and Interconnected Transportation Construction Projects” will have a public hearing at 10:30 Tuesday morning in the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee On Housing and Economic Development On Wednesday the Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee will hold a round of public hearings starting at 1pm. One of the proposed bills they’ll be taking comments on is LD 1671, “An Act to Establish Disclosure Requirements Regarding Law Enforcement Officer Credibility Information” The bill’s summary reads in part: “This bill requires that a law enforcement agency disclose to a prosecuting attorney’s office when a law enforcement officer who is a potential witness in a criminal prosecution has engaged in certain specified conduct that calls into question the credibility of the officer as a witness, including, but not limited to, knowingly making untruthful statements of material facts, tampering with evidence, other dishonest acts or admissions of dishonesty, demonstrated patterns of bias against protected classes and facts reflecting an officer’s impaired ability to perceive or recall the truth of a matter. Law enforcement agencies must notify the law enforcement officer when disclosing the credibility information to a prosecuting attorney’s office” About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 1/1/26

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 21:00:09 +0000

Host: Erin Rhoda, Interim Deputy Editor at The Maine Monitor. The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: We discuss Monitor Local, a new reporting initiative from the The Maine Monitor focused on what’s happening in towns across Western and Downeast Maine — how the idea came to be and what its coverage has looked like so far. Guests: Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, Executive Director of The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting — micaela@themainemonitor.org Judith Meyer, Editor of Monitor Local — judy@themainemonitor.org FMI: themainemonitor.org/monitor-local/

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Around Town 1/1/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 13:00:01 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The regular schedule of public hearings and work session for proposed legislation resumes in Augusta next Tuesday. Here’s what the Joint Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology will be tackling first — and some ways you can listen in or participate About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 12/31/25: At the Fishhouses

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 13:30:48 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE In celebration of the New Year, here is a special reading of “At The Fishhouses” by poet Elizabeth Bishop. It offers a distillation of Bishop’s seaside meditations and an evocation of the clarity of meaning contained in personal encounters with the ocean. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 12/31/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 31 Dec 2025 13:00:42 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Kids’ Noon Year’s Eve Party today, 11:00AM – 12:00PM at the Ellsworth Public Library Family friendly New Year’s Eve celebration in Blue Hill at the Shaw Institute, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm today. Space is limited, so registration is required The Carver Memorial Library in Searsport family/kids mid-day New Year Eve event, today at 11 with “countdown” to noon. FMI: Carver Memorial Library’s facebook page Rockland Public Library kid’s new year party, starts at 11 this morning. Rockport’s Holiday on the Harbor festivities will begin in the village as the sun sets at 4:30 p.m The Maine Outdoor School’s 5th Annual New Year’s Eve Sunset Hike starts at 2:30 this afternoon. Free, but registration is required Eastport’s 21st annual New Year’s Eve Great Sardine and Maple Leaf drop at midnight (will also be live streamed through Tides Institute & Museum of Art’s Facebook and Instagram pages– starting a little before midnight in the Atlantic time and Eastern time zones.) The Winter Harbor Music Community Opera and the Downeast Chamber Orchestra perform Johann Strauss II’s Opera die Fledermaus at 7:00 tonight at Hammond Hall, 427 Main Street, Winter Harbor Last Night Belfast kicks off at 3:30 in locations around the downtown area. Bangor’s annual “Downtown Countdown” is one of Maine’s largest, free public New Year’s Eve celebrations. The beach ball drops at midnight. Associated activities throughout the day and an afterparty. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 12/30/25: “No Kings Quotes”

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 13:30:33 +0000

The post Outside the Box 12/30/25: “No Kings Quotes” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/30/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 13:00:57 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne College of the Atlantic’s new scholarship program – Pine Tree Scholars Maine Academy of Modern Music’s summer camps in Portland and Bangor in summer 2026 All are welcome to join a new book club at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor this winter. The Do the Work! Book Circle will meet on Thursday evenings from Jan 8th – March 5th For more information and to register, email organizer Alexa Kelly at alexamkelly@gmail.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 12/29/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the Kennedy Center and more than 70 of her colleagues in Congress have called on President Trump to reverse what they say is an illegal renaming effort The Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS’) Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) urges Mainers to take steps to protect their health as influenza (flu) activity begins to rise across Maine. Maine’s weekly influenza surveillance report for week 51, which ended December 20th shows: Number of hospitalizations: 69 Number of outbreaks: 12 The Challenger Learning Center of Maine in Bangor is offering Girls Who Code: A Free Intro to Coding for All Students “A free introductory club for all students in grades 3-5, no experience required! This beginner-friendly program welcomes all young coders, including those trying programming for the very first time” FMI and to register Activate Maine’s new “Selective Spending Directory” The state of Maine is now accepting entries for the 2026 Maine Constitution Poster and Essay Contests. The deadline is March 13, 2026. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 12/29/25: My Snow-shoveling Mother, T.S. Eliot, & Mary Jo Bang . . .

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 12:30:56 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 12/29/25: My Snow-shoveling Mother, T.S. Eliot, & Mary Jo Bang . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 12/28/25: Maine’s Pine Barrens, Part 1

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 14:30:32 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser In this episode, Logan introduces Maine’s rare pitch pine–scrub oak barrens, explaining how glacial sands, fire, and other disturbances shaped these unusual habitats and how development and fire suppression have contributed to their decline. He also reflects on how his nightjar research led him into these ecosystems, which support several rare species despite their limited extent. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 12/28/25: Ollie

Sun, 28 Dec 2025 12:30:24 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 12/27/25

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 14:30:02 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: swhplibrary.org villagercafe.com belfastlibrary.org weru.org winterharbormusicfestival.org bhpl.org cmcanow.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 12/27/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 12/27/25: The Cedar Tree

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 13:30:33 +0000

The post Earthwise 12/27/25: The Cedar Tree first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Coastal Conversations 12/26/25: Innovations in Energy

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 21:00:39 +0000

Host: Galen Koch Editorial Help: Camden Hunt, Olivia Jolley, and Keegan Claunch Most of the music in this episode is by Cue Shop Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. Forms of sustainable energy. Resilience in Island communities. Economics and infrastructure of sustainable energy. Guest/s: Bruce Fernald – Lobsterman from Islesford Jamie Cook, Lia Morris – Senior Community Development officers, Island Institute Danny Fernald – Bruce’s Brother, Year round Islesford resident FMI: To view Versant’s connectivity maps, go to vpcapmap.cliffhanger-solutions.com/ For more information about the lobster co-op, go to littlecranberrylobster.com/ From the Sea Up is made possible by the Fund for Maine Islands through a partnership between Island Institute, College of the Atlantic, Maine Sea Grant, and the First Coast. To hear past episodes and for more information visit www.islandinstitute.org/podcast About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Wabanaki Windows 12/25/25: Tribute to Charles Norman Shay – Part 2

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 21:00:01 +0000

Host: Donna Loring Other credits: Technical assistance for the show was provided by Joel Mann of WERU, and Jessica Lockhart. Music by Ralph Richter, a track called little eagles from his CD Dream Walk. Wabanaki Windows is a monthly show featuring topics of interest from a Wabanaki perspective. This month: Charles’ early life and the importance of his story as a hero and survivor of D Day in WWII. Guest/s: Harald Prins & Bunny McBride – Bunny Mcbride is an award-winning author and journalist whose work has focused on Indigenous peoples around the world. Harald Prins is a cultural anthropologist and longtime scholar of Wabanaki history. He and Bunny worked closely with Charles over many years. They helped place Charles’s life story within its broader historical and moral context. They shared a close personal and professional relationship with Charles Shay and helped bring his story to the world. Jennifer Neptune is a member of the Penobscot Nation, is the Director of the Penobscot Nation Museum on Indian Island. A master basketmaker and cultural educator, she knew Charles as an elder and carries forward his memory through her craftmanship and storytelling. James Francis is a member of the Penobscot Nation and serves as Tribal Historian and Director of the Penobscot Nation Cultural and Historical Department. He worked closely with Charles Shay and has helped preserve and share Penobscot history and memory for future generations. Timothy P. Shay is the nephew of Charles Norman Shay. He offers a family perspective on Charles’s life, speaking to who Charles was beyond the uniform—as an uncle, a relative, and a deeply loved member of his family. Darren Ranco is a member of the Penobscot Nation and a scholar of Native American studies. He knew Charles as an elder and community leader and has worked to ensure that Charles’s story is understood within the larger context of Indigenous service, sovereignty, and survival. About the host: Donna M Loring is a Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder, and former Council Member. She represented the Penobscot Nation in the State Legislature for over a decade. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Mills. She is the author of “In The Shadow of The Eagle A Tribal Representative In Maine”. Donna has an Annual lecture series in her name at the University of New England that addresses Social Justice and Human Rights issues. In 2017 She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Humane Letters from the University of Maine Orono and was given the Alumni Service Award. It is the most prestigious recognition given by the University of Maine Alumni Association. It is presented Annually to a University of Maine graduate whose life’s work is marked by outstanding achievements in professional, business, civic and/or Public service areas. Donna received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in May of 2022.

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Wabanaki Windows 12/24/25: Tribute to Charles Norman Shay – Part 1

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 21:00:56 +0000

The post Wabanaki Windows 12/24/25: Tribute to Charles Norman Shay – Part 1 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

World Ocean Radio 12/24/25: Christmas at Sea

Wed, 24 Dec 2025 13:30:36 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Each year at the holidays we like to share a special reading of “Christmas at Sea”, an evocative poem written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1883. Stevenson, the son of a lighthouse engineer, had intimate, first-hand knowledge of storms, weather, and life on and by the sea. Read for you by World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill. Happy Holidays! WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Outside the Box 12/23/25: “Welcome Oligarchs”

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 13:30:27 +0000

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A Word in Edgewise 12/22/25: The Solstice, Christmas, Rexroth, & the Ursids . . .

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 12:30:38 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 12/22/25: The Solstice, Christmas, Rexroth, & the Ursids . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 12/21/25: A Conversation with Seabird Researchers, 2025

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 14:30:11 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode features a discussion with Coco and Tracey Faber, Alison Ballard, and Peyton Caylor, seabird researchers who worked on Maine’s offshore colonies this summer. Together they reflect on the role of these islands beyond nesting seabirds, describing their importance as stopovers for migrating shorebirds and staging areas for gulls. They share observations of sandpipers, plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, and other migrants, and note how islands like Eastern Egg Rock can host large flocks during peak migration. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 12/21/25: How To Have A Merry Little Christmas

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 12:30:32 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 12/21/25: How To Have A Merry Little Christmas first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 12/20/25

Sat, 20 Dec 2025 14:30:03 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: ellsworthlibrary.net bangorpubliclibrary.org uubelfast.com belfastlibrary.org cityofbelfast.org toadhalleditions.ink weru.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 12/20/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/19/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 13:00:22 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Andy O’Brien, Maine AFL-CIO, with news of successful organizing efforts with University of Maine graduate workers. NOTE: Around Town will be away next week. We’ll return on 12/29/25 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Creative Maine 12/18/25: Crafting for Good

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 21:00:06 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. Listeners will learn about Mainers who use their crafting skills to do good in their communities. Guest/s: Rosa Moore, Executive Director and Jackie Perkins, Arts and Activities Director, HOME Inc. homeemmaususa.org Heidi O’Donnell, Art Teacher at Belfast Area High School, rsu71 hodonnell@rsu71.org Sara Brand-New sbrandnew@gmail.com Jillian Liversidge jillianliver@gmail.com About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach in the JMG program. She performs with the Bangor Band, where she has been a Board Member at Large for four years, and is a member of a trombone quartet based at The University of Maine, The Bear Bones.

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Around Town 12/18/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:00:31 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Ed Spencer with an update on the Juniper Ridge Landfill – area residents are petitioning the DEP for a public hearing on the planned expansion FMI: Don’t Waste ME Maine Department of Environmental Protection – Juniper Ridge State of Maine Bureau of General Services – Maine’s State-Owned Landfills About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 12/17/25: Hydromancy

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 13:30:57 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on a new 5-minute episode of World Ocean Radio we’re discussing the word “Hydromancy”, its meaning and signs, water in its many forms, and its implication for our future. Hydromancy is an ancient form of divination, an invitation to explore the depths of still water and its ability of reveal hidden truths. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

The post World Ocean Radio 12/17/25: Hydromancy first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 13:00:11 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne US vs Shenna Bellows – updates on the DOJ’s lawsuit against Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. The League of Women Voters of Maine were recently granted intervenor status in the case And Opera House Arts’ series of festive events continues this week at the Stonington Opera House. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 12/16/25: “New Economy”

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:30:27 +0000

The post Outside the Box 12/16/25: “New Economy” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/16/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 13:00:59 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Ashley Megquier with all the details (and changes!) for Friends of Sears Island‘s Solstice by the Sea celebration, coming up on Sunday the 21st -and news from Maine, 100 years ago today About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 12/16/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:00:39 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne An update on the special Bangor City Council Workshop last Friday where the discussion of the homeless encampment behind Penobscot Plaza continued. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 12/15/25: Voltaire, Arthur Sze, Sitting Bull, & Hattie McDaniel . . .

Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:30:15 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 12/15/25: Voltaire, Arthur Sze, Sitting Bull, & Hattie McDaniel . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 12/14/25: A Conversation with Peyton Caylor and Colleagues, 2025

Sun, 14 Dec 2025 14:30:38 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode begins with an interview with Peyton Caylor about her work on Matinicus Rock, comparing seabird research there with her season on the Farallon Islands. The conversation expands to include Coco and Tracey Faber from Seal Island and Matinicus Rock, and Alison Ballard from Eastern Egg Rock, as they discuss seabird dynamics across colonies, unusual visitors like the Tufted Puffin, and the parallels and contrasts between Atlantic and Pacific seabird systems. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

The post Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 12/14/25: A Conversation with Peyton Caylor and Colleagues, 2025 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Esoterica 12/14/25: A Merry Little Christmas

Sun, 14 Dec 2025 12:30:33 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 12/14/25: A Merry Little Christmas first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 12/13/25

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 14:30:29 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: haystack-mtn.org downtownbangor.com ellsworthlibrary.net BHPL.net schoodicartsforall.org operahousearts.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 12/13/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 12/13/25: The Holly and the Mistletoe

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 13:30:33 +0000

The post Earthwise 12/13/25: The Holly and the Mistletoe first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 13:00:39 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A special City Council Workshop will be held this Friday, Dec. 12, beginning at 9 a.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall for the purpose of continuing discussions about the homeless encampment along the rail lines near Penobscot Plaza. (Source: City of Bangor) Today we hear from a resident of the encampment who spoke at a Bangor City Council meeting earlier this week. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Common Ground Radio 12/11/25: Gardener to Gardener

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 21:00:27 +0000

Host: Holli Cederholm Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: This episode of Common Ground Radio goes behind the scenes of Gardener to Gardener, a new conference for gardeners to learn from one another. Hosted by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, the inaugural event will take place on February 8 in Portland, Maine. It is an exciting opportunity for gardeners of all experience levels to connect with other growers, as well as university faculty, agricultural scientists, and service providers around a range of gardening topics. We also dive a bit deeper into two topics that will be covered at the conference, Planning & Mapping Your Garden, and Soil Health 101. List of subjects: – MOFGA’s Gardener to Gardener Conference – Gardening – Resources for organic gardening – Planning and mapping your garden – Soil health 101 Guest/s: Madi Whaley, MOFGA’s educational programs coordinator. Rebecca Long, coordinator of Horticulture Training Programs for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Ivonne Vazquez, the owner/grower at Bas Rouge Farm & Forge, a native plant nursery. FMI- – Gardener to Gardener — mofga.org/event-calendar/gardener-to-gardener-2026 – Climate Change & the Garden: Resources — mofga.org/trainings/gardening/climate-change-gardening-resources – Beginning Gardener Resources — mofga.org/trainings/gardening/beginning-gardener-resources – Bas Rouge Farm & Forge Gardening Classes — basrougefarm.com/gardening-classes – Understanding Astronomy — physics.weber.edu/schroeder/ua/sunandseasons.html – Maine Home Garden News — extension.umaine.edu/gardening/maine-home-garden-news – Cooperative Extension Garden & Yard — extension.umaine.edu/gardening About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Around Town 12/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 13:00:48 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center’s annual Beth’s Trees for HOPE Festival, Friday, December 13th, 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM, and Saturday, December 14th 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM at the Maine Coast Mall, Ellsworth, ME Admission: Free The Haystack Mountain School of Crafts winter series kicks off with an Open House on Saturday, December 13, from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Join them to learn more about the Fab Lab and Winter Programs over refreshments and festive crafts at this free, family-friendly event, at Haystack’s Center for Community Programs at 22 Church Street, Deer Isle village In Belfast, the Colonial Theatre’s free family matinee series continues Saturday at 1pm with the movie Elf — Buddy’s Sing and Cheer Along Edition. Tickets are free, but it is recommended that you reserve your seats in advance and arrive on time so you don’t lose your seat. Opera House Arts presents A Christmas Carol Community Reading – Sunday, Dec. 14 from 2pm-6pm at the Stonington Opera House Tuba Christmas at 1pm and Bangor Band’s annual “Sounds of the Season” concert, with pieces celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the winter season, ending with a Christmas sing-along, at 2pm at Peakes Auditorium at Bangor High School on Sunday. Participation in Tuba Christmas is open to any musician who plays tuba, euphonium, baritone horn, or other tuba-like instrument. Those who wish to participate, should arrive at Peakes Auditorium at Bangor High School at 9:30 A.M. to check in and prepare for a 10:00 rehearsal. There is a $10 fee to participate, and all participants will receive a Tuba Christmas button. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 12/10/25: Restorative Justice and Restorative Practice

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 21:00:47 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves College of the Atlantic provides help with production. Engineering by Joel Mann of WERU Community Radio. Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: What is the work of Downeast Restorative Justice? How does restorative justice connect to the criminal justice system to bring together those who have caused harm with those who have been harmed? What is the broader set of restorative practices that underpin the work of Downeast Restorative Justice to build community connections and resilience? What might a community circle look like… how is it convened, what are its intentions, what values does it demonstrate? How might listeners learn more about training opportunities to build skills that support restorative justice and, more broadly, restorative practice? Guest/s: Kayla Gagnon, Downeast Restorative Justice Youth and Community Coordinator Leslie Ross, Downeast Restorative Justice Program and Case Coordinator FMI: downeastrestorativejustice.org About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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World Ocean Radio 12/10/25: State of the Ocean Report 2025

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 13:30:26 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE At the end of each year, W2O founder and host of World Ocean Radio Peter Neill sets out to report on the state of the ocean. This year his source of support for the annual digest is a report in BioScience 2025 entitled “The 2025 State of the Climate Report: A Planet on the Brink.” The report addresses population growth, consumption, land use, forestation, fire, greenhouse gases, temperature, ocean warming, sea level rise, pH, climate change, extreme weather, risks to biodiversity, ocean circulation, fresh water, mitigation strategies, and social tipping points. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

The post World Ocean Radio 12/10/25: State of the Ocean Report 2025 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 13:00:13 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne “Covering Russia’s Borderlands During War: A Talk by Journalist Levi Bridges” Thursday, December 11th at 6 PM at the Ellsworth Public Library Levi Bridges work on NPR’s The World Levi Bridge’s website About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 12/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Outside the Box 12/9/25: “Guide to Holding Events”

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 13:30:24 +0000

The post Outside the Box 12/9/25: “Guide to Holding Events” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/9/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 13:00:29 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Indivisible Bangor‘s weekly No Kings vigil is today (and every Tuesday) from 11 am – 1pm at the Federal Building on Harlow Street, where Susan Collins’ has her Bangor office. Organizers say “Drop in any time between 11 am and 1pm. Bring signs, bring flags, bring your voices for chants and songs” Dr Nirav Shah, former Maine CDC director- now running for Governor, will have a Town Hall at the Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow Street in Bangor later today. The event will double as a food drive for local food pantries. The town Hall begins at 6:00 PM (doors open at 5:30 PM) Click here for more information and to register or email kira@shahformaine.com Ugly Sweater Day tomorrow in Belfast About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 12/9/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/8/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 13:00:34 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Belfast resident Lawrence Reichard joins us to talk about his efforts to help surviving family members of a Colombian man who was killed in one of the US strikes on small boats in recent days. Support Family of Colombian Fisher Killed in U.S. Air Strike – GoFundMe page Lawrence Reichard’s work on Muck Rack on Counterpunch About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 12/8/25: The Cold Moon, the Three Gunas, & Translatio Studii . . .

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 12:30:36 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 12/7/25: A Conversation with Alison Ballard, 2025

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 14:30:35 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Alison Ballard, who spent the summer supervising Eastern Egg Rock for Project Puffin, reflects on the differences between working on Matinicus Rock and Egg Rock, the unique mix of seabirds found at this nearshore colony, and the challenges of monitoring puffin productivity in such rocky terrain. She also shares insights into the colony’s growth, from new burrows to the dense nesting of puffins in limited space. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 12/7/25: State of the World Forum

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 12:30:01 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 12/6/25

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 14:30:08 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: mtdesertchamber.org annualartshow.me wendellgilleymuseum.org stonington.lib.me.us bhpl.org colloquydowneast.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 12/6/25: Celebrating the Darkness

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 13:30:58 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 12/6/25

Sat, 06 Dec 2025 12:30:06 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 12/6/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 13:00:41 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine Governor Janet Mills’ statement on the passing of Penobscot tribal elder & WWII hero Charles Norman Shay this week. Indivisible calls for a boycott of Spotify. Demands include that they stop running ICE recruitment ads. A quick recap of the weekend events we’ve covered this week on Around Town (see archives for previous days fmi and links) a quick recap of the weekend events we’ve mentioned this week on AT: Tomorrow/Saturday, 12/6/2 Bangor’s annual Festival of Lights Parade, 4:30 PM in downtown Bangor 45th Annual Downtown Ellsworth Christmas Parade of Lights will kick-off at 4:00pm, followed by the tree lighting Annual Northeast Harbor Christmas Festival , 8:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m, Main Street, Northeast Harbor and the Northeast Harbor Marina All weekend The Island Arts Association’s 50th Annual Holiday Craft Fair starts today from 10:00 am-5:00 pm; and continues on Saturday & Sunday 9:00 am-4:00 pm, at the Atlantic Oceanside on Eden Street in Bar Harbor Sunday The 5th annual Festival of the Trees, Sunday, 12/7 from 2-5pm at Rural Hall on Rt. 172 in East Surry. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 12/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 13:00:10 +0000

The post Around Town 12/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Justice Radio 12/4/25: Clara Mulvihill

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 22:00:32 +0000

Host/s: Emily Goulette Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Emily interviews Clara Mulvihill, extern at MIDC, about the burnout in public defense work due to underfunding. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 12/4/25

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:00:18 +0000

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Around Town 12/4/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 13:00:06 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Dunlap for Congress town hall will be held in the Minsky Lecture hall at the Bangor Public library tonight from 6:30 – 7:30 The Witherle Library in Castine children’s activities (stationery making and story walk) scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) afternoon For more information please contact debra@witherlelibrary.net The Island Arts Association (IAA) is celebrating their 50th Anniversary Season with their Annual Holiday Craft Fair, Friday from 10:00 am-5:00 pm; and Saturday & Sunday 9:00 am-4:00 pm, at the Atlantic Oceanside on Eden Street in Bar Harbor Rockland’s Emergency Warming Center will be open this Thursday 12/4 & Friday 12/5 at the Flanagan Community Center, from 7pm – 7am both nights. We offer warm supper, showers, comfortable bedding, and breakfast to guests. All are welcome. Entrance is through the double doors at the rear of the building. If you have questions or transportation needs, contact Jessica by text or phone at (207) 230-4258 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Healthy Options 12/3/25: Using Somatic Movement to Heal from Trauma, Grief, & Loss

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 21:00:48 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: 1. What is somatic movement? 2. Using movement to help us through grief, shock, stress & trauma 3. What is fright, flight and freeze? 4. How stress and trauma can affect our nervous system 5. How grief and shock can affect our nervous system 6. What is the difference between depression and emotional dysregulation? Guest(s): Donna Brooks, somatic movement therapist, counselor, coach, and educator, & yoga therapist. FMI: Donna Brooks’ links for info- Original Body Wisdom: originalbodywisdom.com Somatic Movement Therapy for trauma, grief, and loss: originalbodywisdom.com/somatic-movement-therapy-for-trauma-grief-and-loss/ 3 Ways Embodiment Helps navigate loss – blog post and video: originalbodywisdom.com/3-ways-embodiment-helps-navigate-loss/ Creating a GoodLife When a child Dies – blog post and video: originalbodywisdom.com/creating-a-good-life-after-a-child-dies/ Beauty in Grief and Loss – blog post and video: originalbodywisdom.com/like-the-cold-and-sparse-beauty-of-winter-there-is-also-a-beauty-in-grief-and-loss/ 8 Somatic Breathing Exercises to do today – blog post and video: originalbodywisdom.com/8-somatic-breathing-exercises-to-do-today/ Youtube Playlist for Grief: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvXmR7ZSV14&list=PL55fMwRPubVxTexQnuE9fCI9pkrdU2E3y YouTube Playlist for Breathing: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL55fMwRPubVyjc8xAK3MVpyBLExkhrFKF About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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World Ocean Radio 12/3/25: A COP30 Report

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 13:30:52 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week we are reporting on COP30 (the 30th Conference of the Parties) hosted in Belem, Brazil. The annual gathering is a response to the challenges of climate change; there were wins and losses, enthusiasm and disappointment, and various outcomes and strategies for the future that will be explored in future editions of World Ocean Radio. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 12/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 03 Dec 2025 13:00:45 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Holiday events on Saturday, 12/6/25 Click on links for more details. Bangor’s annual Festival of Lights Parade, 4:30 PM in downtown Bangor 45th Annual Downtown Ellsworth Christmas Parade of Lights & Light Display Annual Northeast Harbor Christmas Festival , 8:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m, Main Street, Northeast Harbor and the Northeast Harbor Marina About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 12/2/25: “What’s a Crime?

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 13:30:02 +0000

The post Outside the Box 12/2/25: “What’s a Crime? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 12/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 13:00:05 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Dave Hollenberg, President of the Rural Hall in Surry, is here with an invitation to their 5th annual Festival of the Trees on Sunday, 12/7 from 2-5pm at the hall on Rt. 172 in East Surry. FMI: Surry Rural Hall on facebook Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC)’s Rad Reading Group will be meeting via zoom on Wednesdays from noon to 1pm, starting this week. December’s book is Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 by M. E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi. Email ROSC.Maine@gmail.com for more information and the zoom link About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 12/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 13:00:39 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Healthy Acadia’s seasonal overnight warming center is now open for the season. The Warming Center is located at 24 Church St., Ellsworth, inside the INSPIRE Center. On weekdays it will be open from 6:30 p.m to 7 a.m. On weekends the warming center will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. AND again from 6:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis until capacity is reached. For more information, call 207-412-2288 or follow INSPIRE on Facebook or Instagram. Friends of Sears Island and Carver Memorial Library will host a free winter solstice-themed after school program for children on Thursday, December 4, from 3:30pm – 5:00pm at the Carver Memorial Library in Searsport. This program is intended for kids ages 5-12 and an accompanying adult. Pre-registration is required as space is limited. Sign-up by emailing outreach@friendsofsearsisland.org. Registration is complete upon receiving a confirmation email. Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC)’s Rad Reading Group will be meeting via zoom on Wednesdays from noon to 1pm, starting this week. December’s book is Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 by M. E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi. Email ROSC.Maine@gmail.com for more information and the zoom link Giving Tuesday About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 12/1/25: The First of December, Shapero, Ellis, Parks, & the Pleiades . . .

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 12:30:10 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 12/1/25: The First of December, Shapero, Ellis, Parks, & the Pleiades . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 11/30/25: A Conversation with Coco and Tracey Faber, 2025, Part 4

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 14:30:22 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is part 4 of an interview with Coco and Tracey Faber, who have spent the past decade working in Maine’s offshore seabird colonies. They reflect on broader patterns observed across years of fieldwork, including tern foraging strategies during food shortages, the recurring mid-July drop in forage fish, and the stark differences in survival between early- and late-hatched puffin chicks. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 11/30/25: Mapping The Mystical

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 12:30:12 +0000

CK Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 11/29/25

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 14:30:36 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: thewaldotheatre.org colonialtheatre.com schoodicartsforall.org courthousegallery.com farnsworthmuseum.org georgesriver.org/events/ wendellgilleymuseum.org radiomaine.podbean.com poets.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 11/29/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 11/29/25: The Thanksgiving Address

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 13:30:11 +0000

The post Earthwise 11/29/25: The Thanksgiving Address first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Coastal Conversations 11/28/25: Green Crabs

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 21:00:21 +0000

Host: Asy Xaytouthor, student producer Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. In the past few years there have been attempts to build the green crab supply chain to respond to the prominent impacts of rising green crab populations in the Gulf of Maine. This month on Coastal Conversations, our student producer Asy Xaytouthor explores the struggles and strategies of creating a culinary market for green crabs in New England and beyond. Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. Guest/s: Hillary Smith – Research assistant professor of marine policy in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine and research affiliate at the College of the Atlantic. Mary Parks – Executive Director of the Greencrab.org Tae Chong – Director of Multicultural Markets and Strategies for the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. Thank you to Galen Koch, Hillary Smith, and Natalie Springuel for production assistance, and to Hillary Smith for research assistance. About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 11/28/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 13:00:55 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Groon Show (Guest Hazel de Mesa) Ellsworth Pub Crawl – Heart of Ellsworth Belfast Downtown Holiday Season Kick-off – Our Town Belfast About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 11/27/25: The Prison Podcast

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 22:00:53 +0000

Host/s: Linda Small and Mackenzie Kelley Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Linda and Mackenzie interview Valerie Cartonio, podcaster, producer, and host of The Prison POD Podcast, about their mission to save lives, restore hope, and reduce suffering and recidivism. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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World Ocean Radio 11/26/25: Ocean Time

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 13:30:36 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio we are reflecting on a time and place no longer familiar: traditions and accepted norms unrecognized, histories forgotten, futures uncertain. How do we recapture standards and beliefs that can contribute to a changing civilization and rapidly changing climate? Are there opportunities for new ways of thinking and acting that are attuned to the challenges we face? We’re discussing this and more. Join us. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Wabanaki Windows 11/25/25: Robert Talbot Civil Rights Lecture Series

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 21:00:19 +0000

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Outside the Box 11/25/25: “Chazerei”

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:30:18 +0000

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Around Town 11/25/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:00:51 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine DHHS Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) info UnitedHealth’s former chief tops US managed care CEO pay list in 2024, Tyler Hammel and Jason Woleben, S&P Global, 20 Aug, 2025 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 11/24/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 13:00:57 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Unprecedented Number of Apprehensions by the U.S. Border Patrol in Maine. Follow them on facebook @ US Border Patrol Houlton Sector Maine ICE Watch Resource Hub & hotline: (207) 544-9989 The Conscious Café, in conjunction with Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry, will offer a free community Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, November 27 from 11 to 4 PM at the cafe, 50 Church Street in Ellsworth. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 11/24/25: COP30, Barton, Berry, and Winder . . .

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 12:30:58 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 11/23/25: A Conversation with Coco and Tracey Faber, 2025, Part 3

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 14:30:50 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is part 3 of an interview with Coco and Tracey Faber, who have spent the past decade working in Maine’s offshore seabird colonies. They discuss the challenges facing Arctic and Common Terns, from poor body condition on return from migration to storms, food shortages, and gull predation. Despite these pressures, they describe moments of resilience when chicks recovered rapidly once conditions improved. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 11/23/25: Jill Bolte Taylor, The Brain

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 12:30:00 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 11/22/25

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 14:30:38 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: ellsworthlibrary.net watervillecreates.org gallerybgallery.com stonington.lib.me.us About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 11/22/25: Artemis, Goddess of the Wild

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 13:30:37 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 11/22/25

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 12:30:01 +0000

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Democracy Forum 11/21/25: Constitutional Crisis: The Expansion of Presidential Power

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 21:00:19 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: We’ll talk about the continuing concentration of executive power in the office of the President of the United States. What has been the historical precedent? How unusual is this moment? What is the unitary executive theory, its origins and implications, and how it’s playing out in the current presidential administration? Guest/s: Graham Dodds, Professor, Political Science, Concordia University, Montreal. Aaron Frey, Attorney General, State of Maine. To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 11/21/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Flash in the Pans Accepting Applications for 2026 Summer’s Monday Night Benefit Pan Dances. Seasons of Maine, produced by Sullivan resident Evan Procko, a young, amateur filmmaker, is playing at The Grand Theater in Ellsworth, Saturday, 11/22 at 7pm. All ticket proceeds will benefit research for a cure of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Artivism in Maine (AIMe) Artist Reception on Saturday, November 22 at 4 PM, celebrating artists featured in AIMe’s 3rd Freedom & Justice Summit, at the Ellsworth Public Library About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 11/20/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 13:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Forever Ours: PFAS and Plastics Opening Reception “The Shaw Institute is proud to host Forever Ours: PFAS and Plastics, a thought-provoking art exhibition exploring humanity’s complex relationship with persistent materials like microplastics and PFAS. The exhibit, which runs through summer of 2026, opens with a public reception on Saturday, November 22, from 4:00pm – 6:00pm at the Shaw Institute’s Environmental Education Center in downtown Blue Hill, Maine.” Guests: Dr. Charles Rolsky, Executive Director & Senior Research Scientist, Shaw Institute, Blue Hill, Maine Artist Marnie Sinclair, Sinclair Gallery, Damariscotta, Maine About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 11/19/25: Global Climate Events, Revisited

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 13:30:16 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Devastating weather and water events abound worldwide, causing havoc in ports, waterfronts, and elsewhere. These are neither new nor are they going away any time soon. How do we rebuild and plan a response for a future that works, even in the face of increasingly unpredictable climate? WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 11/19/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 13:00:04 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Beloved Children’s Author’s Family Torches DHS for Using Book Title in Immigration Raids Tom Latchem, Daily Beast, Nov. 17 2025 Granddaughter of ‘Charlotte’s Web’ author criticizes use of book title in DHS immigration crackdown operation, Cindy Von Quednow and Chris Boyette, CNN, Nov 16, 2025 The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) announces the launch of the Maine Food Access Map For questions about the map or to request an update to a listing, please contact: mefam@maine.gov About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Earthwise 10/18/25: Ghost Cat

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:30:28 +0000

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Outside the Box 11/18/25: “Soft Secession”

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:30:17 +0000

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Around Town 11/18/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 13:00:59 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Stress Reduction for the Holidays Workshop, Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center (in person or via zoom) Friday, November 22, 2025 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Free and open to the public (registration encouraged) To learn more, register, or request the Zoom link, please call 207-664-0339, email info@bethwrightcancercenter.org, Please place “HOLIDAY” in the subject line of the email. Acadia National Park, Park Loop Road closures A Place at the Table: Holding Grief through the Holidays, Beacons of Hope Grief Program at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, in partnership with All Souls Congregational Church, Thursday, November 20th, from 5:30–7:30 pm at All Souls Congregational Church in Bangor. FMI and registration About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 11/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 13:00:55 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Opera House Arts is looking for people who would like to take part in a community reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the Stonington Opera House next month. Cause IQ Activate Maine has launched a community-powered statewide database connecting people with food resources (and vice versa) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 11/17/25: Snowy Tracks & the Dream Incarnate . . .

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 12:30:14 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 11/16/25: A Conversation with Coco and Tracey Faber, 2025, Part 2

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 14:30:19 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is part 2 of an interview with Coco and Tracey Faber, who have spent the past decade working in Maine’s offshore seabird colonies. They discuss the struggles and resilience of seabirds facing storms and changing conditions, share the story of a record-aged puffin still breeding at 36 years old, and reflect on long-term changes in island vegetation and tern colony numbers. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 11/16/25: Flat Earth

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 12:30:39 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 11/15/25

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 14:30:17 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: belfastmaskers.com bookclubs.com/finding-our-voices/join linda@stoningtonmaine.org briarpatchbooks.square.site mainewriters.org bhpl.net bangorpubliclibrary.org operahousearts.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 11/15/25: The Crone

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 13:30:16 +0000

The post Earthwise 11/15/25: The Crone first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 11/15/25

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 12:30:38 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 11/15/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Let’s Talk About It 11/14/25

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 21:00:02 +0000

Producer/Host: Patrisha McLean Production Assistance: Tammy Oropesa Music: Jackie Lee McLean Let’s Talk About It: Conversations with Survivors of Domestic Abuse Liz Eckman talks about how Portland Maine city officials publicly recognized October as Domestic Abuse Awareness Month even as they were silent about criminal charges against their tax assessor for domestic violence assault against her. Topics: 1. Hypocrisy of town officials regarding domestic abuse 2. Court failure to notify victims of domestic abuse 3. Importance of survivors speaking out publicly Guests: Liz Eckman About the host: Patrisha McLean is the founder/president of Finding Our Voices, the grass roots survivor-powered non profit organization breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time all across Maine.

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Around Town 11/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 13:00:41 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Severine Welcome joins us to talk about a new way to connect the downeast food producers with people looking for local food FMI: Eat Downeast About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 11/13/25: Reentry Sisters Educational Initiative

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 22:00:09 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Catherine’s interview with fellow Justice Radio show hosts, Linda Small and Mackenzie Kelley of Reentry Sisters, about their educational initiative that will expand access to college and career pathways for justice-impacted women and gender-expansive people across Maine. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Maine Currents 11/13/25: MAKA – Make America Kind Again

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 21:30:43 +0000

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Deborah “Dee” Tonken and Elaine Parke, founders of MAKA – the “Make America Kind Again” movement About the Host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices and Maine Currents, she also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and the First Place 2017 Radio News Award from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

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Climate & Community 11/13/25: Global Impacts and Local Solutions with Gianluca Nehuén Yornet (Part 2)

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 13:30:34 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with Gianluca Nehuén Yornet, former Maine Service Fellow at the Center for Ecology Based Economy (CEBE). In this segment we learn more about the importance of community leadership in climate action throughout the state and hear about what Gialuca hopes the climate movement will prioritize moving forward. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

The post Climate & Community 11/13/25: Global Impacts and Local Solutions with Gianluca Nehuén Yornet (Part 2) first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 11/13/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 13:00:27 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Indivisible Bangor is looking for volunteers to help with their Saturday protests at Home Depot. Contact Indivisible Bangor for more information and/or to volunteer FMI/background: Home Depot keeps quiet on immigration raids outside its doors (8/19) NPR As ICE Targets Home Depot Stores, Advocates Say Company Is Failing To Protect Day Laborers (10/31) Block Club Chicago (non-profit local news) US: ICE Abuses in Los Angeles Set Stage for Other Cities (11/4) Human Rights Watch Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC) invite you to join them on your lunch break Monday, (12pm-1pm on zoom), for The ABC’s of undermining capitalism: Agitation, Base Building & Community Empowerment, a virtual discussion w/ Author & Organizer Roderick Douglass, author of Starting Somewhere: Community Organizing for Socially Awkward People Who’ve Had Enough Get the zoom link here The Maine Department of Marine Resources has published updated rules for the 2025-26 scallop season, for divers and draggers, and has moved the Scallop Management Areas Map to a new URL About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 11/12/25: Maine Stream Smart Program

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 21:00:52 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves College of the Atlantic provides help with production. Engineering by Joel Mann of WERU Community Radio. Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: What is the problem with traditional round road culverts? Why are they a problem for fish passage? How do traditional round road culverts respond to higher intensity rain storms and flooding? How do “stream smart” road crossings work? Are they worth the investment by Maine towns and private landowners? As Maine Audubon takes the lead for “stream smart” education, who are its partners? What role do Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Councils of Government play in seeking “stream smart” education and implementing better road crossings over streams? Where can listeners get more information about “stream smart” solutions? Guest/s: Sarah Haggerty, Conservation Biologist, Maine Audubon. Julie Sells, Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District. Meg Rasmussen, MidCoast Council of Governments. FMI: Stream Smart Program/Maine Audubon maineaudubon.org/projects/stream-smart/ Knox Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District. www.knox-lincoln.org Midcoast Council of Governments. www.midcoastcog.com Demonstration video Stream Table www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCh1l5unRVI About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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Around Town 11/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 13:00:54 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne U.S. Geological Survey issues alert for downeast and northern Maine, as they start, this month, to use low-flying planes to conduct an “Earth MRI”. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 11/12/25: Water Wars

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 12:30:43 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week Peter Neill, founder of W2O and host of World Ocean Radio, argues that wars, particularly those in the Middle East, are all about the water: rivers, access to the sea: water is the source of life, and of conflict. We all need it in equal measure every day to survive, to thrive, to sustain our nations, cities, agriculture, and ourselves. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Outside the Box 11/11/25: “Secession (Again)”

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 13:30:05 +0000

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Around Town 11/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 13:00:31 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner reacts to news Monday afternoon that an agreement had been reached to reopen the federal government, by a small number of Democrats who joined the Republicans. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 11/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 13:00:03 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine Equal Justice update on the SNAP crisis (Part 2 of 2. Part 1 aired on 11/7/25) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 11/10/25: Scuppers, Rama, & Dr. Livingstone . . .

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 12:30:14 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 11/9/25: A Conversation with Coco and Tracey Faber, 2025, Part 1

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 14:30:52 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is part 1 of an interview with Coco and Tracey Faber who have spent the past decade working in Maine’s offshore seabird colonies. Coco shares her experiences on Seal Island, the state’s largest puffin colony, while Tracey describes her work on nearby Matinicus Rock. Together they reflect on a season of challenges and surprises in the Gulf of Maine, from poor prey availability and storm impacts on terns and Razorbills to unexpectedly strong productivity among puffins. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 11/9/25: 3i Atlas

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 12:30:12 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 11/8/25

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 14:30:04 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: belfastpoetryfestival.com bhpl.net reversingfalls.org wendellgilleymuseum.org swhplibrary.org castinehistoricalsociety.org surrygatherings.org fogtownbrewing.com watervillecreates.org islandportpress.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 11/8/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 11/8/25: Winter Robins

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 13:30:23 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 11/8/25

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 12:30:29 +0000

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Conversations from the Pointed Firs 11/7/25: Jane Crosen

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 21:00:50 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Spencer Albee Music by Casey Neill (Mock Turtle Music) Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. Airs the first Friday of every month from 4-5pm. Online at pointedfirs.org. In this episode, host Peter Neill speaks with Jane Crosen, a self-taught mapmaker who has spent four decades making and interpreting maps, and exploring Maine’s landscape. She found her niche in maps and editing working at DeLorme Publishing in Yarmouth, where she compiled the Gazetteer listings for the all-new 1981 edition of the Maine Atlas and began discovering the natural and historic treasures of her home state. Returning to her roots in Downeast Maine, she moved to the Blue Hill Peninsula where she found further opportunities to explore and grow as an editor, working for WoodenBoat and other publishers. Meanwhile her affinity with maps, Maine, and design inspired her to create a series of hand-drawn maps of Maine coast and lake regions. Along the way she began sharing her passion for map-reading and landscape interpretation through “map-sleuthing” slide talks and workshops. With a growing interest in Downeast Maine’s mapping history and heritage landscape, she discovered George N. Colby’s historic 1881 atlases of Hancock and Washington counties and found them a fascinating source. Since the original and facsimile editions were out of print, she decided to publish new editions of both atlases, arranging the maps in a more geographically consistent layout. Pairing Colby’s archival maps with period photos and excerpts, with an introduction and captions for context, her Coastwise Geographic Edition atlases capture Downeast Maine in the age of sail, in the last glow of a 19th-century coastal economy. For more about Crosen’s work and product line, visit www.mainemapmaker.com. About the host: Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete’s Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.

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Around Town 11/7/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 13:00:08 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne “Standing in Solidarity: Educating for Justice in Palestine,” forums in Orono (Friday, November 7, 6:30-8 PM, Wilson Center) and Bangor (Saturday, November 8, 3-4:30 PM Public Library), sponsored by the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine and UMaine Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Maine Equal Justice update on the SNAP crisis (more on Monday’s AT) Ellsworth Clean-upE-Waste Disposal Day About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 11/6/25: Black Travel Maine

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 22:00:45 +0000

Host/s: Cuba Jackson Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Guest host Cuba Jackson interviews Lisa Parham Jones, founder of Black Travel Maine, about why justice reform is essential in a state where the legal system continues to disproportionately impact communities of color. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 11/6/25

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Host: Stephanie McFeeters, Interim Editor at The Maine Monitor. The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: We hear from Report for America corps member Daniel O’Connor about his reporting on the budget crisis in Washington County and the Maine school districts that have voted to change policies around transgender students. Guests: Daniel O’Connor, daniel@themainemonitor.org FMI: themainemonitor.org/washington-county-11m-bond-rejected/ themainemonitor.org/groups-pushing-schools-change-transgender-policies/

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Climate & Community 11/6/25: Global Impacts and Local Solutions with Gianluca Nehuén Yornet (Part 1)

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 13:30:29 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Today, Climate and Community discusses the importance of local action to global challenges with former Maine Service Fellow Gianluca Nehuén Yornet. We learn about what motivates Gianluca to participate in community-based action and about his host organization Center for Ecology Based Economy in Norway, Maine. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 11/6/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 13:00:28 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Senator Angus King, and at least 70 other members of Congress have issued a letter in opposition the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) recently announced interim final rule ending the automatic extension of employment authorization documents (EAD) for individuals who have filed timely renewal applications. You may submit comments on the entirety of this IFR, identified by DHS Docket No. USCIS-2025-0271, through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal until December 1st. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Healthy Options 11/5/25: AGEISM: Disrupting & Challenging Internal & Societal Beliefs & Actions

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 21:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: -We ALL will get older; how we deal with this reality is important for each of us to face in a positive, life-affirming manner -Age-positivity & how to reframe aging -Why & how do positive views of aging produce healthier outcomes? -The difference between a “health span” and a “life span” -Pervasive age-related stereotypes in society, systemic ageism, & internalized, self-perpetuated ageism -What is internalized ageism & how is it detrimental to all of us as we get older? -The stigmatization of using the term “memory loss” & how it can be used indiscriminately & incorrectly -How older people are treated differently than middle-aged & younger people in health care settings, based on perceptions of their age, versus their well-being & vitality. -Economic disparities & bias that may manifest as we age, in being female and/or a person of color, resulting in a lack of resources and poverty -Downsides of individual responsibility as we age vs. benefits of collective responsibility in communities -What can we learn from other countries in relation to addressing the needs & credits of older citizens? -How older people who want/need to work, & have skills & experience, can aid the employment shortage in Maine -The Leadership Exchange on Aging as a participatory learning experience for leaders in all fields; 350 have graduated from the program, in Maine (see link, below). Guest(s): Jess Mauer, Executive Director of the Maine Council on Aging (MCOA). FMI: Maine Council on Aging (MCOA): mainecouncilonaging.org Northern New England Geriatric Education Center programs: www.dartmouth-hitchcock.org/nnegec/programs#GITT-PC mainecouncilonaging.org/agepositiveme/ Learn about/Join the Tri-State Learning Collaborative on Aging: www.agefriendly.community Leadership Exchange on Ageism mainecouncilonaging.org/leadership-exchange-on-ageism/ About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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Around Town 11/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 13:00:13 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Artivisim in Maine’s Arts in Action summit, What’s Art Got To Do With Freedom & Justice? coming up this weekend in Ellsworth Indivisible’s Solidarity in Action speaker series continues (virtually) tonight, 7 – 8pm, with Solidarity in Action: Protect Immigrant Rights, Build Collective Power with National Director of Immigrant Community Strategies for the ACLU Maribel Hernández Rivera. FMI and to register for the link, click here Friends of Sears Island invites you to attend a free Zoom presentation titled “Sears Island Fungal Project: The Importance of Collection and Conservation”,tomorrow, Thursday at 6:30 pm To register and receive a link to this Zoom presentation, email outreach@friendsofsearsisland.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 11/5/25: Waste

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 12:30:36 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE The most substantial by-product of human consumption is waste, thus far omitted on balance sheets and in calculation of individual and gross national product. Waste comes in many forms: polluted water, poisoned land, energy lost, habitat destroyed, industrial waste, food discarded, planned obsolescence, even recycling. What remains? The ocean. While under stress by the same forces, it contains the necessary supply of source and resource if we have the courage to sustain it. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Outside the Box 11/4/25: “A Rights Economy”

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 13:30:55 +0000

The post Outside the Box 11/4/25: “A Rights Economy” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 11/4/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 13:00:02 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine statewide ballot questions with Ann Luther, League of Women Voters – and voting information from the Secretary of State’s office About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 11/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 13:00:53 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine student mock election results, voting information About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 11/3/25: Thomas Hood, Tuesday’s Vote, Guy Fawkes, & the Hunter’s Moon . . .

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 12:30:56 +0000

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Esoterica 11/2/25: Soul Cakes

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 12:30:55 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 11/1/25

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 13:30:31 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: belfastpoetryfestival.com/maine-postmark-poetry-contest mainereview.com mythichearttheatre.com stonington.lib.me.us ellsworthlibrary.net bagaducemusic.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 11/1/25: The Color Purple

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 12:30:30 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 11/1/25

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 11:30:54 +0000

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Around Town 10/31/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:00:41 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne There will be a protest outside the Bangor Home Depot on Stillwater Avenue on Saturday from noon to 2pm,”in honor of all the workers who have been kidnapped by ICE on Home Depot properties”, organized by Disappeared In America, a project hosted by Public Citizen, National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON), The Workers Circle and Detention Watch Network. The Annual PICA Auction is t= tomorrow at the UU Church on Park Street in Bangor, starting at 3pm (For more information about PICA and their work, check out this episode of Maine Currents that aired last week on WERU) Bangor Band’s Fall Concerts St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Ellsworth will host its second annual Community of Hope Service on Saturday, November 1, at 3 PM in St. Dunstan’s sanctuary on State Street in Ellsworth. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 10/30/25: Robert Black

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 21:00:36 +0000

Host/s: Emily Goulette Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Emily’s interview with Maine Indigent Defense Center intern Robert Black about the public defense crisis and labor unions. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Around Town 10/30/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 12:00:17 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI: Today’s guest, Kristi Williamson on facebook or Kristi Ann Williamson on Instragram, email ladymoon.selene(at)gmail.com Mythic Heart Theatre The Wellness Sanctuary in Blue Hill Live From Love Center in Brehem About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 10/29/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 12:00:25 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Brunswick-based nonprofit Full Plates Full Potential is hosting a virtual town hall on SNAP in Maine, tomorrow afternoon at 4 on SNAP in Maine. Register to get the zoom link Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry in Ellsworth is partnering with The Food Trust, Ellsworth Adult Ed, Healthy Acadia and Good Shepard Food Bank to continue offering “Cooking Matters” classes. There is currently a waiting listing but Loaves and Fishes encourages interested Hancock County residents to contact them so they can get a sense of how much demand there is as they plan the next session. FMI: Call Ellsworth Adult Education at 207-664-7110. Looking for a food bank near you? Feeding America can help you find one by zip code. There is also a list on the State of Maine’s website The Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Indivisible Bangor, and Pax Christi Maine continue their community forum series this Saturday, Nov 1st, from 3-4:30 at the Bangor Public Library (in the Minsky Lecture hall on the 3rd floor). About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 10/29/25: Solastalgia, A Word for Change

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 11:30:19 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio, our host Peter Neill is thinking about the word “solastalgia”, described as a deep grief over changing landscapes that were once familiar; feeling ‘homesick’ while still being at home, due to rapid alterations to the environment; the stress from experiencing change and loss in the face of rapid, disruptive change. Peter suggests that solastalgia may offer the opposite effects of hopelessness, melancholy, and despair, providing the conditions for commitment, engagement, dedication, optimism, and invention. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Outside the Box 10/28/25: “Future Values”

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 12:30:39 +0000

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Around Town 10/28/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 12:00:17 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Sara Trunzo from the Maine Songwriters Association is here to let singer-song writer fans know about the 15th Annual Maine Songwriters Association, Songwriting Contest Finals coming up next Sunday, 11/2 at Cadenza in Freeport. (Sara also hosts Country and Northeastern here on WERU, Wednesday mornings from 9-10) The ACLU is hosting a virtual national town hall on Thursday. They say “On October 30, join ACLU and leading voices from civil society, media, and law for an urgent live, online discussion on how to confront authoritarianism, chart a path forward, and harness the power of solidarity and collective action.” This is the link to the website for more information, to register for the town hall link, and to leave questions for the speakers. The League of Women Voters reminds everyone that the last day to request an absentee ballot is this Thursday, October 30 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 10/27/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 12:00:34 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A community coalition of groups including Presente! Maine and the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition have launched a Maine ICE Watch hotline to protect immigrant families, verify immigration enforcement activity, and connect families to resources. Maine ICE Watch Resource Hub & Hotline: (207) 544-9989 Greenfield Penobscot Estuary Remediation Trust LLC (Trustee of the Penobscot Estuary Mercury Remediation Trust) invite you to join them on Wednesday (Oct 29th) at the Alamo Theatre. They’ll have drop in hours from 2-5pm, and a presentation from 6-7pm They’ll provide updates on mercury remediation activities, a proposed pilot test for capping intertidal flats, long-term monitoring progress and plans, and other topics. Refreshments will be provided. Stonington Opera House Halloween Clue Night – games and film screening About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 10/27/25: Thomas, Tanning, Brautigan, Sandburg, Shakespeare, & Halloween . . .

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 11:30:32 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 11/2/25: Two Domes Diverged by a Stream Channel, Part 2

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 13:30:43 +0000

Host: Celeste Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode continues Laura Hatmaker’s reflections on Balch Head Heath and the dilemmas of conservation management. She considers the uncertainties of bog succession, the challenges of climate change and incomplete historical records, and the importance of long-term monitoring. Laura shares her work establishing protocols for future surveys, ensuring that data will guide conservation decisions for years to come. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 10/26/25: Two Domes Diverged by a Stream Channel, Part 1

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 13:30:33 +0000

Host: Celeste Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode features part one of an essay by environmental scientist Laura Hatmaker, exploring Balch Head Heath, a rare Coastal Plateau Bog in Lubec, Maine. Laura describes the contrasting northern and southern domes of the peatland, the habitat of the rare Crowberry Blue butterfly, and the questions conservationists face when deciding whether to intervene in natural processes. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 10/26/25: Both Ends of the Stick

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 11:30:26 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 10/25/25

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 13:30:19 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: wordfestival.org courthousegallery.com jacksonmemoriallibrary.org swhplibrary.org bhpl.net Ross Gallagher About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 10/25/25: The Skull

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 12:30:26 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 10/25/25

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 11:30:03 +0000

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Power for the People 10/24/25: Solar Panels Are One of Your Best Financial Investments

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 20:30:32 +0000

Producer/Host: Steve Kahl Power for the People: Energy education and solutions for Mainers and Maine communities This month: 1) The future of the solar industry after federal tax credits expire. 2) Solar PV options in 2026 when the commercial tax credit remains in effect. 3) Why a return of 8 to 9% with NO risk and with NO income tax is a great investment. Guest/s: Aaron Cartterfield, Director of Business Development, Maine Solar Solutions. FMI: aaron@mainecolarsolutions.com mainesolarsolutions.com About the host: Steve Kahl developed and has hosted Power for the People since 2015. He retired after 9 years as Professor of Environmental Science at Thomas College in 2024, where he taught environmental and energy courses and advised the student sustainability club. He is a member of the Friends of Quarry Road Trails board of directors in Waterville where he is the main advocate for a net-zero energy welcome center. Steve advised the board of WERU-FM on making the station studios 100% solar powered and worked with Sundog Solar in Searsport to make it happen back in 2020. Steve is a career lake researcher in addition to roles in energy and sustainability, and was a founding member of the Lake Stewards of Maine in the 1990s and is currently back on their board. He is past board President of Maine Lakes, the NH Lake Association, and the Lake Winnipesaukee Association. Prior to moving home to Maine in 2004, he was a member of the Energy Commission in Plymouth NH where he obtained Dept of Energy funding for the renovation of a town office building to net-zero energy as well as the installation of 160 KW of solar PV panels on town properties, including a major PV array at the sewage treatment plant that offsets 40% of its electrical costs. Steve’s past positions include Sustainability Director at Unity College where he developed a plan for the college to become 100% solar powered and earned the college the prestigious STARS Gold sustainability ranking with the American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education. Before that, he was Director of Environmental and Energy Strategies for the James Sewall Company of Old Town where he led a Maine Technology Institute research project that found that the Maine electric grid could be 100% solar powered if all suitably-oriented rooftops had solar PV panels. His lake research was done while serving as founding director of the Senator George Mitchell Center for Environmental Research at the University of Maine. His own 1940s-era home is 100% electric, where he has installed two air-source heat pumps to eliminate heating oil, a hybrid hot water heater to reduce his water heating costs by 70%, and insulated the basement and attic to reduce the ‘stack effect’ of cold air coming in the basement and forcing heat out of the attic. He has solar panels on his summer place at the lake and hasn’t paid for any electricity there since 2011. In 2025, he added 6 KW of solar PV on his main home, with the goal to be net zero energy on an annual basis. Steve has a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of Maine.

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Coastal Conversations 10/24/25: Scuba Divers, Part 2

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 20:00:25 +0000

Host: Kristin Zunino Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. This episode of Coastal Conversations is the second episode of a two part series about Maine’s changing marine ecology from professional certified scuba divers occupying the Mid-Coast and Greater Portland area. We are joined by six divers with a total of 166 years of dive experience in Maine. With jobs in research, marine conservation, and scuba businesses, they all dive as part of their careers. Our local divers tell us their observations and predictions of change within their underwater secondary home. Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. Guest/s: Richard Wahle, retired lobster scientist at the University of Maine Levi Robbins, manager of Aqua Diving Academy Paul Rollins, the owner of Rollins Scuba Associates Phoebe Jekielek, kelp and shellfish scientist at the University of Maine Emily Drappeau, divemaster for OceansWide Marissa McMahan, Senior Director of Fisheries at Manomet Conservation Sciences and member of Maine Climate Council Thank you Galen Koch, Zach Soares and Natalie Springuel for editing and production assistance. Thank you Sean Todd for production assistance and support during the interview period. About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 10/24/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 12:01:17 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) this week issued a second Notice of Violation to Mallinckrodt US LLC/Medtronic related to the lack of meaningful progress remediating the former chloralkali manufacturing facility located along the Penobscot River in Orrington Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s letter to Trump in response to the demolition of the East Wing of the White House this week. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 10/23/25: Recovery Coaching and Prison

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 21:00:39 +0000

Host/s: Mackenzie Kelley Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Mackenzie interviews Niki Merrill, Program Coordinator for the Maine Department of Corrections through the Portland Recovery Community Center, to talk about recovery coaching in prison. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Maine Currents 10/23/25: U.S./El Salvador Sister Cities- Strong Connections & Shared Threats to Human Rights

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 20:03:34 +0000

Producer/Host: Amy Browne The relationships forged between local Mainers and folks in El Salvador have been strengthened over the decades, built on mutual respect and learning from each other. In addition to the PICA/Bangor Sister City relationship with the town of Carasque, WERU has a Sister Station, Radio Sumpul, and MOFGA has built connections with farming organizations there. Today both countries seem to be on the same path to authoritarianism, justified in both places as a crack down on crime. Long-time volunteers and staff from U.S./El Salvador Sister Cities weigh in on where we may be headed. Guests: Kelly Calles, Jon Falk, Olivia Petipas, Zulma Tobar, and Karen Volckhausen About the Host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices and Maine Currents, she also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and the First Place 2017 Radio News Award from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

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Around Town 10/23/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 12:00:43 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Grace Johnston-Fennell from Out in the Open is here today with an invitation to the upcoming free public screening of the documentary Heightened Scrutiny, followed by a discussion, next Thursday, October 30th, 6 p.m. at the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 10/22/25: Ratification of the High Seas Treaty

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:30:36 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio we are discussing the September 2025 news that Morocco has become the 60th nation to ratify the High Seas Treaty, a two-decades long process to establish and protect a vast complex of biodiversity in international waters. This is a major milestone and a huge step forward, uniting many rules promoted by many UN agencies under a single rubric and framework for coherent protection. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 10/22/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:00:33 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne State Representative Sean Faircloth speaking at the No Kings rally in Bangor on Saturday, October 18th, 2025 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 10/21/25: “Distant Future”

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 12:30:35 +0000

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Around Town 10/21/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 12:00:01 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne State Representative Amy Roeder speaking at the No Kings rally in Bangor on Saturday, October 18th, 2025 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 10/20/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 12:00:59 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Troy Jackson, 5th generation logger, former State Senate President and current gubernatorial candidate, speaking at the No Kings! rally at Broadway Park in Bangor on Saturday, October 18th, 2025 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 10/20/25: The Bar Harbor 1947 Fire, Arthur Rimbaud, & a Pair of Comets . . .

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 11:30:37 +0000

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Esoterica 10/19/25: One Check, One Envelope & One @#*% Stamp

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 11:30:15 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 10/18/25

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 13:30:16 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: belfastpoetryfestival.com mainepublic.org wordfestival.org swhplibrary.org bhpl.net nehlibrary.org jesuplibrary.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 10/18/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 10/18/25

Sat, 18 Oct 2025 11:30:28 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 10/18/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Democracy Forum 10/17/25: What’s On Your Ballot?

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 20:00:27 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: We’ll talk about the two ballot questions that appear on the November 4 state ballot in Maine. How does the citizen initiative process work in Maine. What are the two ballot questions this year? What the new laws would do, if passed? What are the proponents saying; what are the opponents saying? Who’s funding the campaigns? Guest/s: Mark Brewer, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine. Amy Fried, Professor Emerita of Political Science, University of Maine. Michael Shepherd, Political editor at the Bangor Daily News. To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 10/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 12:00:04 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne No Kings Day rallies tomorrow. Dave Cox from Indivisible Bangor is here with details of the No Kings Day rally and march there. Rally locations, details and more info: Indivisible Bangor No Kings! Activate Maine calendar About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 10/16/25: Youth Justice Network with Ben

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 21:00:58 +0000

Host/s: Swathi Sivasubramanian and Liv Eckert Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Swathi and Liv’s interview with Youth Justice Network intern Ben. They discuss travel, the freedom it brings, the people we meet along the way, and explore transportation and housing policy. We hope this lighthearted conversation brings you joy—and inspires reflection on those who lack the freedom to travel. Let’s think radically about how we can transform systems and create pathways for more people to roam the world freely. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

The post Justice Radio 10/16/25: Youth Justice Network with Ben first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Climate & Community 10/16/25: Planting Seeds with the Brooklin Climate Response Committee (Part 2)

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 12:30:05 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: This week Climate and Community continues to learn from Corrinne Collett and Doug Hylan, members of the Brooklin Climate Response Committee. In this segment, we highlight the committee’s approach to reaching as many people as possible to introduce them to ways they can contribute to climate action. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

The post Climate & Community 10/16/25: Planting Seeds with the Brooklin Climate Response Committee (Part 2) first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 10/16/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 12:00:20 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The League of Women Voters is looking for more Election Observation volunteers, and offering two training sessions this month via zoom. The first session is tonight. Register to get the zoom link here There will be a sign making party for No Kings Day tomorrow (Friday) at the Food AND Medicine building at 20 Ivers Street in Brewer from 6-8 pm Nazi graffiti painted on Bangor walking path, Annie Rupertus, Bangor Daily News, 10/14/25 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 10/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 12:00:22 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Mattie Bamman, Emcee of 2nd Annual Haiku Death Match, and Maya Stein, Belfast Poet Laureate and Co-Director of the Belfast Poetry Festival invite you to join them this weekend for the annual poetry festival, starting with the Haiku Death Match on Friday night About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 10/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Outside the Box 10/14/25: “Charter of the Forest”

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 12:30:13 +0000

The post Outside the Box 10/14/25: “Charter of the Forest” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 10/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 12:00:22 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Local No Kings Day rallies coming up on Saturday, and an ACLU webinar to prep for the event About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 10/13/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 12:00:19 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Indigenous Peoples Day with Donna Loring Donna Loring Hasn’t Stopped Championing Wabanaki Rights- Dave Dostie, Downeast Magazine, November 2021 Donna Loring: Leader and Advocate – University of Maine Alumni Association Wabanaki Windows archives Indigenous views of Christopher Columbus, Penn Today, 2020 Celebrating Columbus continues to be controversial, Marshall Terrill, Arizona State University, 2018 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 10/13/25: Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Leif Ericson, Chris Columbus, & Joy Harjo . . .

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 11:30:29 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 10/13/25: Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Leif Ericson, Chris Columbus, & Joy Harjo . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 10/12/25: Sailing the Maine Coast, part 7

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 13:30:48 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser In this episode, Glen rows and sails along Mount Desert Island’s south shore, recalling his early days learning plants and birds and the beginnings of his field ecology career. He describes the quiet rhythm of rowing and decades of ecological surveys along the Maine coast. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

The post Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 10/12/25: Sailing the Maine Coast, part 7 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Esoterica 10/12/25: Who Stole My Religion?

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 11:30:43 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 10/12/25: Who Stole My Religion? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 10/11/25

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 13:30:14 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: reversingfalls.org gailpage.com peninsulapotters.com belfastpoetryfestival.com artwavesmdi.org swhplibrary.org bhpl.net About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 10/11/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 10/11/25: The Element of Wood

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 12:30:05 +0000

The post Earthwise 10/11/25: The Element of Wood first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 10/11/25

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:30:23 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 10/11/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Let’s Talk About It 10/10/25

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 20:00:56 +0000

Producer/Host: Patrisha McLean Production Assistance: Tammy Oropesa Music: Jackie Lee McLean Let’s Talk About It: Conversations with Survivors of Domestic Abuse Sarah Doucette, author of Stronger Than That: A Domestic Violence Survivor Uncovers the Truth About Her Abuser, talks about the many factors that trapped her with a sociopath. Topics: 1. Financial abuse 2. Religion trapping you in abuse 3. Parental enabling Guests: Sarah Doucette About the host: Patrisha McLean is the founder/president of Finding Our Voices, the grass roots survivor-powered non profit organization breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time all across Maine.

The post Let’s Talk About It 10/10/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 10/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 12:00:43 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Thomasina DiBiase from Frenchman Bay Conservancy stops by with an announcement about an opportunity to protect 5788 acres in Amherst, near the headwaters of both the Union and Penobscot Rivers. They’ll need help from the community to raise the funds before a deadline in December… About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 10/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Justice Radio 10/9/25: Right to Redemption, Part III

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 21:00:37 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Part 3 of Catherine’s 3-part interview with Kempis “Ghani” Songster, Transformative Healing & Restorative Justice Manager for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY), as they talk about how to work with District Attorney’s to refer cases of very serious violence involving youth to an intensive accountability and healing focused restorative justice process rather than to courts and prison. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

The post Justice Radio 10/9/25: Right to Redemption, Part III first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Climate & Community 10/9/25: Planting Seeds with the Brooklin Climate Response Committee (Part 1)

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:30:54 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: This week Climate and Community speaks with Corrinne Collett and Doug Hylan, members of the Brooklin Climate Response Committee. In this segment Corrinne and Doug discuss how their committee got started and the success they’ve experienced with their energy coaching initiative. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 10/9/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:00:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Ann Luther from the League of Women Voters is here today with information about the ballot questions Mainers will be voting on in November Maine Citizen’s Guide to the Referendum Election Democracy Forum archives About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 10/8/25: Island Readers and Writers & Dear Teacher Conference

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 20:00:58 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves Production support from College of the Atlantic. Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: How do the programs of Island Readers and Writers help students become confident, curious and engaged learners? What is the decade long history of Island Readers and Writers? How did it move from serving classrooms on the unbridged islands to also include schools in Washington County, Maine? What are some outcomes of bringing authors and illustrators of children’s books into Maine classrooms? What have you learned that teachers want, in order to help them become better teachers of reading and writing? What is the focus of the state-wide Dear Teacher conference on November 6 2025? Guest/s: Courtney Waring, Executive Director, Island Readers and Writers. Alison Johnson, Director of School Programs, Island Readers and Writers. Penny Johnson Principal of Perry Elementary. Everett Caroll 4-6th grade ELA teacher Milbridge Elementary. FMI: Island Readers and Writers islandreadersandwriters.org/ Dear Teacher Conference. islandreadersandwriters.org/events/ Dear Teacher Keynote speaker John Schu www.johnschu.com/ About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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World Ocean Radio 10/8/25: The Value of Nature Lost

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 12:30:05 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Nature is a most significant factor on the global balance sheet, and the cost of nature loss affects many key economic sectors. To deny or exclude nature’s true value is flawed economics and failed presentation of profit and loss for earth’s natural resources and systems. This week on World Ocean Radio we are discussing a Ceres publication entitled, “Nature’s Price Tag: The Economic Cost of Nature Lost” that explores the decline in ecosystem services used by five nature loss drivers and argue that the larger ecosystem service perspective must be included in the true cost analysis of most everything we use, make, and consume. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 10/8/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 12:00:39 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities national speaking tour, “The Future is Collective: From Crisis to Liberation”, kicks off tonight at the UU Church in Bangor at 6:30pm. Jonathan Falk and Olivia are here with the details About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 10/7/25: ”Worker Pay”

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 12:30:18 +0000

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Around Town 10/7/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 12:00:06 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Kayla Gagnon is here this morning to invite listeners to a “Know Your Rights- Interaction with Law Enforcement” workshop at the UU Church in Ellsworth tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, 5-8pm. For more information and to RSVP, email kayla.amy.gagnon(at)gmail.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 10/6/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 12:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne We speak with author James B Wells who will be in Maine next week (Bangor, Ellsworth and Lincoln) talking about his latest book, Because: A CIA Coverup & a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew October 8 | Bangor, ME | The Briar Patch BookSpace – 48 Columbia Street, downtown Bangor | Discussion & signing Because | 7:00 pm October 9 | Ellsworth, ME | Ellsworth Public Library | Discussion and signing Because | 5:00 pm | Books available through Union River Book & Toy Co. to pre-order or at the event. October 11 | Lincoln, ME | Our Heroes Military Museum | Discussion and signing Because | 2 :00 to 4:00 pm | Books can be pre-ordered at most bookstores or at the event. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 10/6/25: Von Behaim’s Erdapfel, a Keatsian Autumn, & Plumly’s Beach . . .

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 11:30:33 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 10/5/25: Sailing the Maine Coast, part 6

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 13:30:10 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Leaving Marshall Island after a rainy night at anchor, Glen sails east toward Mason Ledge, a long-time seabird colony. Along the way, he notes loons now commonly seen on saltwater in summer, lines of black guillemots, and flocks of southbound semipalmated sandpipers. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 10/5/25: Give Peace A Chance

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 11:30:03 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 10/4/25

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 13:30:52 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: wordfestival.org deerisleartists.com mainecraftweekend.org peninsulapotters.com penobscotmarinemuseum.org schoodicartsforall.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 10/4/25: The Color Orange

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 12:30:22 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 10/4/25

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 11:30:13 +0000

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Conversations from the Pointed Firs 10/3/25: Ian Ludders

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 20:00:17 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger Music by Casey Neill (Mock Turtle Music) Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. Airs the first Friday of every month from 4-5pm. Online at pointedfirs.org. Ian Ludders, author of “Didn’t Do Much but a Little of Everything”, a micro-history of Dalton Raynes who’s workday diary from his 19th year, in 1897, serves as the book’s center, and of Bob Quinn who worked the land up into the 2000s. Ian Ludders, who annotated the text, worked as a day laborer with Bob Quinn before he moved to the island to work and fish with Bob and to manage Eagle for the Quinn family. “Didn’t Do Much but a Little of Everything” encapsulates life on the small community of Eagle Island, and was produced primarily for the small community of people who know and love it, though it will be of interest to anyone who loves Maine, island, and coastal living. About the host: Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete’s Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.

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Around Town 10/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 12:00:54 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Weekend events: SardineFest at the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport Fundraiser for Friends of Sears Island with Bookhead Sweettooth at Hey Sailor! Marshall Wharf Brewing Company’s annual Belfast Bay Beer Bash Climate Resiliency Fair in Belfast About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 10/2/25: Logan Perkins

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 21:00:19 +0000

Host/s: Rob Ruffner Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Rob’s interview with Logan Perkins, District Defender of the Maine Highlands Region Public Defender’s office which represents people from Penobscot and Piscataquis counties, as they talk about their work, jail overcrowding, and concerns surrounding the Penobscot County Sheriff’s decision to end Maine Pre-Trial Services. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 10/2/2025

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 20:00:32 +0000

Host: Kate Cough, Editor at The Maine Monitor. The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: A Maine State Police trooper pinned a handcuffed man to the ground and repeatedly punched him in the face during an arrest. The episode raises questions about the agency’s use of force policy and its process for reviewing complaints. Reporters Josh Keefe and Callie Ferguson take listeners behind the scenes of their recent investigation. Guests: Josh Keefe, josh@themainemonitor.org Callie Ferguson, cferguson@bangordailynews.com FMI: themainemonitor.org/stop-punching-him/

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Around Town 10/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 12:00:41 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine AFL-CIO issues statement on federal government shutdown Friends of Sears Island‘s upcoming Island Tree walk Bangor Visibility Brigade About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 10/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 16:52:59 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Patrisha McLean, CEO/Founder of Finding Our Voices and host of Let’s Talk About It on WERU joins us to invite listeners to Finding Our Voices events this month, in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness month If you or someone you know is currently in immediate danger, call 911. The Maine 24/7 confidential helpline is 1-866-834-4357 (Source: www.FindingOurVoices.net) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 10/1/25: Calculating Ocean Risk

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:30:11 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE “Climate change has been one the greatest failures of risk management in modern history.” So states the Back to Blue Initiative, an Economist and Nippon Foundation project. A recent article entitled “Calculating Ocean Risk” additionally states: “The scientific evidence had been clear for decades, but decision-makers have failed to act in a manner consistent with the scale of the risk.” This week on World Ocean Radio we are discussing the calculation of risk to the ocean, and its impact on all aspect of the global economy. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Wabanaki Windows 9/30/25: Breaking the Silence 2

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 20:00:50 +0000

Host: Donna Loring Other credits: Technical assistance for the show was provided by Joel Mann of WERU, and Jessica Lockhart. Music by Ralph Richter, a track called little eagles from his CD Dream Walk. Wabanaki Windows is a monthly show featuring topics of interest from a Wabanaki perspective. This month: Based on a letter from the Wolastoqewi-Mothers, Grandmothers and Aunties. Guest/s: Prof. Darren Ranco, a member of the Penobscot Nation, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Native American Studies at the University of Maine. Rabbi Rachel Isaacs was named one of “America’s Most Inspiring Rabbis” (2014) by the Jewish Daily Forward. Ordained in 2011 by the Jewish Theological Seminary, where she studied as a Wexner Graduate Fellow, Rabbi Isaacs is the spiritual leader of Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville Maine. She is also the inaugural holder of the Dorothy “Bibby” Levine Alfond chair in Jewish Studies, teaching courses on Hebrew, Jewish theology, and Jewish humor. In 2016, she delivered the final Hanukkah benediction of the Obama administration at the White House. About the host: Donna M Loring is a Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder, and former Council Member. She represented the Penobscot Nation in the State Legislature for over a decade. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Mills. She is the author of “In The Shadow of The Eagle A Tribal Representative In Maine”. Donna has an Annual lecture series in her name at the University of New England that addresses Social Justice and Human Rights issues. In 2017 She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Humane Letters from the University of Maine Orono and was given the Alumni Service Award. It is the most prestigious recognition given by the University of Maine Alumni Association. It is presented Annually to a University of Maine graduate whose life’s work is marked by outstanding achievements in professional, business, civic and/or Public service areas. Donna received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in May of 2022

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Outside the Box 9/30/25: “Routines”

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:30:13 +0000

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Around Town 9/30/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:00:44 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Brenda Harrington and Ellie Daniels of the Waldo County Climate Action Coalition invite you to the Climate Resilience Fair in Belfast on Saturday, October 4th About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 9/29/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 12:00:52 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne State Senator Mike Tipping and Toby McGrath of Protect Our Care Maine Chapter, speaking last week about the impact Mainers will feel from the federal cuts to health care funding. Audio recorded by Protect Our Care About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 9/29/25: Of Allaying the Drought & Allowing Jessica Rigney . . .

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 11:30:54 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 9/28/25: Sailing the Maine Coast, part 5

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 13:30:57 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Anchored in Boxam Cove on Marshall Island, Glen reflects on a rainy night lit by the glow of bioluminescent plankton. Morning brings fog, eagles, schools of fish, and the striking contrast of dark spruce forests against patches of blue sky as Glen shares the beauty and solitude of Maine’s wild offshore islands. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 9/28/25: Post Technology

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 11:30:06 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 9/27/25

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 13:30:36 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: surrygatherings.org bhpl.org twofeetbrewing.com wordfestival.org rocklandmakers.me worldpostcardday.com swhplibrary.org maineadulted.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 9/27/25: The Hanged Man of the Tarot

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 12:30:47 +0000

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Coastal Conversations 9/26/25: Scuba Divers

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 20:00:42 +0000

Host: Kristin Zunino Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. In this episode of Coastal Conversations, we will hear the voices, story, and hopes for Downeast Maine’s changing marine ecology by professional certified scuba divers. This is the first episode of a two part series showcasing scuba divers’ unique perspective of the coastal environment as they are fully immersed in the underwater landscape. We are joined by six divers with a total of 222 years of dive experience in Maine. Our local divers tell us their observations and predictions of change in the Downeast region. Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. Guest/s: Campbell Scott, founder of OceansWide Edward Monat or Diver Ed, founder of the Dive-in Theater Edna Martin, Captain of the Dive-in Theater Ed Leighter, recreational diver in Eastport and Mount Desert island Mike Staggs, member of a local dive club on Mount Desert Island Richard Wahle, retired lobster scientist at the University of Maine Thank you Galen Koch, Zach Soares and Natalie Springuel for editing and production assistance. Thank you Sean Todd for production assistance and support during the interview period. About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 9/26/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 12:00:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Anthem and Northern Light Health negotiations Sears Island activity kits for children ages 5-12 28th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival at Stonington Opera House, tonight at 7pm.Maine DOT will be closing the Broadway off ramp in Bangor Friday evening, reopening on Monday morning About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Finding a Place: A Community Storytelling Event 9/25/25

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 22:00:17 +0000

Seven residents of Castine, Maine, with guidance and support from story coach Lizzie Peabody, became storytellers and performed on the evening of September 25, 2025 in the Hutchins Education Center of the Wilson Museum in Castine. The stories dealt with a sense of place, and the theme was “finding a place.” Many thanks to the Maine Humanities Council for supporting the event with a grant.

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Justice Radio 9/25/25: Puddle Dock Festival

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 21:00:51 +0000

Host/s: Swathi Sivasubramanian and Liv Eckert Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Linda and Mackenzie’s interview with Peter Bruun, artist, writer, cultural organizer, and curator of the Puddle Dock Festival in Alna Maine, about community justice and wellbeing. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

The post Justice Radio 9/25/25: Puddle Dock Festival first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 9/25/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 12:00:08 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A new chapter of ACT-UP has formed in Maine in response to a cluster of HIV cases in the Bangor area in recent months. They invite others to join them and are holding trainings in Bangor this weekend. Jae Echeverria is here with the details About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 9/24/25: Inventive Water Conservation Projects in India

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 12:30:09 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Water scarcity is among the foremost challenges to national and regional financial security and public health in India. This week on World Ocean Radio we outline a sampling of water tech innovations that are demonstrating the ingenuity and extent of invention in response to the water crisis. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 9/24/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 12:00:31 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Paula Kee from Wednesday on Main in Bucksport joins us to talk about upcoming events in town About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 9/23/25: “Humanitarian Industrial Complex”

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 12:30:09 +0000

The post Outside the Box 9/23/25: “Humanitarian Industrial Complex” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 9/23/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 12:00:12 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine CD1 Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s recent letters to the Dept. of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials demanding answers about masked agents in unmarked cars carrying out ICE operations on a school access road in Portland during drop off time, and denial of access to the ICE facility in Scarborough. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 9/22/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 12:00:24 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Penobscot Bay Waterkeeper invites you to join them tomorrow, Tuesday, September 23 at 5:30 PM for a Zoom presentation to discuss the natural wonders of the 54-acre Little River property and efforts to permanently conserve this special land in Belfast. The next No Kings! national day of protest is coming up on Saturday, October 18th, and a location has been announced in Bangor The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry’s Board of Pesticides Control, in partnership with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, reminds Maine home and family farm owners that pre-registration is required by Friday, September 26, 2025 to participate in their free, one-day obsolete pesticide collection events taking place in October in Presque Isle, Bangor, Augusta, and Portland. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 9/22/25: Blaming Tools, Outperforming Coders, & Debby Boone . . .

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:30:19 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 9/22/25: Blaming Tools, Outperforming Coders, & Debby Boone . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 9/21/25: Sailing the Maine Coast, part 4

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 13:30:44 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser As Glen sails past Roberts and Brimstone Islands south of Vinalhaven, he reflects on decades of baseline research in collaboration with Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge—mapping vegetation, inventorying plants, and surveying birds to track long-term ecological change. Along the way, he shares the challenges of island fieldwork, a close puffin sighting far from a breeding colony, and the occasional mishap with lobster buoys. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 9/21/25: Ouija Boards: Tools or Toys?

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 11:30:21 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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Earthwise 9/20/25: Balance and the Fall Equinox

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 12:30:54 +0000

The post Earthwise 9/20/25: Balance and the Fall Equinox first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 9/20/25

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 11:30:40 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 9/20/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Democracy Forum 9/19/25: Constitutional Crisis: The Penalties for Free Speech

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 20:00:02 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: We’ll talk about free speech, chilled speech, and self-censorship — historically in the U.S. and currently. We’ve been producing this radio show for over 20 years, and this is the first time that invited guests have been afraid to come on the radio and criticize the federal government. This is not normal. This will be the sixth program in our series on the constitutional crisis. Guest/s: Molly Curren Rowles, Executive Director, ACLU Maine. Timothy Zick, Robert & Elizabeth Scott Research Professor and John Marshall Professor of Government and Citizenship, William and Mary Law School. To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 9/19/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 12:00:21 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Tod Hardin from the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill invites the community to upcoming screenings of SLUDGE: A PFAS UPRISING followed by panel discussions and Q&A, in Bucksport and Stonington About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 9/18/25: Joy & Defiance

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 21:00:40 +0000

Host/s: Swathi Sivasubramanian and Liv Eckert Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Swathi and Liv interview Joseph Jackson, Executive Director of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, and MPAC Youth Program Coordinator, Andre Hicks, to talk about joy, defiance, and the carceral system in Maine. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Creative Maine 9/18/25: Finding your Creative Community

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 20:00:05 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. This episode introduces us to ways to find a creative community in Maine. Guest/s: Kelley Barrett, Owner of Verona Wine and Bistro, Bucksport Maine veronawinebistro@gmail.com Amber Mazza, Owner of Gealach Fola Acres and Midcoast Fiber Artists in Searsport. Theresa Johnston, Owner of The Crafty Grimalkin in Bangor www.craftygrimalkin.com Anna Fleming, Teen Librarian of The Bangor Public Library www.bangorpubliclibrary.org About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach in the JMG program. She performs with the Bangor Band, where she has been a Board Member at Large for four years, and is a member of a trombone quartet based at The University of Maine, The Bear Bones.

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Climate & Community 9/18/25: The Sun-Day Initiative with Marcia Taylor and Tom Mikulka (Part 2)

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:30:40 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with Marcia Taylor and Tom Mikulka learning about what inspires them to be a part of the movement for solar energy. They share their hopes for the outcome of the Sun-Day event and their vision for a future powered by renewable energy. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 9/18/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:00:38 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Senator Susan Collins questioning Dr. Susan Monarez, former CDC Director ousted by RFK, Jr, and Dr. Debra Houry, former CDC Chief Medical Officer, at a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday, 9/17/25 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 9/17/25: Corpus Christi, Texas-Running Dry

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 12:30:37 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio we’re discussing a news story provided by Inside Climate News that highlights Corpus Christi, Texas and its intensively water-dependent industrial projects that, by special commitments and permits, are consuming the necessary water supply at a rate of 30 million gallons per day, drawn from an already-stressed groundwater supply, now further exacerbated by droughts and population consumption. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 9/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 12:00:45 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Ella McDonald, PhD forestry student at the University of Maine, stops by to let everyone know about the upcoming day-long workshop Preserving Ash, Protecting Traditions and a warning from a former President carried in Maine newspapers 90 years ago today. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Relationship Rewind 9/16/25: Once Upon A Time

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 20:00:49 +0000

Host: Carrie Clark at NextStep Domestic Violence Project. NextStep 24/7 Helpline: 1(800) 315-5579 Theme Music for the show donated by local musicians Megan Light and Nathan Spears. Relationship Rewind: Rewinding relationships in popular media and breaking down behaviors based in power, control, and abuse. This episode: 1. Discussing unhealthy behaviors in the tv series “Once Upon a Time.” 2. Discussing how media normalizes these behaviors. 3. Discussing the impacts of these messages about these relationships and people, on young people in real life. Guest: Cheyenne FMI: www.nextstepdvproject.org About the hosts: Alli Williamson is the youth educator and advocate for NextStep Domestic Violence Project based in Hancock and Washington County, ME. She teaches young people from Kindergarten to College about what power and control looks like in friendships and relationships, what resources are available to support those experiencing this, and how we can work to make our schools and communities safer and more equal spaces where abuse may be less likely to happen.

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Outside the Box 9/16/25: “Ten Rules”

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 12:30:36 +0000

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Around Town 9/16/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 12:00:52 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Free Screenings of Local Interest Documentaries at the Stonington Opera House Building Hope: Ending Homelessness on Tuesday, September 16 at 7pm The first fall forum of the Peace and Justice Group of Waldo County will be held Wed., Sept 17, 2025 at 6 pm, in the Abbott Room of the Belfast Free Library. FMI email: peace.and.justice.waldo@gmail.com This September, the Ellsworth Public Library (EPL) invites everyone to celebrate Library Card Sign-Up Month and discover how a single card can open the door to endless opportunities… About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 9/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:00:47 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Dr. Charles Rolsky, Executive Director and Senior Research Scientist at the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill stops by to share some good news on the medical research front. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 9/15/25: Of Hangers & Hangars, Agatha Christie, & Tonto . . .

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 11:30:09 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 9/14/25: Sailing the Maine Coast, part 3

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 13:30:33 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Drifting in Penobscot Bay, Glen shares the sounds of a ringing bell buoy, a close encounter with harbor porpoises, and surprising concentrations of moon jellyfish. When the sea breeze arrives, he sails south of Vinalhaven, reveling in a fast and lively run along the Maine coast. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 9/14/25: Skywatcher

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 11:30:51 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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Earthwise 9/13/25: The Hand

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 12:30:45 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 9/13/25

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 11:30:35 +0000

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Let’s Talk About It 9/12/25

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 20:00:16 +0000

Producer/Host: Patrisha McLean Production Assistance: Tammy Oropesa Music: Jackie Lee McLean Let’s Talk About It: Conversations with Survivors of Domestic Abuse The director of a Maine public library Rachel Davis talks about growing up with a violent father. In Part 2, 85-year-old Mary Lou Smith reflects on her 20-year anniversary of freedom. Topics: 1. Abusive fathers 2. Impact of domestic abuse on siblings 3. Breaking the cycle Guests: Rachel Davis and Mary Lou Smith About the host: Patrisha McLean is the founder/president of Finding Our Voices, the grass roots survivor-powered non profit organization breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time all across Maine.

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Around Town 9/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 12:00:50 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Mike Kersula, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, and Capt. Justin Cooper, Maine Maritime Academy, join us to let listeners know about the fire prevention work they and others will be doing in Castine on Saturday morning. Maine Open Lighthouse Day Dice Head Lighthouse (Dyce Head) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 9/11/25: Right to Redemption, Part I

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 21:00:26 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Part 2 of Catherine’s 3-part interview with Kempis “Ghani” Songster, Transformative Healing & Restorative Justice Manager for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY), as they talk about how to work with District Attorney’s to refer cases of very serious violence involving youth to an intensive accountability and healing focused restorative justice process rather than to courts and prison. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Common Ground Radio 9/11/25: Growing Great Garlic in Maine

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 20:00:52 +0000

Host: Holli Cederholm Editor: Clare Boland Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: This episode of Common Ground Radio is all about garlic! Garlic grows from cloves, which are planted in the fall. Mature heads of garlic are then harvested the following summer. From seed selection to fertility to mulching practices, Brittany Hopkins of Wise Acres Farm shares how she cultivates a healthy, certified organic garlic crop in Kenduskeag, Maine. List of subjects: – Gardening – Growing garlic – When to plant garlic – Mulching – Garlic disease – Garlic harvest and curing Guest/s: Brittany Hopkins of Wise Acres Farm. FMI- – Garlic disease — mofga.org/resources/garlic/garlic – Garlic disease — fedcoseeds.com/resources/pests-and-diseases/nematodes-and-white-rot – When to plant garlic in Maine — mofga.org/resources/garlic/when-to-plant-garlic – Growing garlic in Maine — extension.umaine.edu/publications/2063e – Maine Seed Garlic Directory — extension.umaine.edu/agriculture/garlic/maine-seed-garlic-directory – UMaine Garlic bulletins — extension.umaine.edu/agriculture/garlic – Plant disease diagnostic testing — extension.umaine.edu/ipm/plant-disease/plant-disease-diagnostic-testing About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Climate & Community 9/11/25: The Sun-Day Initiative with Marcia Taylor and Tom Mikulka (Part 1)

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 12:30:06 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: This week on Climate and Community, we learn about the national Sun-Day initiative from Marcia Taylor and Tom Mikulka who are organizing an event in celebration of solar power in Portland on September 21st. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 9/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 12:00:01 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Maine Cheese Guild’s 9th annual Maine Cheese Festival will be held this coming Sunday, September 14th, in Pittsfield Indivisible’s Solidarity in Action speaker series 2-part event on mutual aid and community response teams About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 9/10/25: How Libraries Save Communities– a conversation with R. David Lankes

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 20:00:30 +0000

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World Ocean Radio 9/10/25: Joseph Conrad Rides the Wind

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:30:04 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio Peter Neill shares thoughts and readings from Joseph Conrad and from UK writer Adrian Morgan’s recent article entitled, “How Many Ways Has Joseph Conrad Described the Wind?” WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 9/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:00:44 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Chrissy Fowler from Belfast Flying Shoes with details on their events this week and beyond About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 9/9/25: “All Good”

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 12:30:22 +0000

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Around Town 9/9/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 12:00:08 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry in Ellsworth’s upcoming 4th annual “Fill the Grand” event Orland River Day About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 9/8/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 12:00:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Bee Parks and the Hornets, Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 6pm at the Stonington Opera House Effigy Pot workshop, Wednesday, September 10, from 2 to 5 pm, at the Wilson Museum’s Hutchins Education Center in Castine. Registration is required and space is limited to 8 participants. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and the City of Belfast are hosting a workshop to update city and town tree and forest managers and public works staff along with interested community members on the known status of emerald ash borer in Maine, local and state management efforts, municipal support opportunities, and will include plenty of time for Q&A. The program will begin at 9:30 AM on Thursday, September 11 at the Belfast City Boathouse at 34 Commercial Street, Belfast, and will run roughly 2.5 hours FMI About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 9/8/25: Lost in the Weeds, Linda Hogan, & Michelangelo . . .

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 11:30:20 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 9/8/25: Lost in the Weeds, Linda Hogan, & Michelangelo . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 9/7/25: Sailing the Maine Coast, part 2

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 13:30:11 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode takes listeners to a bustling gull and cormorant colony on Garden Island near the Mussel Ridge Channel, where the air is filled with noise, movement, and the pungent scent of seabird guano. Glen describes colony counts using aerial imagery and the ingenious ways cormorants keep cool on hot days, blending science with the sensory details of a summer visit. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 9/7/25: The Shroud of Turin

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 11:30:38 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 9/6/25

Sat, 06 Sep 2025 13:30:34 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: swhplibrary.org wendellgilleymuseum.org courthousegallery.com deerisleartists.com haystack-mtn.org bhpl.net lvbangor.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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The Cosmic Curator 9/6/25

Sat, 06 Sep 2025 11:30:11 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 9/6/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Conversations from the Pointed Firs 9/5/25: Noel Rubinton

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 20:00:51 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger Music by Casey Neill Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. Airs the first Friday of every month from 4-5pm. Online at pointedfirs.org. Our guest for September 2025 on Conversations from the Pointed Firs is NOEL RUBINTON, journalist, essayist, and author of “Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee” published by Princeton University Press this year. About the host: Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete’s Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.

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Around Town 9/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 12:00:24 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne PAWS Animal Adoption Center Hosts Annual Maine Wienerfest on Sunday, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Steamboat Landing in Belfast. The Town of Deer Isle Committee for Community and Economic Development will host two events to gather input from residents and interested parties about the future of the village area Indivisible Bangor & MoveOn issued a “Save the Date” alert this week for the next nationwide No Kings! protest on October 18th About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 9/4/2025

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 20:00:46 +0000

Host: Kate Cough, Editor at The Maine Monitor. The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: In this episode of The Maine Monitor Radio Hour, we hear from The Monitor’s two summer interns, Stacey Zhang and Yasmeen Khan, on their experiences trying to make a career in the field of journalism and how their Gen Z colleagues are consuming the news. Guests: Stacey Zhang – themainemonitor.org/author/stacey-zhang/ Yasmeen Khan – themainemonitor.org/author/yasmeen_khan/

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Climate & Community 9/4/25: Hallowell Climate Action with Hilary Neckles (Part 2)

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 12:30:14 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with Hilary Neckles, the leader of Hallowell Climate Action. In this segment, we learn about how Hallowell Climate Action supports their town’s climate and sustainability goals, while helping other communities get started on their own projects and initiatives. Hallowell Climate Action’s approach recognizes that the success of the climate movement relies on the involvement of all of our communities! About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 9/4/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 12:00:46 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Checking in with Chrissy Fowler of Belfast Flying Shoes – they have a very busy month of events and we’re all invited! About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 9/3/25: Peatlands

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 12:30:42 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Peat lands, bogs, swamps, and wetlands are uniquely biodiverse natural spaces: soft coastal barriers that make immeasurable contributions to the health and sustainability of human endeavor. Left unprotected, their consumption contributes to a growing worldwide problem; conserved, they sequester carbon, enable wildlife, filter water, and protect us from coastal inundation. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 9/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 12:00:47 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Jennifer Traub from Native Gardens of Blue Hill drops by to invite you to their 2025 Fall Native Plant Sale coming up on Saturday, September 6th, 9 am-12pm, NGBH Gardens at Bagaduce Music, 49 South St, Blue Hill About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 9/2/25: “A Different Leadership”

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 12:30:16 +0000

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Around Town 9/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 12:00:33 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Some local Labor Day events (recap) Lisa Ladd, Director at Buck Memorial Library and Vanessa Newman from Bucksport Bay Healthy Communities Coalition are with us today to invite listeners to the Tell Your Story book launch party at Bucksport Trading Post on Saturday, 9/6, 1:00 – 4:00pm The book is a community effort they describe as a “living time capsule” About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 9/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 12:00:09 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Some local Labor Day events (recap) Indivisible Bangor: Workers Over Billionaires Rally 10 – 11:30am West Market Square. “In solidarity with the AFL-CIO, and all labor movements, Indivisible Bangor invites you to join them in collective action to demand an economy, country, and government that serves the needs of everyday people, not billionaires at a Workers Over Billionaires rally on Labor Day as we take back OUR day and show the big corporations who we are and how we fight.” Eastern Maine Labor Council, AFL-CIO & Food AND Medicine’s 22nd Annual Labor Day Celebration in Brewer. The Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here with Bernie Sanders tour stops in Portland on Labor Day with Special Guests Troy Jackson and Graham Platner FMI and to register About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 9/1/25: Labor Day, Langston Hughes, & Phillis Wheatley . . .

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 11:30:13 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 9/1/25: Labor Day, Langston Hughes, & Phillis Wheatley . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 8/31/25: Sailing the Maine Coast, part 1

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 13:30:36 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser In this episode, Glen shares observations about terns, cormorants, black guillemots, and eider as he sails Maine’s midcoast, from seabird-rich Muscongus Bay to the narrow Muscle Ridge Channel. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Earthwise 8/30/25: The Color Blue

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 11:30:37 +0000

The post Earthwise 8/30/25: The Color Blue first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 8/30/25

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 11:30:03 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 8/30/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 8/29/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 12:00:28 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here with Bernie Sanders tour stops in Portland on Labor Day with Special Guests Troy Jackson and Graham Platner FMI and to register About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 8/28/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 12:00:57 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne WERU app Upcoming events, FMI: www.jesuplibrary.org/ www.operahousearts.org www.activatemaine.com/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 8/27/25: Blue Ocean Leadership

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 12:30:15 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio we’re discussing the “Mind Map of Blue Ocean Leadership,” a chart developed by a global constituency of business experts, graphed to show existing leadership design while suggesting changes that are different from conventional approaches, charted as a “mind map” intended to fix, clarify, and establish an effective process to get the job done. If the world response to the challenge of climate change is characterized as “too little, too late,” it would seem clear that the old “mind map” has failed, and that a new approach might be a valuable shift toward “more than enough, in time.” WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Climate & Community 8/27/25: Hallowell Climate Action with Hilary Neckles (Part 1)

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 12:30:05 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: This week, Climate and Community speaks with Hilary Neckles, the leader of Hallowell Climate Action. In our conversation, Hilary shares about how Hallowell Climate Action came to be, what their priorities are as a group, and how they approach education and engagement in their community. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

The post Climate & Community 8/27/25: Hallowell Climate Action with Hilary Neckles (Part 1) first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 8/27/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 12:00:52 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Campaign to Protect Sears Island / Wahsumkik invites those interested to join them for an update on what’s happening with the island, the proposed offshore wind facility, and efforts to protect the island permanently, tonight from 6:30 to 8 pm at the Bayside Community Hall. Jill Howell returns to Around Town this morning with the details. Parking/shuttles at Edna Drinkwater School About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Wabanaki Windows 8/26/25: Breaking the Silence

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 20:00:10 +0000

The post Wabanaki Windows 8/26/25: Breaking the Silence first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Outside the Box 8/26/25: “Leadership Traits”

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 12:30:16 +0000

The post Outside the Box 8/26/25: “Leadership Traits” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 8/26/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 12:00:15 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Sears Island Art + Poetry Walk Workers Over Billionaires rally on Labor Day in Bangor Eastern Maine Labor Council, AFL-CIO & Food AND Medicine’s 22nd Annual Labor Day Celebration in Brewer About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 8/25/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 12:00:04 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Island Institute free screenings of its latest Climate of Change documentary, Aquaculture for People and Planet, a public screening of the new short film followed by a panel discussion with local aquaculturists, industry experts, and Island Institute staff. FMI and to register West Nile Virus update from Maine CDC About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 8/25/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

A Word in Edgewise 8/25/25: Of Commuting Folk, Sherley Williams, & the Organic Act . . .

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 11:30:09 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 8/25/25: Of Commuting Folk, Sherley Williams, & the Organic Act . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 8/24/25: A Hunt for the Winter Wren

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 13:30:38 +0000

Host: Pepin Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode follows one naturalist’s decades-long quest to see the elusive Winter Wren, from first hearing its song in the Maine North Woods to the long summer mornings spent waiting for a glimpse in a damp forest swale. Written by Janet Galle, this essay was originally published in The Observer, an online natural history journal from Maine Natural History Observatory. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 8/24/25: Reality Is Illusion

Sun, 24 Aug 2025 11:30:23 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 8/23/25

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 13:30:52 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: jonathanfisherhouse.org mainebookfestival.com secondstorybuilders.com facebook.com/CFAAMaine cynthiawiningsgallery.com haystack-mtn.org becountercurrent.com sailpowersteammuseum.org stonington.lib.me.us bagaducemusic.org eastbluehillpubliclibrary.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 8/23/25: The Elements of Thunder and Lightening

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 12:30:47 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 8/23/25

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 11:30:20 +0000

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Power for the People 8/22/25: Opal Architects – Passive House

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 20:30:26 +0000

Producer/Host: Steve Kahl Power for the People: Energy education and solutions for Mainers and Maine communities This month: Net zero construction, passive house construction, energy and cost savings Guest/s: Tim Lock (timlock@Opalarch.us) FMI: www.opalarch.us/ About the host: Steve Kahl developed and has hosted Power for the People since 2015. He retired after 9 years as Professor of Environmental Science at Thomas College in 2024, where he taught environmental and energy courses and advised the student sustainability club. He is a member of the Friends of Quarry Road Trails board of directors in Waterville where he is the main advocate for a net-zero energy welcome center. Steve advised the board of WERU-FM on making the station studios 100% solar powered and worked with Sundog Solar in Searsport to make it happen back in 2020. Steve is a career lake researcher in addition to roles in energy and sustainability, and was a founding member of the Lake Stewards of Maine in the 1990s and is currently back on their board. He is past board President of Maine Lakes, the NH Lake Association, and the Lake Winnipesaukee Association. Prior to moving home to Maine in 2004, he was a member of the Energy Commission in Plymouth NH where he obtained Dept of Energy funding for the renovation of a town office building to net-zero energy as well as the installation of 160 KW of solar PV panels on town properties, including a major PV array at the sewage treatment plant that offsets 40% of its electrical costs. Steve’s past positions include Sustainability Director at Unity College where he developed a plan for the college to become 100% solar powered and earned the college the prestigious STARS Gold sustainability ranking with the American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education. Before that, he was Director of Environmental and Energy Strategies for the James Sewall Company of Old Town where he led a Maine Technology Institute research project that found that the Maine electric grid could be 100% solar powered if all suitably-oriented rooftops had solar PV panels. His lake research was done while serving as founding director of the Senator George Mitchell Center for Environmental Research at the University of Maine. His own 1940s-era home is 100% electric, where he has installed two air-source heat pumps to eliminate heating oil, a hybrid hot water heater to reduce his water heating costs by 70%, and insulated the basement and attic to reduce the ‘stack effect’ of cold air coming in the basement and forcing heat out of the attic. He has solar panels on his summer place at the lake and hasn’t paid for any electricity there since 2011. In 2025, he added 6 KW of solar PV on his main home, with the goal to be net zero energy on an annual basis. Steve has a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of Maine.

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Coastal Conversations 8/22/25: Maine Lobster Fishery

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 20:00:22 +0000

Host: Tiegan Paulson Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. In recent years there have been some concerns that lobstering was headed for a string of seasons that produced lower landings, raising questions about the future. This month on Coastal Conversations, our student producer Tiegan Paulson will be talking with lobstermen and others about how to manage the lobster fishery to address changes. Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. Guest/s: Robin Alden – Former commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources David Cousens – Lobsterman and former president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association Marshall Walker – Lobsterman from Swan’s Island Joshua Kane – Fisherman from Mount Desert Island Thank you to Galen Koch for editing and production assistance. Thanks to Natalie Springuel for production assistance and Todd Little-Siebold for research assistance. About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Creative Maine 8/21/25: Hidden Gems of Performance Venues

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 20:00:57 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. This episode considers great places to hear music in Maine-that you may not know existed! Guest/s: Paula Kee, Director of Wednesdays on Maine in Bucksport, bucksportwom@gmail.com Alan Wittenberg, Director of the Surry Barn info@surryartsandevents.com Joerg-Henner Lotse, Director of Eagle Hill Institute joerg@eaglehill.us Lisa Tapley, Town Clerk of Orland Maine lisatapley199516@gmail.com About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach in the JMG program. She performs with the Bangor Band, where she has been a Board Member at Large for four years, and is a member of a trombone quartet based at The University of Maine, The Bear Bones.

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World Ocean Radio 8/20/25: The Ocean as Peacebuilder

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 12:30:28 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week Peter Neill is reading from an article written by representatives of the UN IOC and the Natural Science Foundation of China, based on the concept of ocean as peace builder as an amplification of ocean sustainability. The authors argue that the ocean’s peace-building potential is inseparable from the objective and cooperative nature of ocean science. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Outside the Box 8/19/25: “Noise”

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 12:30:51 +0000

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A Word in Edgewise 8/18/25: Wildlife Displacement, Alan Dugan, & the Nineteenth Amendment . . .

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 11:30:01 +0000

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 8/16/25

Sat, 16 Aug 2025 13:30:10 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: weru.org wilsonmuseum.org georgestevensacademy.org jonathanfisherhouse.org barharborhistorical.org earsay.com bhpl.net twofeetbrewing.com mainebookfestival.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 8/16/25: The Peach

Sat, 16 Aug 2025 12:30:25 +0000

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Around Town 8/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 12:00:24 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Jae Echeverria with an update on loss of services for people who are currently without housing, and upcoming “Mourn the Dead” and “Fight Like Hell for the Living” events in Bangor FMI: Needlepoint Sanctuary About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 8/14/25: Will Burdick, Part II

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 21:00:41 +0000

Host/s: Liv and Swathi Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Part 2 of Liv and Swathi’s interview with Will Burdick, social worker and substance use counselor at Westbrook High School, as they continue the conversation about the impact of teams, movement, and mindfulness. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Common Ground Radio 8/14/25: Weaving Community with the EarthLoom

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:00:34 +0000

Host: Holli Cederholm Editor: Clare Boland Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: On this episode of Common Ground Radio, we’re talking about the EarthLoom. Originated by weaver Susan Barrett Merrill, the EarthLoom is a way for many hands to weave together to build community. One EarthLoom is located in Unity, Maine, at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center, which is the home of the annual Common Ground Country Fair. Here a large granite loom is sited in a garden of dye plants used for naturally coloring fiber. Thanks to Susan’s efforts, EarthLooms can be found elsewhere around the world. We talk about the inspiration for the project, and how others can get involved in weaving community. List of subjects: – Weaving – EarthLoom – Spinning – Fiber Arts – Wednesday Spinners – Common Ground Country Fair Guest/s: Susan Barrett Merrill, originator of the EarthLoom FMI- – Weaving a Life — weavingalife.com/weaving-a-life – EarthLoom — weavingalife.com/earthloom – EarthLoom Class — weavingalife.com/earthloom-class – Book: “The Art of Weaving a Life” — weavingalife.com/product-pages/book – Common Ground Country Fair — mofga.org/the-fair About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Around Town 8/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:00:55 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Daniella Rodriguez, Education & Outreach Manager at the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill invites the community to check out their new collaboration with the World Ocean Observatory – a virtual sea exploration experience! About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 8/13/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 12:00:05 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Part 2 of our recent conversation with Andy O’Brien FMI re Black Cat Book Fair, email blackcatbookfair@riseup.net About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 8/12/25: “Living Wage”

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:30:29 +0000

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Around Town 8/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:00:43 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Grace Johnston-Fennell from Out in the Open is here with an invitation for LGBTQ+ folks to join them at an “Arrt!”(Artist Rapid Response Team) event on Saturday, 8/16, 12-4pm in Unity. For more information and to register: email info@weareoutintheopen.org or call 207-808-0623 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 8/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 12:00:37 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Andy O’Brien, Maine AFL-CIO, on the Trump administration’s termination of the collective bargaining agreement between the Veteran’s Administration and the council that represents many of the staff at the VA — and how that’s impacting workers at Togus. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 8/11/25: A Question of Focus & the Perseid Distraction . . .

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 11:30:57 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 8/10/25: Cliff Swallows

Sun, 10 Aug 2025 13:30:50 +0000

Host: Pepin Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode tells the story of one biologist’s journey into Cliff Swallow conservation, from rescuing fallen nestlings to developing management techniques that help colonies rebound in the face of habitat loss and invasive species. This essay, written by Mara Silver and read by Pepin Mittelhauser, was originally published in The Observer, an online natural history journal published by Maine Natural History Observatory. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 8/10/25: What’s Your Story?

Sun, 10 Aug 2025 11:30:30 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 8/10/25: What’s Your Story? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 8/9/25

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 13:30:48 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: weru.org bhpl.net haystack-mtn.org deerislelibrary.org stonington.lib.me.us wendellgilleymuseum.org georgestevensacademy.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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The Cosmic Curator 8/9/25

Sat, 09 Aug 2025 11:30:45 +0000

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Earthwise 8/9/25: Coyote

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 12:30:43 +0000

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Justice Radio 8/7/25: Right to Redemption, Part I

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 21:00:38 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Part 1 of Catherine’s 3-part interview with Kempis “Ghani” Songster, Transformative Healing & Restorative Justice Manager for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY), as they talk about how to work with District Attorney’s to refer cases of very serious violence involving youth to an intensive accountability and healing focused restorative justice process rather than to courts and prison. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 8/7/2025

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 20:00:44 +0000

Host: Kate Cough, Editor at The Maine Monitor. The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: Sawyer Loftus, an investigative reporter with Maine Focus, the investigative team at the Bangor Daily News and partner of The Maine Monitor, walks us through a story he worked on with ProPublica about a wave of foreclosures on Maine homes purchased with loans from the United States Department of Agriculture. Guests: Sawyer Loftus, sloftus@thebangordailynews.com FMI: themainemonitor.org/usda-maine-foreclosures-rural-homeowners/

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Around Town 8/7/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 12:00:58 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Courtney Hayes and John Jurcheck, cofounders of the Belfast-based counter/current:collective are here to invite you to their production of Lungs, a play by Duncan MacMillan – opening this week at a secret location! FMI & tickets or call Courtney at (720) 496-3297 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Healthy Options 8/6/25: The Power of Music & Song as a Healthy Option

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 20:00:53 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: 1. Experiencing the physiological effects of music & song, and how different aspects of melody & rhythm can resonate with heart rates & the nervous system. 2. Music creating connection & community as well as personal empowerment- even if you were told at any early age you were not a singer. 3. Singing as natural for us as humans, vs. how it has become seen as a business and not as a personal expression to use and share. 4. The power of singing in groups, how it feels to sing with others, and what happens to our emotions as we sing together and experience songs & melodies. 5. Songs can remind us we are not alone, and we are connected to others whether with shared experiences, or with new insights, bringing empathy about others’ lives. 6. How it is used as an outlet to express reactions to injustice, and empowers people who are banding together to work for social change. 7. Effects of various kinds of music on growing plants (“Kids! Try this at home!”). Guest(s): Claudia Schmidt, singer-songwriter, folk & jazz musician, & poet, www.claudiaschmidt.com Claudia Schmidt (with Sally Rogers), sallyrogers.com/concert-booking/sally-and-claudia/ FMI: Giving Voice Chorus. www.givingvoicechorus.org Creating joyful choral communities for people living with dementia. The Healing Power of Music. aish.com/the-healing-power-of-music/ Music Care. www.musiccare.org Music care is the intentional use of music by anyone to improve health and well-being. About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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World Ocean Radio 8/6/25: Moon and Ocean

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 12:30:02 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE From an island perch in Maine, host of World Ocean Radio Peter Neill recently witnessed a full moon rising over the Atlantic Ocean. The silent, majestic way that it rose in the night sky got him ruminating about water, tide, sun, sea currents, power, light, nature, human emotion, and the often under-appreciated, surreal force of the moon. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 8/6/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 12:00:23 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI: Surry Rural Hall Surry Garden Club Surry Historical Society About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 8/5/25: “Pacifism”

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 12:30:31 +0000

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Around Town 8/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 12:00:02 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI: Bats Maine CDC Rabies page Maine IF&W Bats page Maine CDC’s disease reporting & consultation line: 1-800-821-5821 (available 24/7) Maine IF&W Game Warden Dispatch Centers (for bat pick-up and delivery) Augusta: 1-800-452-4664 Bangor: 1-800-432-7381 Houlton: 1-800-924-2261 Public comment period on Maine’s Draft State Wildlife Action Plan About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 8/4/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 12:00:49 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 5th at 6:30 p.m. the Bangor Band will hold a special event for families with a free, kid-centric concert at Chapin Park, Bangor. This Wednesday (8/6) the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine and Pax Christi Maine will hold an event in observance of the 80th anniversary of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski. Messages, music and community from 1:30 to 3pm at Davenport Park in Bangor (Corner of Main and Cedar– across from the police station and the homeless shelter) And radio news in the Maine newspapers 100 years ago today.. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 8/4/25: Of Butch Phillips & the Sturgeon Moon . . .

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 11:30:25 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 8/3/25: The Hunt for the Red-breasted Merganser, Part 4

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 13:30:50 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser After being temporarily stranded across Moosehead Lake’s Northwest Cove, Logan sets out to Seboomook Island and the conclusion of his multi-trip effort to document Red-breasted Merganser breeding in Maine. This essay, written and read by Logan Parker, was originally published in The Observer, an online natural history journal published by Maine Natural History Observatory. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 8/3/25: The Listener

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 11:30:17 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 8/2/25

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 13:30:54 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: weru.org johnjohnbrown.com schoodicartsforall.org cannerysouthpenobscot.org peninsulapotters.com artwavesmdi.org swhplibrary.org leftbankbookshop.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 8/2/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 8/2/25: Lughnasad, Harvest of Community

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 12:30:24 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 8/2/25

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 11:30:11 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 8/2/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 8/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 12:00:49 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne -Secretary of State Shenna Bellows responds to the Trump DOJ’s request for Maine citizen’s voter records –Goodlife Center events this weekend –Urban farm tours in the Bangor/Brewer area tomorrow About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 7/31/25: Frayla Tarpinian, Part II

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 21:00:04 +0000

Host/s: Rob Ruffner Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Rob’s follow up interview with Frayla Tarpinian from the Capital Region Public Defenders Office, as they continue the conversation about the indigent defense crisis in Maine, and more specifically the benefits of indigent defense and its future promise as they build out the system. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Around Town 7/31/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 12:00:20 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne New York and Maine based award-winning writer/artists Judith Sloan and Warren Lehrer are here with a “save the date” for their return to the Blue Hill Library to present excerpts from three decades of book and performance projects. As co-founders of EarSay, a non-profit dedicated to nurturing and portraying stories of uncelebrated individuals, the couple have been collaborating on multi-media works that embrace stories of immigration, refuge, war and peace, and finding home and sanity in an out of balance world. Join them for a free event of readings, music, visuals, wordcraft, laughter, and pathos. Tues August 19, 7pm Blue Hill Public Library 5 Parker Point Road, Blue Hill, Maine FREE and open to all. Blue Hill Books will be on site for book sales Registration About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 7/30/25: What If?

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 12:30:47 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Is there no time left to explore other ways of seeing, being, solving, and surviving? Where can we place our energy and imagination to serve as functions of invention? What if there are new ways of thinking about what and how we invest for the future? WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 7/30/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 12:00:28 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Shaina Fraser, Executive Director at Families First, is here with information about their services, the upcoming annual dinner and auction that help support their programs, and ways those who are interested can help. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Word Literary Festival 7/29/25: Lorne

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 23:00:40 +0000

Word Festival: Lorne – In a year of anniversaries, Saturday Night Live turned 50, and The New Yorker celebrated its first century. To mark the occasion, Word and Working Loose, the Blue Hill “concept shop” and art gallery, hosted a conversation between two New Yorker editors, one of whom has written the definitive biography of SNL founder Lorne Michaels. The event took place on Tuesday, July 29. Susan Morrison, New Yorker articles editor and author of Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live, was interviewed by New Yorker executive editor Daniel Zalewski. The conversation took place at Working Loose, 49 Main Street, Blue Hill. Recorded by Matt Murphy.

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Outside the Box 7/29/25: “Buying Influence“

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 12:30:57 +0000

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Around Town 7/29/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 12:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Ara and Kai Bravesnow return to invite you all to the Midcoast Gem and Mineral Fair. It starts Friday evening and runs through the weekend at the Bayview Point Event center in Belfast on the waterfront. You can find them on facebook at “Midcoast Gem and Mineral Fair”. Earlier this month they joined Around Town to talk about the Midcoast Mineral Collectors Club. Click here for that archived episode And CD2 Congressman Jarod Golden is the lead Democrat cosponsoring the “SPEED Act” – which would weaken NEPA, the federal environmental permitting process About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 7/28/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 12:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne College of the Atlantic Summer Institute 2025 ACLU-Maine What Happened in Augusta: Looking Back on the 2025 Legislative Session About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 7/28/25: Of Ashberry, Leyster, & Sharon the Wonder Woman . . .

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 11:30:43 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 7/27/25: The Hunt for the Red-breasted Merganser, Part 3

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 13:30:08 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser The final opportunity to document breeding Red-breasted Mergansers arrives, but events take an unexpected turn with the shifting of the wind. This essay, written and read by Logan Parker, was originally published in The Observer, an online natural history journal published by Maine Natural History Observatory. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 7/27/25: Acceptance Is Freedom

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 11:30:22 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 7/26/25

Sat, 26 Jul 2025 13:30:30 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: michaelchabon.substack.com/p/in-memory-of-chris-doyle castineart.com eastbluehillpubliclibrary.org workingloose.com wordfestival.org bhpl.net surrybarn.com americanswhotellthetruth.org belfastpoetryfestival.com mainewriters.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 7/26/25: Wild Cats

Sat, 26 Jul 2025 12:30:50 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 7/26/25

Sat, 26 Jul 2025 11:30:07 +0000

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Coastal Conversations 7/25/25: Maine Cod Fishery

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 20:00:30 +0000

Host: Tiegan Paulson Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. Matt McKenzie saw the cod fishery collapse from the window of a school bus. He watched day after day on his way to school as the boats accumulated in the harbor. But that was only the culmination of a story that began over five hundred years earlier; a story of the greatest fishery in the history of the North Atlantic. This month we will take a look at the fish that brought Europeans to New England, the adaptations their ancestors made to keep fishing, and how Maine ultimately lost the cod fishery that had sustained this coast since long before white folks arrived here. Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. Guest/s: Matthew McKenzie – History and Maritime Studies Professor at the University of Connecticut Karen Alexander – Historical Ecology emeritus at the University of New Hampshire Robin Alden – Former commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 7/25/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 12:00:55 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Pete Nichols, Penobscot Bay Waterkeepers joins us to talk about the group, their efforts to purchase the parcel of land that was targeted for development by the defeated Nordic Aquafarms proposal, and Bay Bash, an upcoming celebration! Contradance at the UU Church in Bangor. FMI: uubangor@gmail.com Maine Open Farm Day/s this weekend About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 7/24/25: What Do People Read in Prison?

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 21:00:44 +0000

Host/s: Linda Small and Mackenzie Kelley Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Linda and Mackenzie’s follow up interview with Meghan Reedy, Program Coordinator for the Maine Humanities Council, and Jon Courtney, former Film Screenings Programmer for the Portland Museum of Art, as they continue the conversation and talk about the importance of access to books while incarcerated. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Climate & Community 7/24/25: Creative Changemaking Through Movement with Dani Robbins (Part 2)

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:30:36 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community builds upon last week’s conversation with Dani Robbins, learning about her perspective with rural organizing, youth involvement in justice movements, and how to get involved in strengthening local communities. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 7/24/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:00:47 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine ACLU webinar: What Happened in Augusta: Looking Back on the 2025 Legislative Session July 30, 2025 @ 7:00 pm –8:00 pm Congresswoman Chellie Pingree speaking out against recent budget cuts — and more proposed for the 2026 budget. Watch on youtube About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 7/23/25: Who Cares About the Ocean?

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 12:30:35 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE On June 8th, World Ocean Day, the new film OCEAN, presented by Sir David Attenborough, debuted in theatres and maritime museums around the world, a celebration of the ocean’s beauty and distress, and a passionate call for urgent protection. Who cares about the ocean? What will it take to reverse perspective and increase engagement? How do we best connect with those whose basic needs are greatest, and that rely on a healthy ocean most acutely? Tune in this week: we’ll discuss this and more. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 7/23/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 12:00:29 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne -Art Under the Elms, Saturday, 7/26/25, 10am-4pm, on the Commons, Court Street, Castine. Roberta brings us the details. -A sampling of the news reported in Maine newspapers 100 years ago today About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Wabanaki Windows 7/22/25: Korean & WWII History and Veterans

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 20:00:39 +0000

Producer/Host: Donna Loring Other credits: Technical assistance for the show was provided by Joel Mann of WERU, and Jessica Lockhart. Music by Ralph Richter, a track called little eagles from his CD Dream Walk. Wabanaki Windows is a monthly show featuring topics of interest from a Wabanaki perspective. This month: The historic background of Korean and WWII, and some stories of Wabanaki Veterans and their names. Guest/s: Prof. Darren Ranco, a member of the Penobscot Nation, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Native American Studies at the University of Maine. Prof. Harald Prins, emeritus at Kansas State University. About the host: Donna M Loring is a Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder, and former Council Member. She represented the Penobscot Nation in the State Legislature for over a decade. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Mills. She is the author of “In The Shadow of The Eagle A Tribal Representative In Maine”. Donna has an Annual lecture series in her name at the University of New England that addresses Social Justice and Human Rights issues. In 2017 She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Humane Letters from the University of Maine Orono and was given the Alumni Service Award. It is the most prestigious recognition given by the University of Maine Alumni Association. It is presented Annually to a University of Maine graduate whose life’s work is marked by outstanding achievements in professional, business, civic and/or Public service areas. Donna received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in May of 2022

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Outside the Box 7/22/25: “Economic Divide”

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:30:58 +0000

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Around Town 7/22/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:00:26 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI: Grow Smart Maine webinar Jesup Memorial Library events About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 7/21/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 12:00:49 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Upcoming event, Social Security offices in Maine negatively impacted by Trump/Doge, according to the Maine AFL-CIO, and the headlines on Maine newspapers 100 years ago today (hint: a verdict had been reached following an infamous trial) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 7/21/25: Of Bias, Vanity, Time, & Hemingway . . .

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 11:30:56 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 7/20/25: The Hunt for the Red-breasted Merganser, Part 2

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 13:30:47 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser The search for mergansers continues and leads to lake isles crowded with colony nesting birds on Maine’s largest lake while subsequent efforts are dashed by fickle conditions. This essay, written and read by Logan Parker, was originally published in The Observer, an online natural history journal published by Maine Natural History Observatory. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 7/20/25: Meditation

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 11:30:26 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 7/20/25: Meditation first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 7/19/25

Sat, 19 Jul 2025 13:30:06 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: elelfrijoles.com bhpl.net eastbluehillpubliclibrary.org sealharborlibrary.me friendsoftauntonbay.org/events witherlelibrary.net thecygnetgallery.com schoodicartsforall.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 7/19/25: Poison Ivy

Sat, 19 Jul 2025 12:30:05 +0000

The post Earthwise 7/19/25: Poison Ivy first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Democracy Forum 7/18/25: Constitutional Crisis: Will We Still Have Free and Fair Elections?

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 20:00:31 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: We’ll talk about the federal administration’s actions on election security, voter access, and confidence in elections. Staff changes at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) and at the Department of Justice (DOJ) may undermine effective election protections. Voter suppression laws and regulations federally and at the state level may restrict participation by eligible voters. Guest/s: Shenna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State. Joyce Vance, Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law, University of Alabama School of Law. To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 7/18/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 12:00:07 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne WERU General Manager Matt Murphy joins us with an update on the the federal funding situation at the station FMI: Protect My Public Media About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 7/17/25: Will Burdick, Part I

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 21:00:34 +0000

Host/s: Liv and Swathi Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Liv and Swathi’s interview with Will Burdick, social worker and substance use counselor at Westbrook High School, as they talk about the power of authentic relationships to promote connection and healing for young people and how schools can create space for these kinds of relationships. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Creative Maine 7/17/25: Musical Instrument Makers in Maine

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 20:00:10 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. This episode highlights three musical instrument makers and restorers in Maine-what they do and how they do it. Guest/s: Nathan Slobodkin, Slobodkin Violins, Bangor. www.slobodkinviolins.com Leslie Ross, Leslie Ross Bassoons, leslieross.net David and Nick Wallace, Wallace Organ Company, wallacepipeorgans.com About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach the JMG program at Bucksport High School. She joined the Bangor Band in 2018, where she plays euphonium. She is in her second year as a Board Member at Large for the Bangor Band.

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Climate & Community 7/17/25: Creative Changemaking Through Movement with Dani Robbins (Part 1)

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:30:34 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community meets with Dani Robbins to discuss her involvement in rural organizing for social change through creative community-building. Dani shares about their background as a dancer and how this experience informs their approach to action for environmental and social justice. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

The post Climate & Community 7/17/25: Creative Changemaking Through Movement with Dani Robbins (Part 1) first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 7/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:00:18 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Jennifer Traub from Native Gardens of Blue Hill invites you to their 2025 Open Garden Day, Saturday, July 19, 10 am-2 pm, at NGBH Gardens at Bagaduce Music, 49 South St, Blue Hill. Rain date July 20 Today is the “Good Trouble Lives On” National Day of Action, with hundreds of rallies across the country and close to 30 – according to one calendar- across the state of Maine. FMI: Good Trouble National Day of Action Activate Maine calendar of Good Trouble rallies About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 7/16/25: AI and the Ocean

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 12:30:46 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week, host Peter Neill reads verbatim an AI response to an action posed. He asked Chat GPT to write 750 words in the style of Peter Neill on World Ocean Radio, taking on the topic of artificial intelligence and the ocean. The response was quite shocking. Tune in to this special 6-minute episode to hear the entire assignment. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 7/16/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 12:00:35 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maryann Larson from Indivisible Bangor invites those who are interested to join them tomorrow on the Good Trouble Lives On National Day of Action. They’ll be holding a peaceful rally from 5-7pm on Stillwater Avenue near the Bangor Mall. There will also be rallies in Belfast, Ellsworth, Augusta – and many other places across the state. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Relationship Rewind 7/15/25: My Brilliant Friend

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 20:30:18 +0000

Host: Carrie Clark at NextStep Domestic Violence Project. NextStep 24/7 Helpline: 1(800) 315-5579 Theme Music for the show donated by local musicians Megan Light and Nathan Spears. Relationship Rewind: Rewinding relationships in popular media and breaking down behaviors based in power, control, and abuse. This episode: 1. Discussing unhealthy behaviors in the book My Brilliant Friend. 2. Discussing how media normalizes these behaviors. 3. Discussing the impacts of these messages about these relationships and people, on young people in real life. Guest: Cory, WERU DJ and local librarian FMI: www.nextstepdvproject.org About the hosts: Alli Williamson is the youth educator and advocate for NextStep Domestic Violence Project based in Hancock and Washington County, ME. She teaches young people from Kindergarten to College about what power and control looks like in friendships and relationships, what resources are available to support those experiencing this, and how we can work to make our schools and communities safer and more equal spaces where abuse may be less likely to happen.

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Outside the Box 7/15/25: “Quotes 2025”

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:30:24 +0000

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Around Town 7/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 12:00:09 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Island Soundscape Project installation “Soundmarks” Sedgwick at the First Baptist Church, through August 8th Bangor Historical Society will be leading a Soldiers at Rest walking tour in Mount Hope Cemetery Sunday July Playlist at Opera House Arts – Stonington The COA Harvest Farm Dinner returns this week About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 7/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:00:09 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Noel Rubinton, journalist and author of Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee, (2025, Princeton University Press) will be in Blue Hill tomorrow (Tuesday) evening to talk about the book. The event is sponsored by Blue Hill Books and will take place at the Blue Hill Public Library at 7pm. We spoke with him as he was preparing to travel to Maine About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 7/14/25: Of Vacationland, a Silken Tent, Gerald Ford, & Ingmar Bergman . . .

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 11:30:53 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 7/13/25: The Hunt for the Red-breasted Merganser, Part 1

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 13:30:08 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser A noteworthy observation on Moosehead Lake sparks a determined effort to document one of Maine’s rarest breeding waterfowl. This essay, written and read by Logan Parker, was originally published in The Observer, an online natural history journal published by Maine Natural History Observatory. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 7/13/25: The Turing Test

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 11:30:07 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 7/12/25

Sat, 12 Jul 2025 13:30:05 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: islandportpress.com bhpl.net stonington.lib.me.us islandsoundscapeproject.org MCHT.org witherlelibrary.net mainewriters.org/gather wordfestival.org pauldoiron.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 7/12/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 7/12/25: The Element of Water

Sat, 12 Jul 2025 12:30:58 +0000

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Let’s Talk About It 7/11/25

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 20:00:49 +0000

Producer/Host: Patrisha McLean Production Assistance: Tammy Oropesa Music: Jackie Lee McLean Let’s Talk About It: Conversations with Survivors of Domestic Abuse The owner of a popular cupcake shop breaks her silence about a first husband who regularly strangled her. Topics: 1. Misplaced shame. 2. Domestic Violence Strangulation. 3. How abusers do not change. Guests: Vicki Murray About the host: Patrisha McLean is the founder/president of Finding Our Voices, the grass roots survivor-powered non profit organization breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time all across Maine.

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Around Town 7/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 12:00:34 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Chrissy Fowler, Executive Director of Belfast Flying Shoes, stops by this morning to let you know about their summer community dance schedule (starting tonight!) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 7/10/25: Resistance and the Law with Tina Nadeau

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 21:00:32 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Catherine’s interview with Tina Nadeau, Executive Director of the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (MACDL), as they talk about dissent in a country where democracy, the rule of law, free speech and the right to protest are all under direct attack from the federal government. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Common Ground Radio 7/10/25: Barbara Damrosch’s Life in the Garden

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 20:00:09 +0000

Host: Timothy Boston Editor: Clare Boland Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: According to lifelong gardener Barbara Damrosch, growing food is an undeniably radical act. In her latest book, “A Life in the Garden: Tales and Tips for Growing Food in Every Season,” Damrosch, now in her 80s, invites others to join her in tending the earth and celebrating the harvest — and she shares practical and personal advice for novice and experienced gardeners alike. This month’s episode of Common Ground Radio is a special conversation with Damrosch about her new book and her life in the garden. We talked in her Brooksville, Maine, home, which she shares with Eliot Coleman. After they married in 1991, the two began collaborating in the field, as Four Season Farm, as well as on the page — similar to another iconic gardener-author duo, Helen and Scott Nearing of “Living the Good Life” fame. Damrosch counts the Nearings as a major influence on her relationship to the land, and Four Season Farm is sited on acreage previously owned by the Nearings, purchased by Coleman in 1968. List of subjects: – Homesteading – Gardening – Self-Sufficiency – History of Maine – Back to the Land Movement Guest/s: Barbara Damrosch, author of “A Life in the Garden: Tales and Tips for Growing Food in Every Season.” FMI- “A Life in the Garden: Tales and Tips for Growing Food in Every Season” by Barbara Damrosch — eliotbarbara.com/read-our-books/a-life-in-the-garden “Barbara Damrosch’s Life in the Garden” — barnraisingmedia.com/barbara-damrosch-a-life-in-the-garden About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 7/10/25 Special: Conversation with William and Margery Irvine

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 20:00:08 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! Description: Sarah sat down with William and Margery Irvine in January (!) and discussed painting, poetry, and more. A collaborative project, a book entitled “Four Old Men Writing Together” launched at the Courthouse Gallery on July 23. About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Climate & Community 7/10/25: Maine Climate Action Now with Ezra Sassaman (Part Two)

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:30:53 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with Ezra Sassaman, chair of the Bar Harbor Climate Emergency Task Force and Advocacy Coordinator for Maine Climate Action Now (MCAN). This segment highlights what motivates Ezra to be involved in climate action, the advantages and challenges of pursuing climate action in Maine, and why engagement in the climate movement matters. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 7/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:00:42 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Wilson Haims is here with an invitation to Pizza in the Park Thursday, July 17th, with A Climate to Thrive. The 1st Annual TOSS For Loss Tournament to Benefit Camp Jinka Saturday, July 12th, 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM Front Street Public Parking Lot UPDATE: THE EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL OCTOBER Registration About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 7/9/25: A River Story: Cherryfield and fish passage on the Narraguagus River

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 20:00:19 +0000

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World Ocean Radio 7/9/25: Why War?

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 12:30:47 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Why is there so much war? So much strife in the Middle East: what are we fighting for? This week Peter Neill, founder of W2O and host of World Ocean Radio, argues that it’s all about the water. It’s always been about the water: rivers, access to the sea…water is the source of life–and of conflict. Water, necessary to sustain our cities, our agriculture, our selves: we all need it in equal measure each day to endure. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 7/9/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 12:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Paula Kee of Wednesdays on Main in Bucksport returns to AT to let us know about some events that have been added to their summer calendar. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Maine Currents 7/8/25: “In the Shadow of the Eagle” at the Abbe Museum

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 20:00:34 +0000

Producer/Host: Amy Browne A new exhibition at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor is named for Donna Loring’s 2008 book, “In the Shadow of the Eagle: A Tribal Representative in Maine”, and curated by Donna (who also hosts Wabanaki Windows here on WERU) and her regular contributor Professor Darren Ranco, among others. A group of folks involved with the exhibition sat down recently to talk about what went into putting it together, the connections with Donna’s book, and how decolonization efforts at the museum are going. Click on the links below for more information about each of the guests. Guests: Donna Loring, former tribal representative to the Maine legislature, Veteran, author/researcher, and award-winning host of Wabanaki Windows on WERU-FM Betsy Richards, Executive Director, Abbe Museum Dr. Aaron Miller, Luce Curator of Exhibits, Abbe Museum Dr. Darren Ranco, Professor of Anthropology and Coordinator of Native American Research and co-curator of the exhibition James Francis, Penobscot Nation’s Director of Cultural and Historic Preservation, Tribal Historian, Chair of Penobscot Tribal Rights and Resource Protection Board, and artist whose work is part of the exhibition Wabanaki Windows archives About the Host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices and Maine Currents, she also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and the First Place 2017 Radio News Award from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

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Outside the Box 7/8/25: “Fact-Based”

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 12:30:57 +0000

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Around Town 7/8/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 12:00:58 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne H.O.M.E. in Orland is having an Empty Bowl supper on Thursday, to raise funds for their services. Jackie Perkins and Rosa Moore are here with the details. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 7/7/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 12:00:41 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Betsy Richard, Executive Director at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, with an invitation to the annual Dawnland Festival of Arts & Ideas, which “celebrate(s) the Native creative economy on Wabanaki homelands while lifting up Indigenous thought leadership vital to the conversation on a healthy planet and society for us all” — coming up next weekend, July 12th and 13th on the College of the Atlantic campus. Registration here About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 7/7/25: A Barn Swallow, Margaret Walker, Helene Johnson, the Full Buck Moon, & Ringo Starr . . .

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 11:30:53 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 7/7/25: A Barn Swallow, Margaret Walker, Helene Johnson, the Full Buck Moon, & Ringo Starr . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 7/6/25: Summer Solstice

Sun, 06 Jul 2025 13:30:02 +0000

Host: Pepin Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode reflects on the beauty of the summer solstice, celebrating the lush abundance of early summer while acknowledging the quiet turning point toward shorter days and the rhythm of the seasons. This essay, written by Lewis Holmes and read by Pepin Mittelhauser, was originally published in The Observer, an online natural history journal published by Maine Natural History Observatory. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 7/6/25: Biphasic Sheep

Sun, 06 Jul 2025 11:30:18 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 7/5/25

Sat, 05 Jul 2025 13:30:49 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: wordfestival.org goodlife.org nehlibrary.org artwavesmdi.org bhpl.net courthousegallery.com bucklibrary.org mainegalleryguide.com islandportpress.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 7/5/25: The Eagle

Sat, 05 Jul 2025 12:30:41 +0000

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Around Town 7/4/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 12:00:46 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Independence Day About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 7/3/25: Frayla Tarpinian, Part I

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 21:00:18 +0000

Host/s: Rob Ruffner (Maine Indigent Defense Center) Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Part 1 of Rob’s 2-part interview with Frayla Tarpinian from the Capital Region Public Defenders Office, as they talk about the misinformation surrounding Maine’s indigent defense crisis. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 7/3/2025

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 20:00:41 +0000

Host: Stephanie McFeeters, Deputy Editor at The Maine Monitor The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: Josh Keefe takes listeners behind the scenes of his recent reporting on Maine’s child welfare system, including the story of one Maine woman’s fight to get her son back after an incident in a Presque Isle parking lot. Guests: Josh Keefe, government accountability reporter: josh@themainemonitor.org FMI: themainemonitor.org/spanking-or-abuse/ themainemonitor.org/maine-foster-care-population-grew-fastest-nationally/

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Climate & Community 7/3/25: Maine Climate Action Now with Ezra Sassaman (Part One)

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 12:30:42 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: This week, Climate and Community hosts Ezra Sassaman, the chair of the Bar Harbor Climate Emergency Task Force and Advocacy Coordinator for Maine Climate Action Now (MCAN). This segment highlights MCAN’S history, the strengths of the coalition, and why a justice-based approach to climate action matters. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 7/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 12:00:48 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Kai and Ara Bravesnow invite you to join the Midcoast Mineral Collectors Club, and let you know about the upcoming MidCoast Gem and Mineral Fair The club meets on the first Sunday of each month at 2pm (no meeting in August) at Thorndike Town Hall The MidCoast Gem and Mineral Fair is August 1st-3rd at the Bayview Point Event Center in Belfast. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 7/2/25: Canals and the Circulation of Water Worldwide

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 12:30:49 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week we’re discussing the circulation of water worldwide, and the importance of our waterways–canals in particular–as the great highways and distribution centers of our busy lives, now storing and transferring water and energy, and revitalized for recreational use and enjoyment of natural spaces. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 7/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 12:00:19 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Duncan Newcomer is here with an invitation to “Enjoy a Night in America”, his book launch for Quiet Fire: The Spiritual Life of Abraham Lincoln at the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport, 6-8pm, Thursday, July 3rd About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 7/1/25: “Censored”

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 14:52:03 +0000

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Around Town 7/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 12:00:26 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Bangor Mayor Cara Pelletier, speaking at Bangor Pride on Saturday About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 6/30/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 17:14:57 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, speaking at Bangor Pride on Saturday About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 6/30/25: The Hundred Hostile Days, The Fourth, & Lena Horne . . .

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 11:30:55 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 6/29/25: A Discussion with McOsker, part 5

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 13:30:27 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen talks with Megan where she continues her discussion of changes that she has seen in the Gulf of Maine area. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 6/29/25: Hester Prynne

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 11:30:07 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 6/28/25

Sat, 28 Jun 2025 13:30:46 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: bangorpride.com eastbluehillpubliclibrary.org operahousearts.org surrygatherings.org bluehillbach.org haystack-mtn.org jonathanfisherhouse.org bhpl.net ellsworthlibrary.net About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 6/28/25: The Biography of the Oak Tree

Sat, 28 Jun 2025 12:30:52 +0000

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Coastal Conversations 6/27/25: American Bittern

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 20:00:54 +0000

Host: Catherine Devine Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. This episode of Schoodic Institute’s podcast, Sea to Trees, begins with naturalist Laura Sebastianelli, who has dedicated her summers to recording all the bird songs in Acadia National Park. We follow Laura on her chase to record the American Bittern, learn why it’s so important to record Acadia’s birdsongs, and talk to all sorts of ornithological experts along the way. Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. Guest/s: Laura Sebastianelli, Naturalist Brooke Goodman, 2023-2024 Cathy and Jim Gero Acadia Early Career Fellow in Science Research Bridget Butler, Slow Birding Seth Benz, Bird Ecology Director at Schoodic Institute About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 6/27/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne –Bangor Pride is tomorrow – Co-lead organizer Sam is here with the details. –Grindle Point Light re-opening / ribbon cutting on Isleboro on Sunday -In Maine newspapers 100 years ago today: Who had the first mess of peas of the season? (Portland Press Herald, 27 June 1925) About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 6/26/25: Intellectually Inside

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 21:00:15 +0000

Host/s: Linda Small and Mackenzie Kelley Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Linda and Mackenzie’s interview with Meghan Reedy, Program Coordinator for the Maine Humanities Council, and Jon Courtney, Film Screenings Programmer for the Portland Museum of Art, as they talk about how they improve and support the lives of incarcerated people through film, art, poetry, and books. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Climate & Community 6/26/25: Climate Resilience in Tremont with Sarah White (Part Two)

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 12:30:42 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: This week, Climate and Community dives into meaningful collaborations to address resilience from an emergency management perspective. Sarah explains the importance of relationship building and the necessity to further the work through the “ripple effect.” About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

The post Climate & Community 6/26/25: Climate Resilience in Tremont with Sarah White (Part Two) first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 6/26/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 12:00:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Chrissy MacKinnon, Director of Communications & Community Engagement, Frenchman Bay Conservancy is here with your invitation to join them for the 2025 Monday Music series at Tidal Falls Preserve in Hancock. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 6/25/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 12:00:42 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Ashley Megquire of Friends of Sears Island is here with an invitation to summer activities on the island — and a call for submissions of art and poetry inspired by Sears Island or the coast of Maine in general. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Wabanaki Windows 6/24/25: Chief Orono and Wabanaki Veterans

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 20:00:45 +0000

Producer/Host: Donna Loring Other credits: Technical assistance for the show was provided by Joel Mann of WERU, and Jessica Lockhart of WMPG. Music by Ralph Richter, a track called little eagles from his CD Dream Walk. Wabanaki Windows is a monthly show featuring topics of interest from a Wabanaki perspective. This month: Who Chief Orono was and about Wabanaki Veterans and their service. Guest/s: Prof. Darren Ranco, a member of the Penobscot Nation, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Native American Studies at the University of Maine. Prof. Harald Prins, emeritus at Kansas State University. James Francis, Director of Cultural Preservation and Historian at the Penobscot Nation. About the host: Donna M Loring is a Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder, and former Council Member. She represented the Penobscot Nation in the State Legislature for over a decade. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Mills. She is the author of “In The Shadow of The Eagle A Tribal Representative In Maine”. Donna has an Annual lecture series in her name at the University of New England that addresses Social Justice and Human Rights issues. In 2017 She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Humane Letters from the University of Maine Orono and was given the Alumni Service Award. It is the most prestigious recognition given by the University of Maine Alumni Association. It is presented Annually to a University of Maine graduate whose life’s work is marked by outstanding achievements in professional, business, civic and/or Public service areas. Donna received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in May of 2022

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Outside the Box 6/24/25: “Everyone Different”

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 12:30:45 +0000

The post Outside the Box 6/24/25: “Everyone Different” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 6/24/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 12:00:34 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The second and final segment produced at the Alewives Festival in Pembroke, Maine in May 2025. Segment 1 was produced by Beatrice Alsop-Cheeney, IDEA homeschool student, with assistance from Kate Blofson. Today’s segment was produced by Kate Blofson, beekeeper and community radio organizer at WRUJ in Richmond, Vermont, along with the Greenhorns parents group and Downeast Salmon Federation. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 6/23/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 12:00:44 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne An audio postcard from the Alewives Festival in Pembroke, Maine in May 2025. Produced by IDEA homeschool student Beatrice Alsop-Cheeney, with assistance from Kate Blofson, beekeeper and community radio organizer at WRUJ in Richmond, Vermont, along with the Greenhorns parents group and Downeast Salmon Federation. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 6/23/25: Of the Summer Solstice, Carl Sandburg, Rita Dove, & Frances McDormand . . .

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 11:30:02 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 6/23/25: Of the Summer Solstice, Carl Sandburg, Rita Dove, & Frances McDormand . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 6/22/25: A Discussion with McOsker, part 4

Sun, 22 Jun 2025 13:30:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen talks with Megan where she continues her discussion of studying whales and their ecology. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

The post Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 6/22/25: A Discussion with McOsker, part 4 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Esoterica 6/22/25: Ram Dass at 3am

Sun, 22 Jun 2025 11:30:57 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 6/21/25

Sat, 21 Jun 2025 13:30:17 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: penobscotmarinemuseum.org newsurrytheatre.org acadiarep.com belfastmaskers.com wilsonmuseum.org bagaducemusic.org deerisleartists.com frenchmanbay.org nehlibrary.org weru.org bhpl.net About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 6/21/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 6/21/25: Honoring the Sun Goddess at Summer Solstice

Sat, 21 Jun 2025 12:30:39 +0000

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Democracy Forum 6/20/25: Constitutional Crisis: Are Civil Liberties a Thing of the Past?

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 20:00:10 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: We talk about civil liberties, habeas corpus, due process, and immigrant detentions and deportations. While ordinary life goes on for most of us, some Mainers are living in fear. This is not normal. This will be the fourth program in our series on the constitutional crisis. Guest/s: Molly Curren Rowles, Executive Director, ACLU Maine Barbara McQuade, Professor from Practice at Michigan Law, author of the book, Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America. Sue Roche, Executive Director, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 6/20/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 12:00:23 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Paula Kee from Wednesdays on Main with upcoming events, and the Friends of Sears Island’s Solstice by the Sea celebration tonight! About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Juneteenth Downeast 2025

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 20:00:15 +0000

Recording of the Juneteenth Downeast Commemoration Event at Knowlton Park, Ellsworth, Thursday, June 19 2025. Recorded by Matt Murphy.

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Creative Maine 6/19/25: Maine Fibershed

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 20:00:13 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. We learn about the Maine Fibershed, a soil to soil initiative for fiber farming and crafting. Guest/s: Pat Harpell, co-founder of Maine Fibershed. mainefibershed@gmail.com Sofina Paz, owner of Ebb and Flow ebbandflowmaine@gmail.com Stephanie Grant, Board member, Maine Fibershed mainefibershed@gmail.com Janet Beardsley, Owner Catawampus Farm and Board member, Maine Fibershed catawampusfarm.com/contact-us/ Amber Mazza, co-owner Gealach Fola Acres 207-323-2240 Sarah Ann Smith, Quilter sarah@sarahannsmith.com About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach the JMG program at Bucksport High School. She joined the Bangor Band in 2018, where she plays euphonium. She is in her second year as a Board Member at Large for the Bangor Band.

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Climate & Community 6/19/25: Climate Resilience in Tremont with Sarah White (Part One)

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 12:30:29 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community meets with Sarah White, a resident of Tremont to discuss how she became involved in climate leadership in her town. Sarah shares her background and insight on how others can take the leap into climate action in their communities. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

The post Climate & Community 6/19/25: Climate Resilience in Tremont with Sarah White (Part One) first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 6/19/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 12:00:22 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Juneteenth Commemoration in Ellsworth today, and one final clip from the No Kings Day event in Bangor last Saturday About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 6/18/25: Ocean Literacy and How to Understand the Ocean

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 12:30:27 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio we are discussing the Ocean Literacy movement and the need for more ocean science and fresh water understanding in the classroom. Ocean Literacy is comprised of seven basic principles, and host Peter Neill provides further perspective to include the global fresh water cycle by which to expand the principles into a set of curricular approaches that pertain to science, climate impacts, solutions, and a new paradigm for a future built on this knowledge. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 6/18/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 12:00:25 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne More clips from the No Kings Day events in Bangor and Ellsworth last Saturday (Recorded by Amy Browne and Matt Murphy) FMI: www.nokings.org/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Relationship Rewind 6/17/25: After Everything

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:30:36 +0000

Host: Jazz Bradley at NextStep Domestic Violence Project. NextStep 24/7 Helpline: 1(800) 315-5579 Theme Music for the show donated by local musicians Megan Light and Nathan Spears. Relationship Rewind: Rewinding relationships in popular media and breaking down behaviors based in power, control, and abuse. This episode: 1. Discussing unhealthy behaviors in the film After Everything. 2. Discussing how media normalizes these behaviors. 3. Discussing the impacts of these messages about these relationships and people, on young people in real life. FMI: www.nextstepdvproject.org About the hosts: Alli Williamson is the youth educator and advocate for NextStep Domestic Violence Project based in Hancock and Washington County, ME. She teaches young people from Kindergarten to College about what power and control looks like in friendships and relationships, what resources are available to support those experiencing this, and how we can work to make our schools and communities safer and more equal spaces where abuse may be less likely to happen.

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Outside the Box 6/17/25: “Everyone the Same”

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 12:30:51 +0000

The post Outside the Box 6/17/25: “Everyone the Same” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 6/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 12:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Reverend Mark Worth speaking at the No Kings Day event in Ellsworth on Saturday (recorded by Matt Murphy) FMI: www.nokings.org/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 6/16/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:00:04 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Pam Proulx Curry, Executive Director of the Maine Multicultural Center, speaking at the No Kings Day rally on the Bangor waterfront, Saturday, 6/14/25. FMI: Maine Multicultural Center Indivisible Bangor About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 6/16/25: Of Bumblebees in Lupine, Juneteenth, & Stan Laurel . . .

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 11:30:25 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 6/16/25: Of Bumblebees in Lupine, Juneteenth, & Stan Laurel . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 6/15/25: A Discussion with McOsker, part 3

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 13:30:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen talks with Megan where she continues her discussion of teaching natural history. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

The post Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 6/15/25: A Discussion with McOsker, part 3 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Esoterica 6/15/25: Reality Is Illusion

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 11:30:03 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 6/15/25: Reality Is Illusion first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 6/14/25

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 13:30:51 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: schoodicartsforall.org phumchurch.com haleyartgallery.com deerislelibrary.org peninsulapride.me bhpl.net swhplibrary.org wendellgilleymuseum.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 6/14/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 6/14/25: Earth Energy

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 12:30:34 +0000

The post Earthwise 6/14/25: Earth Energy first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 6/13/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 12:00:37 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Melissa Berky from Indivisible Bangor joins us with details about the No Kings Day rally and march in Bangor tomorrow from 12-3pm, rain or shine. The rally will be at the waterfront near Railroad and Front Streets. A 1-mile march (with shorter alternate routes) will leave from, and return to the park, where the march will be followed by music. FMI: No Kings List of No Kings Day events across the state (and US) Indivisible About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Common Ground Radio 6/12/25: Homesteading in Maine

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 20:00:12 +0000

Host: Timothy Boston Editor: Clare Boland Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: In this episode of Common Ground Radio, host Timothy Boston explores the enduring and evolving practice of homesteading in Maine — a lifestyle grounded in self-reliance, land stewardship, and intentional living. Joining the conversation are Kourtney Collum and Davis Taylor, faculty at the College of the Atlantic, who have co-taught a course on homesteading and share insights from their research and visits to local homesteads. List of subjects: – Homesteading – Gardening – Self-Sufficiency – History of Maine – Back to the Land Movement Guest/s: Kourtney Collum, professor at the College of the Atlantic Davis Taylor, professor at the College of the Atlantic FMI- MOFGA Farm & Homestead Day — www.mofga.org/trainings/annual-events/farmandhomesteadday/ About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Climate & Community 6/12/25: Clean Energy Day of Action and Maine’s Clean Energy Future (Part 2)

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:30:14 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with Josh Caldwell, the Climate and Clean Energy Advocate and Outreach Manager for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. In this segment Josh describes Maine’s clean energy goals and some of the ways Mainers might expect their lives to change as we transition to 100% clean energy. The conversation concludes with two of the most important actions anyone can take to begin contributing to a sustainable and just future. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

The post Climate & Community 6/12/25: Clean Energy Day of Action and Maine’s Clean Energy Future (Part 2) first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 6/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 12:08:02 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Dr. Charles Rolsky, Executive Director & Senior Research Scientist at the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill, joins us with updates on a new research project on PFAS and lobsters, and an update on their new touch tank About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 6/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

World Ocean Radio 6/11/25: Apprenticing, A Manifesto

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 12:30:53 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Apprenticing has long been thought of as a term to describe someone working beside a master craftsperson to learn a trade and to refine a professional skill: whether it be pottery or electrical, cabinetry or plumbing. As an educational model it has long been mostly lost or forgotten, except in a place in midcoast Maine: The Apprenticeshop, where apprentices are learning the craft of building and restoring small traditional wooden boats and associated seamanship, in what can be argued as a most effective way of learning and living in a time when education is challenged by convention and complexity. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 6/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 11 Jun 2025 12:00:51 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Public hearing for “red flag” bill, LD 1378 “An Act to Protect Maine Communities by Enacting the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act” Scheduled to start at 3pm this afternoon in the Judiciary Committee room at the State House. Live stream of the hearing can be accessed here Two new DSF preserves acquired this spring are open to the public for exploration Talks at the Jesup Memorial Library tonight and Thursday – register and more info No Kings Day events on Saturday, 6/14/25 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 6/10/25: “What a Waste!”

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:30:24 +0000

The post Outside the Box 6/10/25: “What a Waste!” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 6/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Berit Becker from the Ellsworth Public Library and Hannah Semler from FarmDrop are here to talk about “Hey Ellsworth, How Do We Want to Eat?” – an event focusing on “engag(ing) in participatory and collective action around the future of our food sources”, with a panel discussion (and possibly a pizza party if enough people sign up) FMI and to register: Ellsworth Public Library About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 6/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 6/9/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 12:00:48 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Pride Festivities & College of the Atlantic’s Summer Institute 2025 FMI: Heart of Ellsworth OUT Maine Portland’s first Pride Parade 1987, Portland Public Library Digital Commons Bangor Pride College of the Atlantic Summer Institute 2025 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 6/9/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

A Word in Edgewise 6/9/25: Contrapuntal Birds, the Full Strawberry Moon, & Michael J. Fox . . .

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 11:30:18 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 6/9/25: Contrapuntal Birds, the Full Strawberry Moon, & Michael J. Fox . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Esoterica 6/8/25: What Dreams May Come

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 11:30:10 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 6/8/25: What Dreams May Come first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 6/7/25

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 13:30:59 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: bucklibrary.org jesuplibrary.org mainearts.maine.gov/pages/programs/arts-in-the-capitol bhpl.net About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 6/7/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 6/7/25: The Story of Juno

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 12:30:18 +0000

The post Earthwise 6/7/25: The Story of Juno first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 6/7/25

Sat, 07 Jun 2025 11:30:54 +0000

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Conversations from the Pointed Firs 6/6/25: CIPPERLY GOOD and KEVIN JOHNSON

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 20:00:33 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger Recorded by Pepin Mittelhauser Music by Casey Neill Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. Airs the first Friday of every month from 4-5pm. Online at pointedfirs.org. Our guests for June 2025 on Conversations from the Pointed Firs are CIPPERLY GOOD and KEVIN JOHNSON, curators of Sardineland, a new exhibit at Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine that tells the stories of the maritime communities affected by the boom and bust of Maine’s Sardine Industry and Herring Fishery. Photographs, tools of the trade, art, and cultural artifact explore the industry’s ongoing impact on those who handled the herring—from the net to the can. About the host: Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete’s Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.

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Justice Radio 6/5/25: Women, Incarceration, and Education

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 21:00:29 +0000

Host/s: Mara Sanchez Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Guest host Dr. Mara Sanchez’s interview with Linda Small, Justice Radio show host and Executive Director of Reentry Sisters, as they talk about Women, Incarceration, and Education. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 6/5/2025

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 20:00:08 +0000

Host: Stephanie McFeeters, Deputy Editor at The Maine Monitor The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: Reporters Rose Lundy and Kristian Moravec discuss their reporting on workforce shifts and challenges in health care and clean energy. Guests: Rose Lundy, rose@themainemonitor.org Kristian Moravec, kristian@themainemonitor.org FMI: themainemonitor.org/ themainemonitor.org/heat-pump-workforce-development/ themainemonitor.org/healthcare-workforce-diversity/

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WERU Special: Interview with Paul Benjamin, North Atlantic Blues Festival founder and director

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 18:27:31 +0000

Join WERU blues DJ Cap’n Barney (Maine Coast Blues, Mondays 10pm on WERU) and the North Atlantic Blues Festival founder and director, Paul Benjamin, for an engaging and information-filled conversation about the Festival, taking place in Rockland on July 12 and 13, 2025. Learn more at www.northatlanticbluesfestival.com/.

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Climate & Community 6/5/25: Clean Energy Day of Action and Maine’s Clean Energy Future (Part 1)

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 12:30:20 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community hosts Josh Caldwell, the Climate and Clean Energy Advocate and Outreach Manager for the Natural Resources Council of Maine to discuss the recent Clean Energy Day of Action at the State House. This conversation highlights two bills, one which would commit the state to achieving 100% clean electricity by 2040, and another that would establish a Department of Energy Resources. We hear from Josh about why advocacy from the public matters, and the most effective ways to drive change at the state-level. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 6/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 12:00:10 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne No Kings Day, June 14th, 2025 Activate Maine calendar About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Healthy Options 6/4/25: Music Therapy for Health & Healing

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 20:00:34 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: -How music can help with emotional stability. -The attributes of music therapy in reducing stress. -The powerful & positive effects of singing in groups. -Music & memory. -Therapeutic use of music in addressing cognitive challenges. -Using music with children with autism. Guest(s): Heather Ellsworth, Board-certified Music Therapist & Neurologic Music Therapist, musician, singer and composer. midcoastmusictherapy.com FMI: Maine Music Therapy website (where people can search their specific Maine county for a music therapist): www.mainemusictherapy.com About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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Around Town 6/4/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 12:00:29 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne This coming Saturday will be busy day in Belfast — including the Belfast Pride celebration and a Climate Resilience Fair happening in close proximity. Brenda Harrington and Ellie Daniels of the Waldo County Climate Coalition join us with the details of that event. UPDATE 6/4/25: ORGANIZERS HAVE POSTPONED THIS EVENT DUE TO WEATHER. THEY PLAN TO HOLD THE EVENT THIS FALL The Climate Resilience Fair is sponsored by the Belfast Free Library and Waldo County Climate Action Coalition. Saturday, June 7th, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM. at Steamboat Landing (adjacent to the Belfast Boathouse) Belfast Pride, Saturday, June 7th, is hosted by the Belfast Area High School Gender and Sexuality Alliance and Our Town Belfast. Those who are planning to march in the parade should line up at 10:30 at the high school. The parade starts at 11 and ends at Heritage Park for a party from noon-2pm About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 6/3/25: “Anti-Semitism”

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:30:15 +0000

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Around Town 6/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 12:00:57 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Let’s head to Bucksport this morning to check in with Tracey Hair about a very special art show there this month. The official opening is tomorrow (Wednesday) evening at The Crumpet on Main Street in Bucksport. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Blue Hill Mountain Stories 6/3/25: Chrissy Beardsley-Allen

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 11:30:57 +0000

Producer/Host: Rosy Landrum Interviewer: Thomas Bowden Project Leader: Phelan Gallagher Technical Assistance: Pepin Mittelhauser Music: Foreside Date by David Renda (copyright/royalty free) The Blue Hill Mountain Stories feature interviews from local residents, conducted by the George Steven’s Academy audio production class. Each interviewee reflects upon their time on the Blue Hill peninsula, particularly surrounding the mountain itself. This series was produced for WERU by Rosy Landrum. About the Host: Rosy Landrum is a George Stevens Academy student, WERU DJ, and Blue Hill peninsula resident. You can find her on Midnight Train from 10-12 pm Wednesdays.

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Around Town 6/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 12:00:58 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne An update on what’s happening with the seemingly never-ending efforts to protect Sears Island, a 940-acre island in Penobscot Bay, with Chris Buchanan, David Italiander, Donna Gold and Jill Howell, residents of Searsport and neighboring towns, working on efforts to protect Sears Island permanently FMI: Friends of Sears Island Campaign to Protect Sears Island / Wahsumkik Sears Island Stories About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 6/2/25: From Buttercups & Lupine to a June Wind . . .

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 11:30:04 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 6/8/25: A Discussion with McOsker, part 2

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 13:30:23 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen talks with Megan where she continues her discussion of how she got interested in studying natural history. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 6/1/25: A Discussion with McOsker, part 1

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 13:30:12 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen has a discussion with Megan on how she got started in natural history and the importance of teaching natural history to everyone. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

The post Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 6/1/25: A Discussion with McOsker, part 1 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Esoterica 6/1/25: UAP Update

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 11:30:20 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 5/31/25

Sat, 31 May 2025 13:30:33 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: reversingfalls.org stonington.lib.me.us haystack-mtn.org bucklibrary.org deerislelibrary.org bhpl.net ellsworthlibrary.net bangorpubliclibrary.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 5/31/25: Getting It Right on Caucomgomuc

Sat, 31 May 2025 12:30:07 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 5/31/25

Sat, 31 May 2025 11:30:44 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 5/31/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Justice Radio 5/29/25: Colby College

Thu, 29 May 2025 21:00:28 +0000

Host/s: Emily Goulette Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Emily’s interview with Colby College students who are doing their winter term at the Maine Indigent Defense Center, and talk about their focus projects. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Climate & Community 5/29/25: Maine Climate Leaders Conversation (Part 2)

Thu, 29 May 2025 12:30:51 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community shares insight from Johannah Blackman, the Executive Director of A Climate to Thrive, and Kathleen Sullivan, the Program Coordinator for Freeport Climate Action Now, who recently planned and hosted a gathering for Maine climate leaders. Johannah and Kathleen discuss the purpose of the conversation and the long term impact spaces like this one could have on strengthening the movement. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Maine Currents 5/28/25: Sears Island Update

Wed, 28 May 2025 21:30:26 +0000

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Chris Buchanan, David Italiander, Donna Gold and Jill Howell, residents of Searsport and neighboring towns, have been working on efforts to protect Sears Island permanently. They’re here today with an update FMI: Campaign to Protect Sears Island / Wahsumkik Sears Island Stories Friends of Sears Island About the Host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices and Maine Currents, she also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and the First Place 2017 Radio News Award from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

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World Ocean Radio 5/28/25: Circulation

Wed, 28 May 2025 12:30:38 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE We live in a world of invisible circulation. It is in us and around us at all times, transporting and exchanging all things good and bad, some natural, some man-made. This week we’re discussing the ocean-fresh water system–the full global circulation of which all life depends. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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RadioActive 5/27/25: Efforts to Stop Cooperation with ICE in Maine : Bills in Legislature

Tue, 27 May 2025 21:30:05 +0000

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco A grassroots environmental and social justice news journal, collaboration of WERU and Sunlight Media Collective. Learn more at sunlightmediacollective.org. As stops, arrests and detentions of immigrant residents within Maine have escalated, including those with work permits, green cards or in legal process of seeking asylum, the Maine legislature is currently considering two bills that would curtail the state’s complicity. LD 1259 would prohibit state and local law enforcement from doing the work of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through so called 287g contracts. A second bill, LD 1971, would prohibit state and local law enforcement from stopping, arresting or detaining a person solely for immigration enforcement reasons. The Trump administration’s national strategy of unfettered mass deportations and campai gn of fear, includes enlisting the cooperation of state and local police forces and use of county jails throughout the country. Both proposed bills had a public hearing on May 19, with massive public attendance opposing ICE operations. The work session on the bills is Wednesday, May 28th at 1pm. The Judiciary Committee is still accepting written public comments. Guests: Representative Ambureen Rana from Bangor. Crystal Cron, Presente Maine founding director. Anahita Sotoohi, Maine ACLU staff attorney. Lisa Parisio, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP). Attendees of demonstration at Augusta Statehouse. Members of the public at Cumberland County Commision meeting in Portland. FMI: www.presentemaine.org/ ilapmaine.org/ www.aclumaine.org/ www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=HP0834&item=1&snum=132 legislature.maine.gov/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=HP1315&item=1&snum=132

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Wabanaki Windows 5/27/25: Vermont Recognized Tribes

Tue, 27 May 2025 20:00:47 +0000

Producer/Host: Donna Loring Other credits: Technical assistance for the show was provided by Joel Mann of WERU, and Jessica Lockhart of WMPG. Music by Ralph Richter, a track called little eagles from his CD Dream Walk. Wabanaki Windows is a monthly show featuring topics of interest from a Wabanaki perspective. This month: The creation of Tribes by the State and what the process is for recognition and how groups of people who have no ancestral history of being Native becoming recognized as Tribes can be harmful to those Tribes who do have a ancestral history and are recognized by other Tribes and the Federal government. Guest/s: Prof Darren Ranco, a member of the Penobscot Nation, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Native American Studies at the University of Maine. Mali Obomsawin, is Abenaki and a citizen of the Odanak Nation. She is an internationally renowned musician recently nominated for her work in the film Sugar Cane. Mali is also a Social Justice Activist who is working to bring to light issues that stem from the State Recognition of five Tribes in Vermont Prof. Harald Prins, Emeritus Kansas State University. About the host: Donna M Loring is a Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder, and former Council Member. She represented the Penobscot Nation in the State Legislature for over a decade. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Mills. She is the author of “In The Shadow of The Eagle A Tribal Representative In Maine”. Donna has an Annual lecture series in her name at the University of New England that addresses Social Justice and Human Rights issues. In 2017 She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Humane Letters from the University of Maine Orono and was given the Alumni Service Award. It is the most prestigious recognition given by the University of Maine Alumni Association. It is presented Annually to a University of Maine graduate whose life’s work is marked by outstanding achievements in professional, business, civic and/or Public service areas. Donna received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in May of 2022

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Outside the Box 5/27/25: “Trust in Land, Land in Trust”

Tue, 27 May 2025 12:30:20 +0000

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Blue Hill Mountain Stories 5/27/25: Megan Granger

Tue, 27 May 2025 11:30:19 +0000

Producer/Host: Rosy Landrum Interviewer: Myles Montgomery & Charlotte Snow Project Leader: Phelan Gallagher Technical Assistance: Pepin Mittelhauser Music: Foreside Date by David Renda (copyright/royalty free) The Blue Hill Mountain Stories feature interviews from local residents, conducted by the George Steven’s Academy audio production class. Each interviewee reflects upon their time on the Blue Hill peninsula, particularly surrounding the mountain itself. This series was produced for WERU by Rosy Landrum. About the Host: Rosy Landrum is a George Stevens Academy student, WERU DJ, and Blue Hill peninsula resident. You can find her on Midnight Train from 10-12 pm Wednesdays.

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A Word in Edgewise 5/26/25: Of Decoration Day, Doxycycline, & Alan Dugan . . .

Mon, 26 May 2025 11:30:53 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 5/26/25: Of Decoration Day, Doxycycline, & Alan Dugan . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 5/25/25: Shark Alley

Sun, 25 May 2025 13:30:07 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Logan Parker explores the evolving presence of sharks in the Gulf of Maine, from childhood memories of touch-tank dogfish to the modern realities of Great White Sharks along Maine’s coast. This episode examines shifting shark populations, seal recovery, and how modern tracking research is reshaping our understanding of these apex predators. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 5/24/25

Sat, 24 May 2025 13:30:28 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: sumhucc.org netflix.com colonialtheatre.com/torchlight-premieres penobscotmarinemuseum.org belfastpoetryfestival.com/summer-salon stonington.lib.me.us About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 5/24/25: The Bee Blessing

Sat, 24 May 2025 12:30:50 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 5/24/25

Sat, 24 May 2025 11:30:39 +0000

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Power for the People 5/23/25: The 2025 Maine Uniform Energy and Building Code

Fri, 23 May 2025 20:30:39 +0000

Producer/Host: Steve Kahl Power for the People: Energy education and solutions for Mainers and Maine communities This month: Overview of the new Maine Uniform Energy and Building code. Guest/s: Erin Scally, PassiveHausMaine.org Training Director (erin@passivehausmaine.org) Randy Rand, PassiveHausMaine.org Training Coordinator (randy@passivehausmaine.org) FMI: www.maine.gov/dps/fmo/building-codes About the host: Steve Kahl developed and has hosted Power for the People since 2015. He retired after 9 years as Professor of Environmental Science at Thomas College in 2024, where he taught environmental and energy courses and advised the student sustainability club. He is a member of the Friends of Quarry Road Trails board of directors in Waterville where he is the main advocate for a net-zero energy welcome center. Steve advised the board of WERU-FM on making the station studios 100% solar powered and worked with Sundog Solar in Searsport to make it happen back in 2020. Steve is a career lake researcher in addition to roles in energy and sustainability, and was a founding member of the Lake Stewards of Maine in the 1990s and is currently back on their board. He is past board President of Maine Lakes, the NH Lake Association, and the Lake Winnipesaukee Association. Prior to moving home to Maine in 2004, he was a member of the Energy Commission in Plymouth NH where he obtained Dept of Energy funding for the renovation of a town office building to net-zero energy as well as the installation of 160 KW of solar PV panels on town properties, including a major PV array at the sewage treatment plant that offsets 40% of its electrical costs. Steve’s past positions include Sustainability Director at Unity College where he developed a plan for the college to become 100% solar powered and earned the college the prestigious STARS Gold sustainability ranking with the American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education. Before that, he was Director of Environmental and Energy Strategies for the James Sewall Company of Old Town where he led a Maine Technology Institute research project that found that the Maine electric grid could be 100% solar powered if all suitably-oriented rooftops had solar PV panels. His lake research was done while serving as founding director of the Senator George Mitchell Center for Environmental Research at the University of Maine. His own 1940s-era home is 100% electric, where he has installed two air-source heat pumps to eliminate heating oil, a hybrid hot water heater to reduce his water heating costs by 70%, and insulated the basement and attic to reduce the ‘stack effect’ of cold air coming in the basement and forcing heat out of the attic. He has solar panels on his summer place at the lake and hasn’t paid for any electricity there since 2011. In 2025, he added 6 KW of solar PV on his main home, with the goal to be net zero energy on an annual basis. Steve has a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of Maine.

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Coastal Conversations 5/23/25: Bird Songs

Fri, 23 May 2025 20:00:13 +0000

Host: Catherine Devine Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. In this episode of Coastal Conversations, we feature a Schoodic Institute Sea to Trees podcast about the birds in Acadia, their songs, and what we can do to keep them around. We begins with naturalist Laura Sebastianelli, who has dedicated her summers to recording all the bird songs in Acadia National Park. We join Laura out in the field and discover how her work extends far beyond the recordings themselves. We meet the self-proclaimed “bird diva” Bridget Butler who teaches us the critical importance of attention in conservation. And, naturally, no birding episode about the Schoodic region is complete without Seth Benz, Bird Ecology Director at Schoodic Institute, who provides insights into the challenges that birds confront due to climate change and shifting habitats. Catherine Schmitt provides a post-script commentary. Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. Guest/s: Seth Benz, Bird Ecology Director at Schoodic. Bridget Butler, Slow Birder. Laura Sebastianelli, Naturalist. Catherine Schmitt, Science Communications Specialist, Schoodic Institute. About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 5/23/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 23 May 2025 12:00:28 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Karen Merritt, Coastal and Environmental Geology faculty at Maine Maritime Academy and member of the Surry Conservation Commission invites you to Marsh Madness, Thursday, May 29th, at the Surry Elementary School. Doors open at 5:30, presentation at 7pm About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 5/22/25: A Legacy of Disparity, A Vision for Justice with Rae Sage

Thu, 22 May 2025 21:00:51 +0000

Host/s: Linda Small and Mackenzie Kelley Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Linda and Mackenzie’s interview with Rae Sage, Policy Coordinator for the Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations, as they talk about the work of the Commission, it’s mission to address Maine’s legacy of disparity, and its vision for Justice. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Climate & Community 5/22/25: Maine Climate Leaders Conversation (Part 1)

Thu, 22 May 2025 12:30:22 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community shares insight from Johannah Blackman, the Executive Director of A Climate to Thrive, and Kathleen Sullivan, the Program Coordinator for Freeport Climate Action Now, who recently planned and hosted a gathering for Maine climate leaders. Johannah and Kathleen discuss what sparked the idea for this gathering and why now is the time to convene climate leaders to grapple with the challenges of the moment and imagine a shared vision for the future. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 5/22/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 22 May 2025 12:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Congresswoman Chellie Pingree of Maine’s 1st Congressional District, addressed federal budget cuts to the Department of the Interior this week, at a House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee hearing — and she mentioned some Maine-specific impacts About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 5/21/25: Will the Children Set Us Free?

Wed, 21 May 2025 12:30:21 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Will the children set us free? Has it come to that? Have we abandoned the future for our children to solve, leaving them accountable for what we have failed to do? This week on World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill shares where he finds hope for the future, including in a web-based educational initiative that introduces children worldwide to the complexity, significance, and beauty of the ocean–the one ocean which gives us so much: freshwater, food, energy, health, wealth, community, security, and cultural/spiritual traditions. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 5/21/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 21 May 2025 12:00:28 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Aaron Miller, Ph.D., Curator of Exhibits & Collections at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, joins us with a preview of what’s in store at the Abbe this summer. (The museum reopens on May 27th) FMI: www.abbemuseum.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Relationship Rewind 5/20/25: After Ever Happy

Tue, 20 May 2025 21:00:35 +0000

Host: Jazz Bradley at NextStep Domestic Violence Project. NextStep 24/7 Helpline: 1(800) 315-5579 Theme Music for the show donated by local musicians Megan Light and Nathan Spears. Relationship Rewind: Rewinding relationships in popular media and breaking down behaviors based in power, control, and abuse. This episode: 1. Discussing unhealthy behaviors in the film After Ever Happy. 2. Discussing how media normalizes these behaviors. 3. Discussing the impacts of these messages about these relationships and people, on young people in real life. Guest/s: Brynn, Local First Responder FMI: www.nextstepdvproject.org About the hosts: Alli Williamson is the youth educator and advocate for NextStep Domestic Violence Project based in Hancock and Washington County, ME. She teaches young people from Kindergarten to College about what power and control looks like in friendships and relationships, what resources are available to support those experiencing this, and how we can work to make our schools and communities safer and more equal spaces where abuse may be less likely to happen.

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Outside the Box 5/20/25: “For Land’s Sakes”

Tue, 20 May 2025 12:30:33 +0000

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Around Town 5/20/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 20 May 2025 12:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), through its Office for Family Independence (OFI), and Maine’s Department of Education (DOE) have announced the return of the SUN Bucks and SUN Meals Programs for Summer 2025. Together, the SUN Programs help give children the nutrition they need in summer when school meals are unavailable. FMI: www.maine.gov/dhhs/ofi www.fns.usda.gov/summer About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Blue Hill Mountain Stories 5/20/25: Brad Emerson

Tue, 20 May 2025 11:30:29 +0000

Producer/Host: Rosy Landrum Interviewer: Liam Henry Project Leader: Phelan Gallagher Technical Assistance: Pepin Mittelhauser Music: Foreside Date by David Renda (copyright/royalty free) The Blue Hill Mountain Stories feature interviews from local residents, conducted by the George Steven’s Academy audio production class. Each interviewee reflects upon their time on the Blue Hill peninsula, particularly surrounding the mountain itself. This series was produced for WERU by Rosy Landrum. About the Host: Rosy Landrum is a George Stevens Academy student, WERU DJ, and Blue Hill peninsula resident. You can find her on Midnight Train from 10-12 pm Wednesdays.

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Around Town 5/19/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 19 May 2025 12:00:42 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The number of April arrests by the United States Border Patrol (USBP) in Maine is the highest in a single month in nearly 24 years, according to US Customs and Border Patrol. Donna Loring, WERU volunteer and host of Wabanaki Windows wins 2025 Hometown Media Award for Best of Racial Justice and Civil Rights Programming from The Alliance for Community Media! About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 5/19/25: Of Lyme Disease, the Third-quarter Moon, & Frank Capra . . .

Mon, 19 May 2025 11:30:42 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 5/18/25: Wet Woodlands & Four-toed Salamanders

Sun, 18 May 2025 13:30:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Logan describes the character of the “wet woods” surrounding his home, spring “big nights,” and his elusive four-toed neighbor. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 5/17/25

Sat, 17 May 2025 13:30:10 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: extension.umaine.edu/hancock artwavesmdi.org swhplibrary.org ellsworthlibrary.net camdenfestivalofpoetry.org jacksonmemoriallibrary.org bluehill.coop bhpl.net themusichall.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 5/17/25: The Green Man

Sat, 17 May 2025 12:30:23 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 5/17/25

Sat, 17 May 2025 12:30:05 +0000

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Democracy Forum 5/16/25: Constitutional Crisis: Is Our Government Making Us Sick?

Fri, 16 May 2025 20:00:45 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: The effects of the federal administration’s policies on health and science research and delivery nationally and here in Maine. Guest/s: Art Blank, Former CEO, MDI Hospital Amy Fried, Professor emerita of political science at the University of Maine Dr. Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention, and former principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 5/16/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 16 May 2025 12:00:22 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Ann Luther of the League of Women Voters, host of the Democracy Forum here on WERU, joins us to talk about today’s show (4pm live, then on the archives) Heart of Ellsworth announces that a grant they were awarded in 2024 for historical preservation by an organization that receives federal funding, has been defunded. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 5/15/25: Revisioning Conflict Narratives with Brandon Brown, Part II

Thu, 15 May 2025 21:00:45 +0000

Host/s: Liv Eckert and Swathi Sivasubramanian of the Young People’s Caucus Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Part II of Liv & Swathi’s interview with Brandon Brown, Executive Director of Youth-LED Justice, as they talk about revisioning conflict narratives. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Creative Maine 5/15/25: Maine Made Books

Thu, 15 May 2025 20:00:45 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. In this episode we explore “Maine Made” book publishing and marketing. Guest/s: Michelle Shores, www.mshoreswriter.com Suzanne DeFillips, bucksporttradingpost.com, 407-462-5618 Kate Corwin, Bookstacks Book Store, 207-469-8992 bucksportbookseller@gmail.com About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach the JMG program at Bucksport High School. She joined the Bangor Band in 2018, where she plays euphonium. She is in her second year as a Board Member at Large for the Bangor Band.

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Climate & Community 5/15/25: Mount Desert Island High School Ecoteam (Part 2)

Thu, 15 May 2025 12:30:12 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with science teacher, Ruth Poland, and senior Ecoteam member, Lucian Avila-Gatz, from Mount Desert Island High School. In this episode we hear about their perspective on youth driven climate action in the state, and their recent experience at the Maine Youth Climate Summit. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 5/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 15 May 2025 12:00:36 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne We listen in as the Maine House of Representatives debates and votes on LD 582 “An Act to Require Health Insurance Carriers to Provide Coverage for Blood Testing for Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances” About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 5/14/25: Artificial Intelligence in Maine Schools

Wed, 14 May 2025 20:00:00 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves Production support from Joel Mann and from College of the Atlantic Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: How did the group working on AI in the MDI School System get formed—what are its goals? What have been the takeaways so far? Surprises? Talk a bit about public perception of AI in school. ChatGPT generated essays, plagiarism concerns, etc. How does that match up with the reality in Maine classrooms? What is the Maine Learning Technology Initiative? The state government implemented a pause on use of generative AI two years ago, to clarify policies and best practices. Some countries, states and cities have bans on the use of AI in schools. Could you talk a bit about where Maine falls on that spectrum and what has been learned since 2023? What did you learn when you taught a class on AI-assisted writing. What has struck or surprised you in that process? What do you think we can learn from human experience with other technology and scientific advancement as we ride the wave of AI? Where can listeners learn more… do you have any favorite writers or sources? Guest/s: Kate Meyer, English and Design Thinking teacher, MDI High School and 2020 Hancock County Teacher of the Year Nicole Davis, AI & Emerging Technology Specialist, Maine Dept of Education Gray Cox, professor of philosophy, College of the Atlantic, author of Smarter Planet or Wiser Earth: dialogue and collaboration in the era of artificial intelligence, published by Quaker Institute for the Future, 2023 FMI: www.oneusefulthing.org/ (“One Useful Thing | Ethan Mollick | Substack,” March 30, 2025. A series of useful blog posts that keep track of many key new features of AI. Also see Mollick, Ethan: Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. New York: Portfolio, 2024. An accessible, short book length introduction to the basics of AI and its uses by a Wharton Business School professor www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/will-the-humanities-survive-artificial-intelligence (Burnett, D. Graham. “Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence?” The New Yorker, April 26, 2025. . A very stimulating, cutting edge interpretation of how Generative AI is transforming the current practice and future of liberal arts education) www.smarterplanetorwiserearth.com (Smarter Planet or Wiser Earth? Dialogue and Collaboration in the Era of Artificial Intelligence, by Gray Cox. A very in-depth approach to the issues Generative AI raises from a systematic human ecological point of view.) About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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World Ocean Radio 5/14/25: 15 Years!

Wed, 14 May 2025 12:30:54 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week marks the 750th episode of World Ocean Radio: 15 years of weekly short audio that reaches millions around the globe, sharing concepts, demands, and solutions related to ocean technology and science, policy, examples of best practice, personal reflections, and solutions for how the ocean connects, sustains, inspires, and engages us in common history, traditions, sustenance, communication, community, and well being. Thank you for listening! WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 5/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 14 May 2025 12:00:34 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Busy day at the statehouse. FMI: Wabanaki Alliance Maine AllCare State Legislature About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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WERU Special 5/13/25 Americans Who Tell The Truth – Rivera Sun

Tue, 13 May 2025 21:00:49 +0000

On Sunday, May 4, at the Bay School in Blue Hill, ME, artist Robert Shetterly unveiled his most recent portrait: Rivera Sun. This is the 276th addition to the Americans Who Tell The Truth project, whose subjects include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Jones, Cesar Chavez, and others. At this celebratory unveiling, artist Rob Shetterly, previous portrait subject Sherri Mitchell – Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset and Rivera Sun all offered remarks. Recorded and produced by Matt Murphy. You can also watch a video of the event here.

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Outside the Box 5/13/25: “Wealth Fund”

Tue, 13 May 2025 12:30:36 +0000

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Around Town 5/13/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 13 May 2025 12:00:17 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Meg Shorette joins us to talk about the 10th All Roads Festival coming up on Friday and Saturday Indivisible and other pro-democracy groups issue a call to action on June 14th – to counter Trump’s military parade with “No Kings!” protests in every state. Protests are planned in several locations in Maine About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Blue Hill Mountain Stories 5/13/25: Denny Robertson

Tue, 13 May 2025 11:30:54 +0000

Producer/Host: Rosy Landrum Interviewer: Logan Spratt Project Leader: Phelan Gallagher Technical Assistance: Pepin Mittelhauser Music: Foreside Date by David Renda (copyright/royalty free) The Blue Hill Mountain Stories feature interviews from local residents, conducted by the George Steven’s Academy audio production class. Each interviewee reflects upon their time on the Blue Hill peninsula, particularly surrounding the mountain itself. This series was produced for WERU by Rosy Landrum. About the Host: Rosy Landrum is a George Stevens Academy student, WERU DJ, and Blue Hill peninsula resident. You can find her on Midnight Train from 10-12 pm Wednesdays.

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Around Town 5/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 12 May 2025 12:00:18 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Lots happening at the Ellsworth Public Library in May. FMI: Ellsworth Public Library ACLU of Maine Legal Team Update Webinar- Updates on legal actions taken by the ACLU (v Trump admin) coming up this Thursday FMI & zoom link: ACLU of Maine events – and news from Maine newspapers, 100 years ago today Ticket sales open today for Eccentric Films of Nancy Andrews, a four-night film series showcasing the unique artistic vision and experimental storytelling techniques of College of the Atlantic T.A. Cox Chair in Studio Arts Nancy Andrews. “Eccentric Films of Nancy Andrews spans a diverse selection of works dating from 1995-2025, including early works and genre-defying films that have earned Andrews recognition at film festivals and film series worldwide. Each night features a live Q&A session with Andrews, where she will discuss her creative process and the themes explored in her films. Andrews is a visionary filmmaker whose works have garnered critical acclaim for their experimental narratives, imaginative visual storytelling, and fearless exploration of unconventional themes. Andrews’ work explores the boundaries between reality and imagination, the personal and the universal, and the inner psychological landscapes and external forces that shape human experience. Through her unique blend of film, animation, puppetry, music, and visual art, she crafts hybrid worlds that are both whimsical and profound.” Schedule, film descriptions and (as of today) tickets at Reel Pizza the public is invited to mark the start of grazing season at College of the Atlantic Peggy Rockefeller Farm as the sheep flock is let out of the barn for their first taste of spring grass Saturday, May 10, beginning at 10 a.m. The lambs and ewes will be set free of the barn at 10:30 a.m. After watching them frolic, guests can explore the farm, roll out a picnic blanket, and stay for some lawn games and a fiber spinning demo. Farm products will be available for sale, and COA student farm staff will be on hand to share about their food and farming projects, talk about the animals, and answer questions. All are welcome to this free, family-friendly event, which takes place at the farm’s Cameron Barn, located at 532 Crooked Road. Parking is limited and carpooling is encouraged. A bit further down the coast Saturday, the Friends of Sears Island invite you to Celebrate International Migratory Bird Day! “Birds love Sears Island, a national eBird hotspot. Meet Maine Master Naturalist Cloe Chunn and Todd Miller at the Sears Island gate and see the birds that flock to the island. Be ready for warblers in the trees and waders along the shore – and maybe an osprey or two. This walk is ADA-accessible, parking is easy and there are rustic facilities.” Saturday, May 10 – 7:00 am – 9:00 am FMI: Friends of Sears Island About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 5/12/25: Mother’s Day Monday, the Full Flower Moon, & Florence Nightingale . . .

Mon, 12 May 2025 11:30:19 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 5/11/25: A Walk with Rich MacDonald, part 4

Sun, 11 May 2025 13:30:26 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen walks a trail on Mount Desert Island with naturalist Rich MacDonald (www.thenaturalhistorycenter.com/) and we discuss wood ducks. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 5/11/25: Conclave

Sun, 11 May 2025 11:30:16 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 5/10/25

Sat, 10 May 2025 13:30:46 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: courthousegallery.com bhpl.net penobscotmarinemuseum.org csbcbangor.org downeast.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 5/10/25: Mother Turtle

Sat, 10 May 2025 12:30:15 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 5/10/25

Sat, 10 May 2025 11:30:45 +0000

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Let’s Talk About It 5/9/25

Fri, 09 May 2025 20:00:57 +0000

Producer/Host: Patrisha McLean Production Assistance: Tammy Oropesa Music: Jackie Lee McLean Let’s Talk About It: Conversations with Survivors of Domestic Abuse When your ex tries to burn your house down with you and your daughter in it and is out of jail in less than a year. Topics: 1. Broken Judicial System 2. Domestic Violence Arson 3. Impact of Domestic Violence on Children Guests: Agnes Brackett About the host: Patrisha McLean is the founder/president of Finding Our Voices, the grass roots survivor-powered non profit organization breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time all across Maine.

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Justice Radio 5/8/25: Clemency with Brandon Brown and Jeff Evangelos

Thu, 08 May 2025 21:00:56 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Catherine interviews Brandon Brown, Executive Director of Youth-Led Justice, and Former Legislator and advocate Jeff Evangelos, as they talk about the topic of clemency in Maine. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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We Are Queer 5/8/25: Olivia: Perspective on Queerness

Thu, 08 May 2025 20:30:01 +0000

Host/Producer: Pepin Mittelhauser Music by Juniper Ginger In this, the last episode of WERQ, regular host Olivia Paruk swaps seats with the guest of the first episode, Pepin Mittelhauser, sharing her own experiences, and perspectives she gained while creating We Are Queer. We Are Queer, highlights the touching experiences from Maine’s diverse LGBTQ+ community that builds empathy and understanding in our greater community. If you have feedback for the show or want to get in touch email info@weru.org with WERQ in the subject line. About the host: Pepin Mittelhauser (he/they) is the Digital Content Manager at WERU Community Radio, an avid musician and singer, and lover of nature and the outdoors. He graduated from College of the Atlantic in ’19 with focuses in sustainable agriculture, food systems, and live and recorded audio engineering and production. He has lived in Downeast Maine his entire life.

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Climate & Community 5/8/25: Mount Desert Island High School Ecoteam (Part 1)

Thu, 08 May 2025 12:30:36 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community speaks with science teacher, Ruth Poland, and senior Ecoteam member, Lucian Avila-Gatz from Mount Desert Island High School about what inspired their involvement in climate and sustainability work. We learn about the formation of the Ecoteam eight years ago and how the group is continuing to evolve alongside climate action initiatives in the state of Maine. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 5/8/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 08 May 2025 12:00:22 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The 2025 Maine Jewish Film Festival draws to a close with a special screening of The Other at the Bangor Public Library tonight. Doors open with light refreshments at 5:30. Film begins at 6:00. The film is free to the public and donations to cover the costs are most welcome. Reservations are not required, so organizers ask that you please arrive on time to ensure best seating. “One of our most well-attended festival films, The Other takes us into the complex relationship of shared humanity, culture and connection between Israelis & Palestinians—and the transformative journey that follows when they are faced with meeting “the other.” As such it provides an extraordinary example of what we are all capable of as humans when empathy and understanding are the orders of the day Filmed from 2017-2024, including post October 7th and during the subsequent war, The Other focuses on Israeli and Palestinian peace-builders, anti-occupation activists, artists, academics, ex-fighters, bereaved parents, and many more living the reality on the ground. The screening is sponsored by the Maine Jewish Film Festival and Keshev, a group of Maine Jews committed to working for a lasting peace in Israel and Palestine, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live with full democratic and civil rights in peace, freedom, dignity, and safety.” Ticket sales open today for Eccentric Films of Nancy Andrews, a four-night film series showcasing the unique artistic vision and experimental storytelling techniques of College of the Atlantic T.A. Cox Chair in Studio Arts Nancy Andrews. “Eccentric Films of Nancy Andrews spans a diverse selection of works dating from 1995-2025, including early works and genre-defying films that have earned Andrews recognition at film festivals and film series worldwide. Each night features a live Q&A session with Andrews, where she will discuss her creative process and the themes explored in her films. Andrews is a visionary filmmaker whose works have garnered critical acclaim for their experimental narratives, imaginative visual storytelling, and fearless exploration of unconventional themes. Andrews’ work explores the boundaries between reality and imagination, the personal and the universal, and the inner psychological landscapes and external forces that shape human experience. Through her unique blend of film, animation, puppetry, music, and visual art, she crafts hybrid worlds that are both whimsical and profound.” Schedule, film descriptions and (as of today) tickets at Reel Pizza the public is invited to mark the start of grazing season at College of the Atlantic Peggy Rockefeller Farm as the sheep flock is let out of the barn for their first taste of spring grass Saturday, May 10, beginning at 10 a.m. The lambs and ewes will be set free of the barn at 10:30 a.m. After watching them frolic, guests can explore the farm, roll out a picnic blanket, and stay for some lawn games and a fiber spinning demo. Farm products will be available for sale, and COA student farm staff will be on hand to share about their food and farming projects, talk about the animals, and answer questions. All are welcome to this free, family-friendly event, which takes place at the farm’s Cameron Barn, located at 532 Crooked Road. Parking is limited and carpooling is encouraged. A bit further down the coast Saturday, the Friends of Sears Island invite you to Celebrate International Migratory Bird Day! “Birds love Sears Island, a national eBird hotspot. Meet Maine Master Naturalist Cloe Chunn and Todd Miller at the Sears Island gate and see the birds that flock to the island. Be ready for warblers in the trees and waders along the shore – and maybe an osprey or two. This walk is ADA-accessible, parking is easy and there are rustic facilities.” Saturday, May 10 – 7:00 am – 9:00 am FMI: Friends of Sears Island About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Healthy Options 5/7/25: Ticks: Lyme, & other Tick-borne Illness

Wed, 07 May 2025 20:00:42 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: -The different ticks appearing in Maine, and the tick diseases being found now. -The vital importance of keeping tick OFF of us! -Poppy-seed size of ticks right now, as nymphs in May, and sesame seed size as adults, and raisin-sized when engorged -Tick-borne pathogens & their afflictions: Anaplasmosis, Babeosis, Lyme (Borellia), Alpha Gal, Erhlichia, Rocky Mt. Spotted Fever, Relapsing Fever (& Powassan Virus, which can cause severe to fatal illness in just 15 minutes after a bite) -The importance of clinical diagnosis, vs. relying solely on the imperfections in analyzing test results, and the significance of a LYME disease rash- which does not present in every tick bite -How to check for ticks in a timely fashion, so an embedded tick has less time to transfer disease from its bite; we do not know how the length of time required for a tick to transmit infection -How to remove a tick safely & what is a risky tick bite (tick broken off, tick on for several hours/days, tick being “annoyed” and spitting bacteria etc. back into the wound from its salivary gland) -Sending ticks for identification as to the type of tick & possible disease carried -What is a PCR test, and what it can show (or not), the issues of interpreting antibody tests, and when to test for Lyme & co-infections -What treatments are commonly used, and the challenges of diagnosing tick-borne illness -How to protect yourself (and your pets) from ticks when being outdoors (high percentage of tick bites recorded, from your own backyard, yardwork, gardening, clearing brush). -Permithrin-treated clothing and effective repellents used on the skin for tick protection -How to make your backyard less habitable for ticks, and migrating birds can carry ticks & spread them onto our property; best to not use bird feeders from April through October Guest(s): Dr. Beatrice Szantyr, Internist and Pediatrician who lectures on Lyme disease and related tick-borne disorders in Maine and nationally, to both professional and community groups. She is an active member of the Maine CDC Vector Borne Disease Work Group, and a member of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society. Dr. Szantyr also had served on the 2022 Federal Tick-Borne Disease Working Group, Access to Care and Education Subcommittee. FMI: EPA info on effective repellents www.epa.gov/insect-repellents? EPA info on repellent-treated clothing www.epa.gov/insect-repellents/repellent-treated-clothing? University of Maine Tick Lab?- Protect Yourself from ticks & tick-borne diseases (Identify a tick for free; $20 to ID diseases the tick may contain) extension.umaine.edu/ticks/ Tick testing Amherst MA. (tests for more diseases): www.tickreport.com Maine Tracking Network- Tickborne Diseases Improving public health with better information: data.mainepublichealth.gov/tracking/home Columbia University Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center www.columbia-lyme.org/ Powered by patients. Home of Lyme Times and My Lyme Data: www.lymedisease.org/ TickEncounter The University of Rhode Island?Tick-borne Disease prevention Education web.uri.edu/tickencounter/ This article is brief enough for a patient to bring to a doctor’s visit for them to consider: The Management of Ixodes scapularis Bites in the Upper Midwest wmjonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/110/2/78.pdf PARTICULARLY FOR HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS (& FMI for clients): LymeCME- Free, Evidence-based, AAFP-Accredited Courses Physicians Can Trust www.lymecme.info/ ****************************************************** Previous HEALTHY OPTIONS PROGRAMS on ticks & Lyme can also be found at: archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2024/05/healthy-options-5-1-24-lyme-disease-other-tick-borne-illness-update-for-2024/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2023/05/healthy-options-5-3-23-lyme-disease-tick-borne-illness-and-how-to-be-tick-conscious-to-protect-ourselves/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2022/10/healthy-options-10-5-22-the-ticks-are-still-here-what-you-need-to-know/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2022/05/healthy-options-5-4-22-yearly-update-on-ticks-lyme-and-tick-borne-illnesses/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2021/05/healthy-options-5-5-21-ticks-those-blood-sucking-parasites/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2020/06/healthy-options-6-3-20-ticks-and-tick-borne-illnesses/ About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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Around Town 5/7/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 07 May 2025 12:00:01 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Registration is now open for Out in the Open’s 2025 Summit, a regional gathering for small town and rural LGBTQ+ folks, May 31-June 1 in interior Waldo County This is their 10th year organizing such gatherings. Grace joins us with all the details. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 5/6/25: “Can We Afford the Rich?”

Tue, 06 May 2025 12:30:28 +0000

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Around Town 5/6/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 06 May 2025 12:00:17 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Lauren Stark joins us to talk about the Resistance Faire coming up on Saturday, May 10th in Belfast from 1-5 PM at the UU Church. FMI: Wellkeepers on BlueSky About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Blue Hill Mountain Stories 5/6/25: Birgit Friend

Tue, 06 May 2025 11:30:08 +0000

Producer/Host: Rosy Landrum Interviewer: Millie Cowart Project Leader: Phelan Gallagher Technical Assistance: Pepin Mittelhauser Music: Foreside Date by David Renda (copyright/royalty free) The Blue Hill Mountain Stories feature interviews from local residents, conducted by the George Steven’s Academy audio production class. Each interviewee reflects upon their time on the Blue Hill peninsula, particularly surrounding the mountain itself. This series was produced for WERU by Rosy Landrum. About the Host: Rosy Landrum is a George Stevens Academy student, WERU DJ, and Blue Hill peninsula resident. You can find her on Midnight Train from 10-12 pm Wednesdays.

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Around Town 5/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 05 May 2025 12:00:39 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The state legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources will hold public hearings on several bills today, in sessions starting at 10am and at noon. L.D. 1808 “An Act to Enact the Maine Climate Superfund Act” L.D. 1870 “An Act to Establish a Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program to Impose Penalties on Climate Polluters” L.D. 1698 “An Act Regarding Changes of Ownership of Dams” L.D. 1786 “An Act to Require the Department of Environmental Protection to Provide Certain Information Regarding Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances to the Public and Private Drinking Water Well Owners” L.D. 1882 Bill “Resolve, Directing the Department of Environmental Protection to Conduct Rulemaking Regarding Significant Vernal Pools” About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 5/5/25: From Cinco de Mayo to Tammy Wynette . . .

Mon, 05 May 2025 11:30:01 +0000

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Americans Who Tell the Truth: Rivera Sun 5.4.25

Sun, 04 May 2025 16:00:20 +0000

On Sunday, May 4, at the Bay School in Blue Hill, ME, artist Robert Shetterly unveiled his most recent portrait: Rivera Sun. This is the 276th addition to the Americans Who Tell The Truth project, whose subjects include Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Jones, Cesar Chavez, and others. At this celebratory unveiling, artist Rob Shetterly, previous portrait subject Sherri Mitchell – Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset and Rivera Sun all offered remarks. Recorded by Matt Murphy. You can also watch a video of the event here.

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 5/4/25: A Walk with Rich MacDonald, part 3

Sun, 04 May 2025 13:30:18 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen walks a trail on Mount Desert Island with naturalist Rich MacDonald (www.thenaturalhistorycenter.com/) and we discuss woodpeckers. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 5/4/25: A Thought Form

Sun, 04 May 2025 11:30:11 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 5/3/25

Sat, 03 May 2025 13:30:53 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: workingloose.com americanswhotellthetruth.org isletheater.org oldfilm.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 5/3/25: The Merry Month of May

Sat, 03 May 2025 12:30:50 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 5/3/25

Sat, 03 May 2025 11:30:51 +0000

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Conversations from the Pointed Firs 5/2/25: Tom and Lee Ann Szelog

Fri, 02 May 2025 20:00:03 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger Recorded by Pepin Mittelhauser Music by Casey Neill Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. Airs the first Friday of every month from 4-5pm. Online at pointedfirs.org. Our guests for May 2025 on Conversations from the Pointed Firs are TOM AND LEE ANN SZELOG, often described as Maine’s most renowned wildlife photographers. Together they promote wildlife conservation and preservation through their films, lectures, exhibits, writings, and photographs. The Szelog’s specialize in photographing wildlife in remote locations, using the most ethical wildlife photography practices. About the host: Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete’s Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.

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Around Town 5/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 02 May 2025 12:00:27 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Station Manager Matt Murphy joins us to talk about the DOGE’ing of public broadcasting including WERU – and what you can do to help! FMI: Protect My Public Media Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Corporation for Public Broadcasting sues Trump after he tries to fire board members – NPR About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 5/1/25: Barbara Taylor

Thu, 01 May 2025 21:00:27 +0000

Host/s: Rob Ruffner Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Rob interviews Maine Immigration Attorney Barbara Taylor, about the challenges of navigating the complicated immigration legal process in Maine. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 5/1/2025

Thu, 01 May 2025 20:00:21 +0000

Host: Kate Cough, Editor at The Maine Monitor The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: Child welfare and healthcare in Maine. Guests: Josh Keefe and Rose Lundy FMI: themainemonitor.org/

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Climate & Community 5/1/25: Climate Action, District by District (Part 2)

Thu, 01 May 2025 12:30:38 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with Bath Middle School science teacher, Micah Depper, learning about how school districts statewide and nationwide have the opportunity to make a big difference on the state of climate action and emissions reductions in the US. We touch on the importance of student contributions to this initiative and the necessity to build networks of climate leaders in school communities throughout Maine, New England, and the country. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 5/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 01 May 2025 12:00:04 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne May Day events in Maine: the Maine AFL-CIO’s website and ActiveMaine have listings Ed Spencer joins us to talk about the Water Ceremony and Rally for the Penobscot river, coming up on Sunday, hosted by Citizens of the Penobscot Nation, Sunlight Media Collective, Don’t Waste ME. and sling shot and allies. Organizers say “This will be an opportunity to be in ceremony with the River, call out the injustice of the Juniper Ridge Landfill, and rally for solutions”. The Water Ceremony and rally for the Penobscot River starts at 11 a.m., Sunday, May 4th at Binette Park on Main Street in Old Town. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 4/30/25: Running Home

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:30:00 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill reflects on the importance of water in our lives, our culture, our memories, our very being. Water, he argues, is the essence of home, and the grace and gift of knowing it’s there for our return. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 4/30/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:00:49 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne League of Women Voters issues alert on two elections-related bills that will have public hearings this week. LD 1446: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine to Lower the Voting Age to 16 Years of Age (LWVME supports), and LD 1149: An Act to Require an Individual to Present Photographic Identification for the Purpose of Voting Maine AFL-CIO May Day events About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 4/29/25: “Trust”

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 12:30:58 +0000

The post Outside the Box 4/29/25: “Trust” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 4/29/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 12:00:03 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Stephanie Colavito of the Penobscot Theatre Company is here to talk about their production of Mother Russia: A Historical Farce about Comrades, Consequences, & Comic Mayhem FMI: www.penobscottheatre.org/ The fourth annual Jane’s Walk in Downtown Ellsworth FMI: www.heartofellsworth.org/janes-walk About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Blue Hill Mountain Stories 4/29/25: Jim Dow

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 11:30:57 +0000

Producer/Host: Rosy Landrum Interviewer: Lucy Clews Project Leader: Phelan Gallagher Technical Assistance: Pepin Mittelhauser Music: Foreside Date by David Renda (copyright/royalty free) The Blue Hill Mountain Stories feature interviews from local residents, conducted by the George Steven’s Academy audio production class. Each interviewee reflects upon their time on the Blue Hill peninsula, particularly surrounding the mountain itself. This series was produced for WERU by Rosy Landrum. About the Host: Rosy Landrum is a George Stevens Academy student, WERU DJ, and Blue Hill peninsula resident. You can find her on Midnight Train from 10-12 pm Wednesdays.

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Around Town 4/28/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 12:00:48 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A few of the bills being discussed today in Augusta LD 594Resolve, Directing the State Auditor to Audit All State Agencies The State and Local Government Committee has a second work session scheduled for this morning at 10:30 LD 1742An Act to Prohibit a State Social Media Platform Account from Restricting User Comments Public Hearing – Committee on Judiciary 4-28-25, 3:00 pm Maine State Legislature’s website About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 4/28/25: The April-May Cusp, William Carlos Williams, & Ann-Margret . . .

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 11:30:29 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 4/27/25: A Walk with Rich MacDonald, part 2

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 13:30:07 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen walks a trail on Mount Desert Island with naturalist Rich MacDonald (www.thenaturalhistorycenter.com/) and we talk about how he got started as a naturalist. More information about Maine Natural History can be found at mainenaturalhistory.org. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

The post Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 4/27/25: A Walk with Rich MacDonald, part 2 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Esoterica 4/27/25: Visitors

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 11:30:43 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 4/26/25

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 13:30:02 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: weru.org wendellgilleymuseum.org belfastmaskers.com illustrationinstitute.org BHPL.net ellsworthlibrary.net wordfestival.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 4/26/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 4/26/25: The Owl Baby

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 12:30:40 +0000

The post Earthwise 4/26/25: The Owl Baby first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 4/26/25

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 11:30:41 +0000

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Coastal Conversations 4/25/25: Acadia Summits

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 20:00:28 +0000

Host: Catherine Devine Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. In this episode of Coastal Conversations, we feature a Schoodic Institute’s Sea to Trees podcast discussing the degradation occurring on Acadia’s summits, and a community-driven effort to bring vegetation back. The effort, called Save Our Summits, mobilized members of Acadia’s community to hike soil up two mountains in Acadia. But, what happens next? How is this soil put to work? To answer this question we speak to Chris Nadeau, Climate Change Adaptation Scientist at Schoodic Institute and one of the creative minds behind Save Our Summits. We also talk to Save Our Summits volunteers and attendees, and we close with a conversation with Ivan Fernandez, Professor at University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute and School of Forest Resources, who addresses the challenges of preserving specific characteristics of ecosystems and the importance of resilience and adaptation in the face of climate change. Coastal Conversations is supported by Maine Sea Grant in partnership with Schoodic Institute and The First Coast. Guest/s: Chris Nadeau, Climate Change Adaptation Scientist at Schoodic Institute. Ivan Fernandez, Professor at University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute and School of Forest Resource. About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 4/25/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 12:00:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine Seaweed Week Statewide events Ellsworth events The Maine legislature’s Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing this afternoon on LD 1656, An Act to Facilitate Compliance with Federal Immigration Law by State and Local Government Entities Judiciary Committee schedule Submitting testimony Committee clerk: Susan Pinette State House, Room 438, 287-1327 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 4/24/25: Legislation 101 with Jan Collins

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 21:00:14 +0000

Host/s: Linda Small Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Linda interviews Jan Collins, Assistant Director of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, to talk about advocating for humane prisons through legislation and public education. FMI: www.maineprisoneradvocacy.org/ About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Climate & Community 4/24/25: Climate Action, District by District (Part 1)

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 12:30:14 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community speaks with Middle School Science teacher from Bath, Micah Depper, about how he decided to form a working group of teachers, students, administrators and community members to research, plan, and implement initiatives to reduce their schools’ emissions and waste while also promoting climate literacy at every grade level. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 4/24/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 12:00:23 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne One last clip from last Saturday’s rally at the Federal Building in Bangor – part of the national day of action About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 4/23/25: Pope Francis and the Ocean, Laudato Si Revisited

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 12:30:43 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Pope Francis, outspoken voice for climate and the environment, passed away on Monday, April 21st. Throughout his reign as leader of the Catholic Church, he was very clear in his views on climate change as a real factor in today’s world, and expressed that we must understand and respond to these problems for our future survival. In 2015, Pope Francis issued a papal encyclical entitled “Laudato Si–on Care of our Common Home” in which he addressed the moral imperative to steward our natural world for the benefit of succeeding generations. This week on World Ocean Radio, we revisit some of the Pope’s ideas and perspectives that demonstrate a deep reverence for ocean and fresh water systems. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 4/23/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 12:00:04 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Upcoming events at Native Gardens of Blue Hill, with Cathy Rees, Executive Director, and Greg Mekras, Board member and trail crew leader. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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WERU Special 4/22/25 Earth Day Special – Land Conservation in Maine

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 21:00:41 +0000

Host: Matt Murphy On Earth Day 2025, listeners hear from representatives from four Maine conservation land trust organizations about their philosophies, challenges, and current/upcoming projects. Guests: George Fields Executive Director, Blue Hill Heritage Trust, Blue Hill (full disclosure: we are on tower managed by BHHT) Julia Zell Executive Director, Island Heritage Trust, Deer Isle Landon Fake Executive Director, Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust, Bucksport/Orland Ciona Ulbrich Associate Director of Partnerships, Maine Coast Heritage Trust

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Outside the Box 4/22/25: “Time’s Up”

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 12:30:29 +0000

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Around Town 4/22/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 12:00:18 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne “We Rise: End the Tyranny” national day of action. There were protests in at least 28 cities and towns across Maine. This is the voice of one of the speakers in Bangor, Maine. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Blue Hill Mountain Stories 4/22/25: Isaac Vaccaro

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 11:30:07 +0000

Producer/Host: Rosy Landrum Interviewer: Caleb Snow & Kole Austin Project Leader: Phelan Gallagher Technical Assistance: Pepin Mittelhauser Music: Foreside Date by David Renda (copyright/royalty free) The Blue Hill Mountain Stories feature interviews from local residents, conducted by the George Steven’s Academy audio production class. Each interviewee reflects upon their time on the Blue Hill peninsula, particularly surrounding the mountain itself. This series was produced for WERU by Rosy Landrum. About the Host: Rosy Landrum is a George Stevens Academy student, WERU DJ, and Blue Hill peninsula resident. You can find her on Midnight Train from 10-12 pm Wednesdays.

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Around Town 4/21/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 12:00:05 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne “We Rise: End the Tyranny” national day of action. There were protests in at least 28 cities and towns across Maine. Bangor turned out – which may not be surprising in a city that has leaders like the person you’ll hear today We’ll have more voices from Saturday’s rallies (Bangor and Ellsworth) on Around Town this week. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 4/21/25: Of National Poetry Month, Yi Li’s Cherries, & Capricornus the Sea Goat . . .

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 11:30:31 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 4/21/25: Of National Poetry Month, Yi Li’s Cherries, & Capricornus the Sea Goat . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 4/20/25: A Walk with Rich MacDonald, part 1

Sun, 20 Apr 2025 13:30:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen walks a trail on Mount Desert Island with naturalist Rich MacDonald (www.thenaturalhistorycenter.com/), exploring the region’s diverse habitats and discussing the areas unique ecology. Along the way, we pause to visit a Barred Owl nest with a long and storied history of use. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 4/20/25: April

Sun, 20 Apr 2025 11:30:44 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 4/19/25

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 13:30:52 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: deerislelibrary.org stuartkestenbaum.com witherlelibrary.net BHPL.net wendellgilleymuseum.org mainewriters.org haleyartgallery.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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The Cosmic Curator 4/19/25

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 11:30:36 +0000

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Democracy Forum 4/18/25: Constitutional Crisis? Call it what you will, this is not normal…

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 20:00:07 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: Many of us are not yet feeling the heat from the dramatic policy changes coming out of the new federal administration – life goes on. But some of us are getting hurt. And some of us are afraid. Because so many of these federal policies are being promulgated by executive order, without Congress and sometimes in defiance of the courts, some observers are concerned that our country is experiencing a constitutional crisis. It is certainly a moment of disruption. How serious is it? Who might be next? How is this moment outside the norm? How worried should we be? Guest/s: Samuel R. Bagenstos, Frank G. Millard Professor of Law at the University of Michigan. Ryan Dennett, Program Director, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Lauren McCauley, Editor, Maine Morning Star. Amy Wisehart, President, Maine Library Association. To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 4/18/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 13:00:33 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Attorney General Aaron M. Frey’s Statement on Federal Lawsuit Against Maine DOE Tomorrow/Saturday is another day of action and at least 23 protests are planned in Maine– with names like “No Kings”, “March Against Tyranny” , “Resist Trump’s Lawless Attack on the Constitution”, and “The Shout Heard Up the Coast” FMI: Activate Maine calendar The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife are invite people who love Maine’s lakes and ponds to volunteer for a community science project this summer called the Zebra Mussel Settling Plate Project More information and the sign up form can be found here About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 4/17/25: Revisioning Conflict Narratives with Brandon Brown, Part I

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 21:00:27 +0000

Host/s: Liv Eckert and Swathi Sivasubramanian of the Young People’s Caucus Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Part I of Liv & Swathi’s interview with Brandon Brown, Executive Director of Youth-LED Justice, as they talk about revisioning conflict narratives. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Creative Maine 4/17/25: Maple Sugaring in Maine

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 20:00:03 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. This months show is about Maple sugaring-how it’s done, rules and regulations, and some backyard sugaring tips and tricks. You will also learn about what it means to be the Poet Laureate of Maine. Guest/s: Jason Lilley, Maple Industry Educator of the University of Maine Extension Division, jason.lilley@maine.edu Ron Russell, Retired Maine Representative Julia Bouwsma, Poet Laureate of the State of Maine, julia.r.bouwsma@gmail.com. www.juliabouwsma.com FMI: Home About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach the JMG program at Bucksport High School. She joined the Bangor Band in 2018, where she plays euphonium. She is in her second year as a Board Member at Large for the Bangor Band.

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Climate & Community 4/17/25: Finding Hope in New Community Connections (Part 2)

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 12:30:42 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with Maya and Tony about their experience reading “Active Hope” with A Climate to Thrive’s book group. Both reflect on how new connections have encouraged them to grow and how a new understanding of the word “hope” has strengthened their resolve to act. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 4/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 12:00:55 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Performance poet, teacher and author Barbara Maria joins us to talk about her upcoming show, CELESTIAL EARTH: We Are Here … but when? About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 4/16/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 12:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Puck, Yeah Productions will present Bottom’s Midsummer Night’s Dream: The Woods Grow Queer — described as “a riotous, transformative, and celebratory theatrical production that reclaims the Shakespeare classic” at the Marsh River Theatre in Brooks, with 2 performances over the weekend of April 26th and 27th. Jae Echeverria and Buggz are here today with the details A message from Puck, Yeah Productions: “UPDATE: NOT ADA ACCESSIBLE. We failed to get interpreters in time for them to prepare for our show and therefore cannot provide ASL. The front row will be reserved for Deaf & Hard Of Hearing folks and their guests and we will provide printed scripts. The event is wheelchair accessible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. For all Deaf & HOH community members and any additional disabled community members who were misled by our advertising, we’d like to show accountability by offering you a cash refund at the event and inviting you to watch the show free of charge.”” FMI: events.humanitix.com/midsummernightsdream @QueerlyMaine on Instagram and Facebook About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Relationship Rewind 4/15/25: After We Fell

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 20:30:33 +0000

Host: Carrie Clark at NextStep Domestic Violence Project. NextStep 24/7 Helpline: 1(800) 315-5579 Theme Music for the show donated by local musicians Megan Light and Nathan Spears. Relationship Rewind: Rewinding relationships in popular media and breaking down behaviors based in power, control, and abuse. This episode: 1. Discussing unhealthy behaviors in the film After we Fell 2. Discussing how media normalizes these behaviors 3. Discussing the impacts of these messages about these relationships and people, on young people in real life Guest/s: Bri, local high school student FMI: www.nextstepdvproject.org About the hosts: Alli Williamson is the youth educator and advocate for NextStep Domestic Violence Project based in Hancock and Washington County, ME. She teaches young people from Kindergarten to College about what power and control looks like in friendships and relationships, what resources are available to support those experiencing this, and how we can work to make our schools and communities safer and more equal spaces where abuse may be less likely to happen.

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Around Town 4/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 12:00:58 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Joe Neimczura with an invitation to join the band playing at the “Stand Up for Democracy” rally next Saturday at Steamboat Landing Park in Belfast. Musicians with instruments should arrive at 10 and check in with Joe (he says you’ll hear them) to prep for the rally (noon – 2pm). This is part of a national day of action. FMI: www.activatemaine.com/calendar * *As of when this program was produced, the time and location of the rally in Belfast had not been updated on the website. INDIVISIBLE Waldo County’s poster reads: “THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 12-2:00 Meet at Steamboat Landing for a peaceful protest. Stand up for Democracy. There will be a brass band. Bring drums or pots and pans! We will walk to the Pedestrian Bridge Marshalls, peacekeepers and medics on hand. Please cooperate for everyone’s safety and to protect private property. See you there.” About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Earthwise 4/19/25: Easter’s Ancient Roots

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 12:30:53 +0000

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Around Town 4/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 12:00:10 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A look at some of the proposed legislation being presented at legislative committee public hearings in Augusta today – and how you can participate FMI: www.legislature.maine.gov About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 4/14/25: The Music of the River, the Lyrids, & Loretta Lynn . . .

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 11:30:11 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 4/13/25: Brown Brook Thaw

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 13:30:45 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This piece is a reflection on the ecological stirrings of early spring, centered on the thaw and renewal of a small brook. As the snowmelt surges through the brook, it awakens a vibrant world of birds, amphibians, and aquatic life, offering a fleeting season of beauty before the forest fully leafs out. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 4/13/25: Palm Sunday

Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:30:56 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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Talk of the Towns 4/12/25: The Promise of Libraries: their role in communities and democracy

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 20:00:44 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves Production support from Joel Mann and from College of the Atlantic Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: Profiles of four community libraries in Northeast Harbor, Bucksport, Bangor and Ellsworth. Their traditional roles, and new roles to bring people together and to respond to new needs as “public help desks” for their communities. The role of the Maine Library Association to support professional development for library staff and to help coordinate library service throughout the state. Challenges, including threats to cut federal funding. What to look for in the PBS Independent Lens program Free for All: the public library. The role of free public libraries in building democracy. Guest/s: Amy Wisehart, Director, Northeast Harbor Library and President, Maine Library Association Lisa Ladd, Director, Buck Memorial Library, Bucksport Ben Treat, Director, Bangor Public Library Sarah Lasko, Director, Ellsworth Public Library FMI: bangorpubliclibrary.org www.bucklibrary.org www.ellsworthlibrary.net nehlibrary.org mainelibraries.org • Whole Person Librarianship. (website about social work / library collaborations) wholepersonlibrarianship.com/ • Bryne, Janicki, and Visser. (2024). “Libraries Stand Ready as Digital Inclusion Comes of Age.” Maine Policy Review 33.2 digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol33/iss2/3/ • Clark & Smith. (2024). “What’s Keeping Public Libraries Up at Night?” Maine Policy Review 33.2. digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol33/iss2/12/ • Furukawa, Scott, & Treat. (2024). “‘We’re the Town’s Help Desk:’ Social Work Creep in America’s Last Public Space. Maine Policy Review 33:2. digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol33/iss2/15/ • Houston. (2024). “Lewiston Public Library Services for New Mainer Population.” Maine Policy Review 33:2. digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol33/iss2/22/ • Silka. (2024). “Interview with Hazel Onsrud.” Maine Policy Review 33:2 digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mpr/vol33/iss2/5/ About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 4/12/25

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 13:30:42 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: midcoastpoetrycalendar.com deerislelibrary.org sailpowersteammuseum.org becountercurrent.com BHPL.net carverlibrary.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 4/12/25: The Element of Mud

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 12:30:53 +0000

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Outside the Box 4/15/25: “Capitalism or Democracy: Pick One”

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 12:30:50 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 4/12/25

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 11:30:24 +0000

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Around Town 4/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 12:00:05 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The League of Women Voters of Maine has launched a weekly webinar called the Democracy Update. The league describes them as “quick updates for busy people” focusing on elections, voting rights, and democracy- at the federal level and in Maine. On March 27th the webinar featured a discussion of threats to LGBTQ+ rights. Here’s a snippet of that discussion. This is Gia Drew from Equality Maine About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 4/10/25: The Justice Arts Coalition

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 21:00:27 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Catherine’s interview with Co-Directors Erin Bonner and Shayna Lonoaea of the Justice Arts Coalition, an organization formed to unite artists impacted by the criminal legal system and creatives everywhere to harness art’s transformative power and reimagine justice. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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We Are Queer 4/10/25: Zoe: The Intersection of Science and Queerness

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 20:30:01 +0000

Host/Producer: Olivia Paruk Music by Juniper Ginger In this episode, host Olivia Paruk interviews Zoe Albion, a scientist working in the forestry sector. They talk about the intersection between science and queerness, ambiguity in life, and dreams for a more inclusive queer friendly future. We Are Queer, highlights the touching experiences from Maine’s diverse LGBTQ+ community that builds empathy and understanding in our greater community. If you have feedback for the show or want to get in touch email info@weru.org with WERQ in the subject line. About the host: Olivia Paruk (she/her) is a local college student and gardener who is passionate about people and this journey called life we are all on together. She is not a “true” Mainer but moved to Southern Maine with her family when she was ten, but she has been living on Mount Desert Island for three years while attending College of the Atlantic. In addition to radio, Olivia loves analyzing movies with her sister, dancing in her kitchen, attempting to sew, and getting lost in her imagination.

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Common Ground Radio 4/10/25: Resilient Gardening

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 20:00:55 +0000

Host: Holli Cederholm Editor: Clare Boland Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: Maine has been experiencing a shift in the growing season, including a trend towards a longer season. Variability in weather — from unpredictable precipitation to an uptick in extreme weather events — makes it hard for gardeners to know what to plan for. On the April episode of Common Ground Radio, we discuss cultivating resilience in the face of increased weather variability with Rebecca Long, the coordinator of Horticulture Training Programs for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. List of subjects: – Gardening – Soil organic matter – Irrigation – Variety selection – Succession planting – Hedgerows – Shade cloth – Floating row cover – Garden pests and disease Guest/s: Rebecca Long, coordinator of Horticulture Training Programs for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension FMI- What’s happening with Maine’s weather: – Maine Climate Office — mco.umaine.edu/climate/me_monthly – Maine Climate and Ag Network — umaine.edu/climate-ag Gardening resources from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension: – UMaine Cooperative Extension pollinator-friendly gardening — extension.umaine.edu/gardening/pollinator-garden-certification – In-depth training programs: Master Gardener Volunteer, Maine Horticulture Apprentice, and Maine Gardener Trainings — extension.umaine.edu/gardening/learn – Webinars On Demand — extension.umaine.edu/gardening/learn/on-demand-webinars – Maine Home Garden News newsletter — extension.umaine.edu/gardening/maine-home-garden-news – Reach out to your local extension office with questions — extension.umaine.edu/county-offices Gardening resources from MOFGA: – Organic gardening resources — mofga.org/trainings/gardening – Organic gardening workshops — mofga.org/trainings/event-calendar – Gardener Newsletter — mofga.org/newletter-sign-up-gardener – Pest Report Newsletter — mofga.org/newletter-sign-up-pest-report – “Succession Planting for Continued Yields and Season Extension” by Will Bonsall — mofga.org/resources/gardening/succession-planting-for-continued-yields-and-season-extension – “Making Your Garden Less Hospitable to Disease” by Caleb Goossen, Ph.D. — mofga.org/resources/gardening/making-your-garden-less-hospitable-to-disease – “Drip, Drip, Drip” by Eric Sideman, Ph.D. — mofga.org/resources/water-management/drip-drip-drip – “Garden Tip: Watering During Drought” — mofga.org/resources/gardening/garden-tip-watering-during-drought – “Water in the Garden: Too Much or Too Little” by Will Bonsall — mofga.org/resources/water-management/water-in-the-garden About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Climate & Community 4/10/25: Finding Hope in New Community Connections (Part 1)

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 12:30:12 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community speaks with two members of A Climate to Thrive’s “Active Hope” book group. In this segment, listeners learn what inspired Maya and Tony to participate in the group, and some of the key insights they have gained about themselves and the world. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 4/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 12:00:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Rockland Public Library presents Eric Darling, Thursday, April 10, at 2:00 PM. This event is free and open to all. The Rockland Public Library is located at 80 Union St. For more information or for Zoom links, please email elewis@rocklandmaine.gov. Applications are now open for the 2025 Immigrant-Led Organizations (ILO) Fund. The ILO Fund at Maine Initiatives is a participatory grantmaking program that funds, strengthens, and convenes immigrant, refugee, and migrant non-profit organizations in Maine, unceded Wabanaki Territory. FMI: www.maineinitiatives.org/grantmaking/immigrant-led-organizations-fund The Friends of Sears Island is currently taking registrations for free Earth Explorers grab-and-go activity kits for children. To request a kit for your child, please email outreach@friendsofsearsisland.org. Our locally-produced public affairs program today, 4-4:30p.m. is Common Ground Radio w/ host Holli Cederholm of MOFGA Today’s topic will be Resilient Gardening. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Maine Currents 4/9/25: Coverage of “Hands Off” rallies in Augusta and Belfast, Maine on 4/5/25

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 22:37:19 +0000

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Other credits: Matt Murphy – Augusta rally Coverage of the April 5th, 2025 “Hands Off” rallies in Augusta and Belfast, Maine FMI: www.handsoff2025.com About the Host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices and Maine Currents, she also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and the First Place 2017 Radio News Award from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

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World Ocean Radio 4/9/25: Revelations by Salt

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 12:30:50 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Discovery of a curriculum developed for coastal Africa some years ago sent World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill on a journey of discovery and revelation about salt as a construct to be observed, understood, and taught. A western scientific perspective might teach students about salt from a chemistry-led lesson, whereas the African curriculum taught salt as serving a role in the enhancement of and as means to preserve food, the harvesting for work, as way of life, and as financial support by its production and harvest. This latter perspective is not first and foremost chemistry-led but community-focused, with methods of teaching and learning through the wisdom of Nature. What might we learn by diving in to teaching and learning a different way? WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 4/9/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 12:00:26 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI: www.handsoff2025.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 4/8/25: “21st Century Colonialism”

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 12:30:33 +0000

The post Outside the Box 4/8/25: “21st Century Colonialism” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 4/8/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 12:00:55 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A little vox pop from the Belfast, Maine Hands Off 2025 event on Saturday FMI: www.handsoff2025.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 4/7/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 12:00:43 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Environmental activists in Waldo County have a series of events planned for “Earth Month” this month and as part of that the Sierra Club, Maine Chapter and Waldo County Climate Action Coalition have organized a free showing of “A Fierce Green Fire” tomorrow night in Belfast, to be followed by a discussion. Beverly Roxby joins us with the details and an invitation to join them FMI: www.waldoclimateaction.org/ www.sierraclub.org/maine www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/a-fierce-green-fire-about-the-film/2924/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 4/7/25: The Riverscape, the Pagan’s Bread, & Billie Holiday . . .

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 11:30:31 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 4/7/25: The Riverscape, the Pagan’s Bread, & Billie Holiday . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 4/6/25: Cold Beauty of the Marsh, and Pipits

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 13:30:57 +0000

Host: Pepin Mittelhauser Producer: Glen Mittelhauser On a frigid January morning, Lewis Holmes explores a frozen Scarborough Marsh, encountering a variety of winter birds whose brief yet vibrant presence contrasts with the solitude and cold, evoking memories of the livelier summer months. This essay, read by Pepin Mittelhauser, was originally published in The Observer, an online natural history journal published by Maine Natural History Observatory. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 4/6/25: House Sharing

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 11:30:09 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 4/6/25: House Sharing first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 4/5/25

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 13:30:43 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: BHPL.net Film: “Free for All: The Public Library at Jewett Hall Auditorium, Augusta thereachpac.com findingourvoices.net Maya Angelou’s Poem “On the Pulse of Morning”(youtube.com/watch?v=59xGmHzxtZ4) Amanda Gorman’s Poem “The Hill We Climb” (youtube.com/watch?v=LZ055ilIiN4) About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 4/5/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 4/5/25: The Skunk

Sat, 05 Apr 2025 12:30:58 +0000

The post Earthwise 4/5/25: The Skunk first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 4/4/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 12:00:31 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Hands Off! 2025 mobilization across the US and in several Maine locations on Saturday FMI: www.handsoff2025.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 4/3/25: Tina Nadeau

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 21:00:01 +0000

Host/s: Rob Ruffner and Emily Goulette Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Rob and Emily’s interview with Attorney and Executive Director of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Tina Nadeau, as they talk about the inequities in our criminal legal system in Maine. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

The post Justice Radio 4/3/25: Tina Nadeau first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 4/3/2025

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:00:57 +0000

Host: Stephanie McFeeters, Deputy Editor at The Maine Monitor The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: A discussion with Maine Monitor editor Kate Cough and community news fellow Emily Hedegard about their recent series on Maine’s maternity care crisis, as well as the recent announcement that MDI Hospital will close its birthing unit. Guests: Kate Cough, kate@themainemonitor.org Emily Hedegard, emilyh@themainemonitor.org FMI: themainemonitor.org/maternity-care-crisis/ themainemonitor.org/mdi-birthing-unit-closure/

The post The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 4/3/2025 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Climate & Community 4/3/25: Local Advocacy for National Policy (Part 2)

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 12:30:01 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with representatives from the Blue Hill Climate Resilience Committee and the Maine State Coordinator for the Citizen’s Climate Lobby to understand why the Committee unanimously supports a national Carbon Fee and Dividend policy. This conversation also illuminates some of the impacts of climate change that are driving the Blue Hill Climate Resilience Committee to seek avenues to abate national emissions. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 4/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 12:00:32 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Registration is now open for the 2025 Regional Out in the Open Summit, May 31st-June 1st – and Grace is here with all the details FMI: www.weareoutintheopen.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Healthy Options 4/2/25: Building Resiliency to Trauma

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 20:00:43 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: Using the Trauma Resiliency Model to stay resilient and centered during this exceeding stressful time The differences between fight, flight, & freeze as reactions to stress “Toxic stress”,“tolerable stress”, & “positive stress”, and what may be helpful- or harmful- to us How can we regulate our nervous system in reaction to stress & trauma? What are some techniques to deal with stress, be resilient, and stay/become centered? What are some specific strategies to use when you are scared or agitated? How being aware of sensation (body awareness), helps in handling and reducing trauma, and how you can help yourself return to a feeling of well-being when you are out of balance & feeling beset by stress Personal, societal, and political stress and the challenge (and imperative) to stay centered & be resilient What is the iChill app and how can it help in times of unease & stress? What are Tracking, Resourcing, Grounding & Gesturing, and how are they used in the iChill app to help with managing stress? Guest(s): Elaine Miller-Karas, MSW, LCSW, trauma therapist, co-founder & former executive director of the Trauma Resource Institute, a non-profit dedicated to promoting resilience and trauma-informed care, worldwide. Elaine Miller-Karas is the author of “Building Resiliency to Trauma, the Trauma and Community Resiliency Models®”, and the host of the podcast, “Resiliency Within”. She has led projects to help communities in the recovering process from mass shootings, and leads the Ukraine Humanitarian Resiliency Program which provides support to teachers & children amidst the country’s conflict. She is currently working in Los Angeles with survivors of the recent wildfires. FMI: Trauma Resiliency Institute www.traumaresourceinstitute.com iChill is a free app from the App store, or try it online, at ichillapp.com Psychology Today- Article by Elaine Miller-Karas Dialogue, Dignity, and Democracy Personal Perspective: We can nurture our humanity in the face of inhumanity Psychology Today 2/25/25 www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/building-resiliency-to-trauma/202502/dialogue-dignity-and-democracy **************************************************************************************** Previous HEALTHY OPTIONS programs on the work of the Trauma Resource Institute: Restoring & enhancing resiliency & balance after shock and trauma archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2023/11/healthy-options-11-1-23-restoring-and-enhancing-resiliency-and-balance-after-shock-and-trauma/ Building Resiliency to Trauma archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2021/03/healthy-options-3-3-21-building-resiliency-to-trauma/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2017/10/healthy-options-10417/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2014/09/healthy-options-932014/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2010/12/healthy-options-12110/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2009/9/healthy-options-90209/ About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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Around Town 4/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 12:00:34 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Dr Charles Rolsky with an update from the Shaw Institute, and where information about the April 5th National Day of Action can be found. FMI: www.shawinstitute.org www.handsoff2025.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 4/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Outside the Box 4/1/25: “Control”

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:30:56 +0000

The post Outside the Box 4/1/25: “Control” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

World Ocean Radio 4/1/25: How Old Is Water?

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:30:56 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE In celebration of World Water Day, World Ocean Radio revisits some favorite episodes dedicated to fresh water and the global water cycle. This week: How old is water? Where on earth is water found? How is it circulated, cycled, and recycled? We know where water is distributed on the planet down to the fraction of a percentage. We know that water is finite in volume and its utility is constant. What happens when we pollute water? What happens when there is no water? WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

The post World Ocean Radio 4/1/25: How Old Is Water? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 4/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:00:44 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine CD1 Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrats on the subcommittees that oversee funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are sounding the alarm over what they say are the EPA’s illegal plans to dismantle the Office of Research and Development (ORD) and fire hundreds of scientists nationwide. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 4/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 3/31/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 12:00:46 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI: www.nesterly.com www.ellsworthlibrary.net www.nps www.nps.gov/acad www.maine.gov/sos/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 3/31/25: Of Uncertainty, Splendor Islanded, & Cesar Chavez . . .

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 11:30:35 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 3/31/25: Of Uncertainty, Splendor Islanded, & Cesar Chavez . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 3/30/25: John on Isle au Haut, part 2

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 13:30:27 +0000

Hosts: Glen Mittelhauser and Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen and Logan speak with John on Isle au Haut about the changes in the island’s biota he has observed over the past few decades. This is the second part of their conversation. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

The post Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 3/30/25: John on Isle au Haut, part 2 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Esoterica 3/30/25: Cave Dweller or Hero?

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 11:30:24 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 3/30/25: Cave Dweller or Hero? first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 3/29/25

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 13:30:56 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: LCATickets.org ourtownbelfast.org Paintedpepperfarm.me bangorpubliclibrary.org bucklibrary.org mainewriters.org haystack-mtn.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 3/29/25: The April Fool

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 12:30:44 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 3/29/25

Sat, 29 Mar 2025 11:30:17 +0000

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Coastal Conversations 3/28/24: Ferrying Frogs and Measuring Mice

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 20:00:10 +0000

Host: Trevor Grandin Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. In this episode of Coastal Conversations, we feature Schoodic Institute’s podcast, Sea to Trees. We’re searching Acadia’s roads for amphibians in the dead of night and trapping small mammals in the park’s woods at the crack of dawn. Learn about two research projects seeking big answers to questions about the park’s smallest creatures. Help a spotted salamander cross the street and weigh a jumping mouse with two ecologists taking the pulse of Acadia National Park. We search for frogs with and learn from Acadia Science Fellow Marisa Monroe. Hear from author Ben Goldfarb about the dangers that roads pose to amphibians and other animals. We join Dr. Brittany Slabach, Second Century Stewardship Fellow and College of the Atlantic professor, in Schoodic Woods to trap small mammals and learn about her research. And we hear from Bik Wheeler, wildlife biologist in Acadia National Park, about how Marisa and Brittany’s projects could influence management in the park. Guest/s: Marisa Monroe, graduate student and Acadia Science Fellow, University of Maine Ben Goldfarb, author Brittany Slabach, professor and former Second Century Stewardship Fellow, College of the Atlantic FMI: Maine Big Night mainebignight.org/ Crossings by Ben Goldfarb www.bengoldfarb.com/crossings Little Box Project | Instagram www.instagram.com/littleboxproject Effect of road traffic on amphibian density by Lenore Fahrig, et al. escholarship.org/content/qt22t1h3q1/qt22t1h3q1.pdf Study finds salamanders are surprisingly abundant in northeastern forests www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/study-finds-salamanders-are-surprisingly-abundant-northeastern-forests About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 3/28/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 12:00:41 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Wrapping up the week today with a few more comments from the town hall style meeting held in Bangor last Saturday. Congressman Jared Golden was invited but did not attend About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 3/27/25: Why Support Education in Prison? with Mara Sanchez

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:00:06 +0000

Host/s: Linda Small Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Linda’s interview with Dr. Mara Sanchez, the Programs Director at the Alliance for Higher Education in Prison, as they talk about why we should support education in prison and how it ensures more positive outcomes and reduces recidivism. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Climate & Community 3/27/25: Local Advocacy for National Policy (Part 1)

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 12:30:04 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community speaks to representatives from the Blue Hill Climate Resilience Committee and the Maine State Coordinator for the Citizen’s Climate Lobby to learn about an initiative on an upcoming election in Blue Hill. A question concerning the town’s support for a national carbon fee and dividend policy will be on the ballot. If the town votes to approve this support, they will join a growing number of towns in Maine who have expressed their interest in this policy. About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 3/27/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 27 Mar 2025 12:00:31 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Congressman Greg Caser defending public media (and questioning other spending) at the Congressional Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) meeting on defunding public media yesterday About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 3/26/25: Terraqueous

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:30:44 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE ter·ra·que·ous /ter??kw??s/ Adjective: consisting of land and water Mud season: a special time of year in the northeastern corner of the United States, when winter and spring collide in a soggy muck: the rains come, ice and snow melts, saturating the land. This week on World Ocean Radio, we’re applying the metaphor of “mud season” to fresh water and ocean systems, to climate and biodiversity, to the human condition, to community–all the cycles and systems that rely on the balance of nature. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 3/26/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:00:48 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Constituents speak at a Town Hall style meeting in Bangor on Saturday. Congressman Jared Golden was invited but did not attend, so those who spoke addressed an empty chair. We’ll hear from more of the speakers on AT this week. FMI: Congressman Jared Golden’s Bangor office Heads of PBS and NPR to testify this morning at 10 before the Congressional Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) this morning at 10 FMI/Stream: oversight.house.gov/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Wabanaki Windows 3/25/25: Federal and State Tribal Recognition & The Effects of Creating New Tribes

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 20:00:36 +0000

Producer/Host: Donna Loring Other credits: Technical assistance for the show was provided by Joel Mann of WERU, and Jessica Lockhart of WMPG. Music by Ralph Richter, a track called little eagles from his CD Dream Walk. Wabanaki Windows is a monthly show featuring topics of interest from a Wabanaki perspective. This month: Federal and State Tribal Recognition & The Effects of Creating New Tribes a) Historical Background on the issue b) What is required by the Federal Government for Tribal Recognition c) What is required by The States/ What is wrong with States creating new tribes Guest/s: Prof Darren Ranco, a member of the Penobscot Nation, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of Native American Studies at the University of Maine. Mali Obomsawin, is Abenaki and a citizen of the Odanak Nation. She is an internationally renowned musician recently nominated for her work in the film Sugar Cane. Mali is also a Social Justice Activist who is working to bring to light issues that stem from the State Recognition of five Tribes in Vermont Prof. Harald Prins, Emeritus Kansas State University. About the host: Donna M Loring is a Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder, and former Council Member. She represented the Penobscot Nation in the State Legislature for over a decade. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Mills. She is the author of “In The Shadow of The Eagle A Tribal Representative In Maine”. Donna has an Annual lecture series in her name at the University of New England that addresses Social Justice and Human Rights issues. In 2017 She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Humane Letters from the University of Maine Orono and was given the Alumni Service Award. It is the most prestigious recognition given by the University of Maine Alumni Association. It is presented Annually to a University of Maine graduate whose life’s work is marked by outstanding achievements in professional, business, civic and/or Public service areas. Donna received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in May of 2022

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Outside the Box 3/25/25: “Spacey”

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 12:30:06 +0000

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Around Town 3/25/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 12:00:47 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Constituents speak at a Town Hall style meeting in Bangor on Saturday. Congressman Jared Golden was invited but did not attend, so those who spoke addressed an empty chair. We’ll hear from more of the speakers on AT this week. FMI: Congressman Jared Golden’s Bangor office About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/24/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 12:00:22 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The mercury-contaminated Mallinckrodt site in Orrington is the subject of a Notice of Violation from the Maine DEP FMI: www.maine.gov/dep/spills/holtrachem/. The heads of PBS and NPR have been called to testify before the “House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency” (DOGE) on Wednesday FMI: Protect My Public Media protectmypublicmedia.org/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 3/24/25: Avian Activities & a Horse Carrying a Violin . . .

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 11:30:11 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 3/23/25: John on Isle au Haut, part 1

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 13:30:10 +0000

Hosts: Glen Mittelhauser and Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Glen and Logan speak with John on Isle au Haut about the changes in the island’s biota he has observed over the past few decades. This is the first part of their conversation. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 3/23/25: Evil: Part Two

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 11:30:53 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 3/22/25

Sat, 22 Mar 2025 13:30:19 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: Look for your local library’s children literacy programs: maine.gov/msl/libs/directories/public.shtml About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 3/22/25: The Phoenix

Sat, 22 Mar 2025 12:30:45 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 3/22/25

Sat, 22 Mar 2025 11:30:41 +0000

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Democracy Forum 3/21/25: Constitutional Crisis: How to Stand Up, Speak Up, Push Back

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 20:00:16 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: This month we’ll talk about civil resistance and how civil disobedience have succeeded or failed historically, seeking context for our current moment. What worked in the past, and what do we need now: protests, boycotts, tax resistance? What roles do institutions play: colleges and universities, the media, the business community? And what does the moment demand? What strategies and tactics work? Guest/s: Graham Platner, lead organizer for Acadia Action, Hancock County branch of 16 Counties for Courage Alex Newell Taylor, Co-founder, Sweet Fern MDI; Distributed Organizer for National Nurses United; former Deputy Director of Voter Engagement at Second Chances Florida Vanessa Williamson, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Creative Maine 3/20/25

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 20:00:06 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. Guest/s: From Bangor Maker Space: Eric Lovejoy, Director Justin Hughes, President Brandon Lieberthal, Director From Waterfall Arts: Katherine Devereux, Marketing ManagerFrom IMRC Center: Drew Hooke, Operations Manager FMI: Bangormakerspace.org Waterfallarts.org imrccenter.umaine.edu About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach the JMG program at Bucksport High School. She joined the Bangor Band in 2018, where she plays euphonium. She is in her second year as a Board Member at Large for the Bangor Band.

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Around Town 3/20/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 16:22:14 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Climate & Community 3/20/25: Youth Climate Activism in the Foothills of Western Maine (Part 2)

Thu, 20 Mar 2025 12:30:12 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community continues our conversation with Maya and Phoebe from the Franklin County Sunrise Movement hub. In the latter half of our conversation, we focus on the youth perspective on climate change and how involvement in the movement can assuage feelings of disempowerment and form strong social networks. We discuss what messages ring true for Mainers when it comes to climate change and what a good future would look like for the Franklin County Sunrise Hub. Learn more about the Sunrise Movement at: www.sunrisemovement.org/hubs/ About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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World Ocean Radio 3/19/25: World Water Day is March 22nd

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 12:30:17 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE March 22nd is World Water Day, a celebration of what Cousteau called The Great Hydrosphere, expanded beyond Ocean to include the entirety of the water cycle: the one natural system that controls our planet’s utility. From mountaintop to abyssal plain, water is the great circulatory system that connects all things. This week on World Ocean Radio we pay homage to water, without which we would not exist. Think about it: where and when is water not present in our lives? WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 3/19/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 12:00:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine Science Festival FMI: www.mainesciencefestival.org/ The National Park Service has closed the carriage roads in Acadia National Park to all users until further notice to protect the roads during mud season. FMI: www.nps.gov/acad/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Relationship Rewind 3/18/25: After We Collided

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 20:30:48 +0000

Host: Carrie Clark at NextStep Domestic Violence Project. NextStep 24/7 Helpline: 1(800) 315-5579 Theme Music for the show donated by local musicians Megan Light and Nathan Spears. Relationship Rewind: Rewinding relationships in popular media and breaking down behaviors based in power, control, and abuse. This episode: 1. Discussing unhealthy behaviors in the film After We Collided 2. Discussing how media normalizes these behaviors 3. Discussing the impacts of these messages about these relationships and people, on young people in real life Guest/s: Ashlee, local Pre-K teacher and mom FMI: www.nextstepdvproject.org About the hosts: Alli Williamson is the youth educator and advocate for NextStep Domestic Violence Project based in Hancock and Washington County, ME. She teaches young people from Kindergarten to College about what power and control looks like in friendships and relationships, what resources are available to support those experiencing this, and how we can work to make our schools and communities safer and more equal spaces where abuse may be less likely to happen.

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Outside the Box 3/18/25: “Donations No More“

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 12:30:25 +0000

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Around Town 3/18/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 12:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Some of the bills having public hearings today in the state legislature’s joint standing committees – and a work session on Sears Island protection bill on Wednesday FMI: www.legislature.maine.gov About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 12:00:33 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Wabanaki Alliance is announcing that their new Bill Tracker is now live FMI email: info@wabanakialliance.com Maine’s Attorney General Aaron M. Frey’s statement explaining why Maine is joining a Multistate Suit Against the Department of Education FMI: www.maine.gov/ag/ Tracking Mammal Activity in Winter: Interpretive Nature Walk based on the work of naturalist and nature photographer Sandra Mitchell, on Sears Island through the end of the month. FMI: www.friendsofsearsisland.org and www.sandra-mitchell.com/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 3/17/25: Of Saint Patrick’s, Yeats, & the Vernal Equinox . . .

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 11:30:14 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 3/16/25: Wet Flats in Winter

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 13:30:12 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser The Upper Saint John Wet Flats is perhaps the most isolated ecoregion within the state. A routine visit permits a rare opportunity to explore this remote section of the North Maine Woods in the midst of winter. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 3/16/25: Blood Moon Eclipse

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:30:37 +0000

CJ Kenna (writer/reader) & Guest: AI

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 3/15/25

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 13:30:50 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: schoodicartsforall.org ellsworthlibrary.net bluehill.coop mainewriters.org penobscottheatre.org @RossGallagherMusic About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 3/15/25: The Ides of March

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 12:30:32 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 3/15/25

Sat, 15 Mar 2025 11:30:48 +0000

The post The Cosmic Curator 3/15/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 3/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 12:01:55 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Good Shepherd Food Bank released a statement Thursday in response to recently announced reductions in federal food assistance that they say will significantly impact people in Maine facing food insecurity FMI: www.gsfb.org Kicking off the St Patrick’s Day weekend tonight with Irish music at the Camden Opera House More information and tickets at camdenoperahouse.com Pruning workshop in Ellsworth Saturday morning, 10-noon, Knowlton Park. FMI: www.ellsworthmaine.gov To RSVP email treesteward@ellsworthmaine.gov Mariaville grange benefit St Patrick’s day dinner with live entertainment, Saturday from 530 to 7 FMI and tickets call (337) 990-2732 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 3/13/25: Cooking Across Prison Walls with Nicole Lund

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 21:00:34 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Catherine interviews Nicole Lund, visual artist, writer, prison abolition advocate, graduate student at the University of Maine Farmington, and former volunteer at the Maine State Prison, to talk about her new book co-authored with Buddy Bieler and Esder Chong titled “Stuffed behind Bars: Secret Recipes from inside Maine State Prison” which speaks to the importance of community, connection, and food. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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We Are Queer 3/13/25: Benjamin: Live and Let Live

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 20:30:34 +0000

Host/Producer: Olivia Paruk Music by Juniper Ginger In this episode we discuss, coming out to loved ones, facing your prejudices, and how drag makes everything feel right in the world. We Are Queer, highlights the touching experiences from Maine’s diverse LGBTQ+ community that builds empathy and understanding in our greater community. If you have feedback for the show or want to get in touch email info@weru.org with WERQ in the subject line. About the host: Olivia Paruk (she/her) is a local college student and gardener who is passionate about people and this journey called life we are all on together. She is not a “true” Mainer but moved to Southern Maine with her family when she was ten, but she has been living on Mount Desert Island for three years while attending College of the Atlantic. In addition to radio, Olivia loves analyzing movies with her sister, dancing in her kitchen, attempting to sew, and getting lost in her imagination.

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Common Ground Radio 3/13/25: Preserving Maine’s Heirloom Apples

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 20:00:25 +0000

Host: Holli Cederholm Editor: Clare Boland Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: Apples are a common feature in Maine’s landscape: from lone trees growing on field edges to cultivated orchards. The fruit was introduced to the region in the late 16th century and became a major part of Maine’s farm economy by the early 20th century. Over time, these early apple varieties — each with their own unique culinary use and flavor profile — have been largely replaced by a handful of commercial varieties bred for packability and shipping across the globe. As a result, Maine’s heritage apples were largely relegated to obscurity — with many facing extinction. In this month’s episode of Common Ground Radio, we talk with historian and fruit explorer Todd Little-Siebold about the Maine Heritage Orchard’s efforts to preserve rare apples for future generations. The Maine Heritage Orchard is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025. List of subjects: – Apple history – Rare apples – Apple exploration – Apple DNA and ancestry – Maine Heritage Orchard Guest/s: Todd Little-Siebold, professor of history at the College of the Atlantic FMI: – Maine Heritage Orchard — mofga.org/our-community/the-maine-heritage-orchard – Seed Swap & Scion Exchange — mofga.org/trainings/annual-events/seed-swap-and-scion-exchange – “Forgotten Fruit, forgotten farmers: North America’s earliest apple history” presented by Todd Little-Siebold at the Heritage Orchard Conference — uidaho.edu/cals/sandpoint-organic-agriculture-center/conference – Great Maine Apple Day — mofga.org/trainings/annual-events/great-maine-apple-day – Organic orcharding — mofga.org/trainings/orcharding About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Climate & Community 3/13/25: Youth Climate Activism in the Foothills of Western Maine (Part 1)

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 12:30:04 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community speaks to Phoebe and Maya from the Franklin County Sunrise Movement Hub. Our conversation opens with a brief history of the Sunrise Movement and how the Franklin County hub got started. Maya and Phoebe share what brought them to the movement and what they have accomplished with the group since they joined. The first part of our conversation concludes with their description of some of the hub’s greatest challenges and what sparks joy and purpose in their work. Learn more about the Sunrise Movement at: www.sunrisemovement.org/hubs/ About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 3/13/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 12:00:35 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Excerpts from some of the four hours + of testimony the state legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources committee heard yesterday at the public hearing for 2 bills related to protecting Sears Island from industrial development: LD 226, “An Act to Protect the Cultural Resources and Historical Heritage of Sears Island in Searsport by Extending Conservation Easement Protections”. FMI: legislature.maine.gov/billtracker/#Paper/226?legislature=132 LD 735, “An Act to Protect Sand Dunes on Sears Island and to Establish Criteria for Legislation Regarding Land Development”. FMI: legislature.maine.gov/billtracker/#Paper/735?legislature=132 If you would like to hear more testimony, check the pages for each bill (links above). Written testimony and audio files of verbal testimony will be posted there by the committee About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 3/12/25: Maine’s Rural Aspirations Project

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 20:00:53 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: –What experiences led to the creation of the Rural Aspirations Project –The Rural Aspirations Project has developed a “theory of change” to describe how it works collaboratively with rural schools, students, teachers community members, and what happens when the work succeeds. –The Rural Aspirations project has a track record of more than a decade and has a number of case studies that illustrate their approach. Each case study links learning with the natural resources of their rural area, improves graduation rates and gives students the opportunity to create an onward path after graduation –Staff members from Rural Aspirations Project share their personal stories about why they do this work and why it is so important to the future of rural communities and their people Guest/s: Kora Soll – Executive Director & Co-founder Val Peacock – Director of Program Strategy and Program Development & Co-founder Todd West – Operations Director & Collaborative Project Coordinator FMI: www.ruralaspirations.org About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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WERU Wabanaki Windows 8.27.24

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 16:26:13 +0000

Wabanaki Windows is a monthly community radio public affairs program, hosted by Donna Loring, Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder. In this episode Donna and her guests explore Blood Quantum and the influence it has played in the development of Tribal Communities, membership numbers, and their very identities. This is a highly controversial subject, and this program is but one in a series that thoroughly addresses the subject.

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WERU Maine Monitor Radio Hour 12.5.24

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 16:24:40 +0000

The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a public affairs program that airs monthly on WERU Community Radio, in collaboration with The Maine Monitor (a publication of the nonprofit Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting). In this episode, Monitor environmental reporter Emmett Gartner joins host Kate Cough (Maine Monitor Editor) to talk about his recent series on dams in Maine and how they will fare in a changing climate.

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World Ocean Radio 3/12/25: A Series for World Water Day

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:30:05 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE World Water Day is March 22nd. For the next three weeks on World Ocean Radio we will be revisiting some of our favorite episodes dedicated to fresh water and the global water cycle. This week we’re introducing listeners to the Water Ethics Charter: recommendations from a global Water Ethics Steering Committee with draft principles for water sustainability based on the five themes: environment, economics, social, cultural, and governance. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 3/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 12:00:28 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne This morning, starting around 10, the state legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources committee will hold a combine public hearing for 2 bills related to protecting Sears Island from industrial development: LD 226, “An Act to Protect the Cultural Resources and Historical Heritage of Sears Island in Searsport by Extending Conservation Easement Protections”. FMI: legislature.maine.gov/billtracker/#Paper/226?legislature=132 LD 735, “An Act to Protect Sand Dunes on Sears Island and to Establish Criteria for Legislation Regarding Land Development”. FMI: legislature.maine.gov/billtracker/#Paper/735?legislature=132 To register to testify via zoom: www.mainelegislature.org/testimony The Digital Security Discussion Group at the Witherle Library will be discussing “Understanding the Dark Web: what it is, where it is, and how to avoid it”, with Moderator Tom Lamontanaro from 5-6pm tonight in person at the Witherle Memorial Library and via zoom. For more information and the zoom link: witherlelibrary.net/events/digital-security-discussion-group-9/ The public is invited to “United We Stand: Building Community Resilience in Uncertain Times” Organizers say “Join us for a panel discussion where local leaders will share facts and insights to help our community navigate uncertainty, foster resilience, and build supportive networks.” Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor March 13th, 6:30pm – 7:30pm FMI: www.jesuplibrary.org/events/communityresilience About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 3/11/25: “Peacemaker?”

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 12:30:04 +0000

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Around Town 3/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 12:00:43 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Maine legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry will hold a public hearing today at 1pm for LD 124, “An Act to Protect the Right to Food”. FMI: On LD 124: legislature.maine.gov/billtracker/#Paper/SP0050?legislature=132 On the committee: legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Committees/ACF To register to testify via zoom: www.mainelegislature.org/testimony About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 12:00:50 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Judd Esty-Kendall of the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine is here with an invitation to “Reweaving the Social Fabric”, a presentation and discussion coming up on 3/18/25 at 6pm via zoom. For more information and to sign up for the zoom link, email peacectr@gmail.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 3/10/25: The Bounty of the Blood Moon . . .

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 11:30:47 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 3/9/25: The Tree Fox

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 13:30:59 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser The secretive Gray Fox has a long and complex history within the Northeast. Here we explore how this elusive canine has endured centuries of change while expanding their range to encompass portions of Maine. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 3/9/25: Evil

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 11:30:33 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 3/8/25

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 14:30:14 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: bhpl.net pointsnorthinstitute.org homemmausa.org schoodicartsforall.org wendellgilleymuseum.org haystack-mtn.org/camps aiofoodpantry.org Belfast Playhouse (207/338-5777) About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 3/8/25: The Goddess Idunn

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 13:30:13 +0000

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Conversations from the Pointed Firs 3/7/25: Karin R. Tilberg

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 21:00:19 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger Music by Casey Neill Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. Airs the first Friday of every month from 4-5pm. Online at pointedfirs.org. Our guest this month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs is KARIN R TILBERG, author of “Loving the North Woods: 25 Years of Historic Conservation in Maine”, published by Down East Books in late 2024. Karin is also a lawyer, conservationist, past-President/CEO of The Forest Society of Maine. She and Peter discuss her recently-published book, which chronicles environmental protection and innovation in Maine’s north woods, as accomplished by land trusts, government agencies, forest land owners, and the work of individuals who foresaw the protection of a vast segment of Maine as natural asset and contribution to our shared quality of life. About the host: Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete’s Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.

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Let’s Talk About It 3/7/25

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 21:00:03 +0000

Producer/Host: Patrisha McLean Production Assistance: Tammy Oropesa Music: Jackie Lee McLean Let’s Talk About It: Conversations with Survivors of Domestic Abuse When your ex who almost killed you is released early from prison to now be charged with strangling another woman to death. Topics: 1. Broken Judicial System 2. Domestic Violence Strangulation 3. Impact of Domestic Violence on Children Guests: Darcia Maning and Dezarae Caron About the host: Patrisha McLean is the founder/president of Finding Our Voices, the grass roots survivor-powered non profit organization breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time all across Maine.

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Around Town 3/7/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 13:00:57 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI: www.jesuplibrary.org www.neighborhoodforest.org/parent-registration girlswhocodebarharbor@gmail.com www.legislature.gov About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 3/6/25: Ted Berry

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 22:00:47 +0000

Host/s: Cuba Jackson Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Guest host Cuba Jackson interviews Ted Berry about why states are abolishing Felony Murder convictions, how the statute disproportionally effects those who are strategically marginalized, and what we can do to support its repeal in Maine. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 3/6/2025

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 21:00:28 +0000

Host: Stephanie McFeeters, Deputy Editor at The Maine Monitor Production Assistance: Amy Browne The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: A discussion with Maine Monitor environmental reporter Emmett Gartner about the future of Maine’s dams, including the dams on Silver Lake, Alamoosook Lake, and Toddy Pond. Guests: Emmett Gartner, Environmental Reporter, emmett@themainemonitor.org FMI: themainemonitor.org/bucksport-dam-event/ themainemonitor.org/divided-on-dams/

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Climate & Community 3/6/25: Climate and Coffee – How Local Businesses Can Lead on Climate (Part 2)

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 13:30:38 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community speaks with Maggie Iannuzzi, owner of Precipice Coffee in Ellsworth, Maine. In the second half of our conversation, Maggie shares the significance of the name “Precipice,” and breaks down just how much carbon dioxide they are reducing by using solar-powered roasting technology. Maggie also describes the health-related concerns associated with traditional gas-powered roasting that contributed to their decision to use electric roasting technology. To learn more about Precipice Coffee visit: www.precipicecoffee.com/ About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Healthy Options 3/5/25: “It’s a Scientific Fact”: The Imperative of Medical Info & Research

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 21:00:01 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: The serious implications of the loss of funding for medical/health research & the curtailment of health data available for the public. The importance of “doing good science” as a research scientist, & the scientific method as it pertains to medical research. Current & historical perspectives on vaccination vs. herd immunity. Is herd immunity relevant/effective for any/all infestious diseases? The role of bioethics & vaccines, & risk-benefit analysis. The importance of the “Yuck Factor.” Are there songs that can help us understand & appreciate science? Guest(s): Dr. Miryam Wahrman, biomedical researcher, bioethicist, biochemist, and director of a research laboratory in microbiology at William Patterson University, where she is a professor of biology. Dr. Wahrman discusses the importance of scientific process in medical research & our health, the impacts of curtailing studies on infectious disease and other serious illness, and the current challenges we face as important health information becomes restricted- and misinformation & disinformation is rampant. She is the author of the book, The Hand Book: Surviving in a Germ-Filled World, which explores hand-washing & hygiene, cross infections, and simple ways to stay healthy & reduce/prevent the spread of disease. Previous interviews with Dr. Wahrman: archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2020/11/healthy-options-11-4-20-current-scientific-thinking-about-covid-19-health-strategies/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2020/03/healthy-options-3-4-20-interview-with-dr-miryam-wahrman-author-of-the-hand-book-surviving-in-the-germ-filled-world/ archives.weru.org/healthy-options/2019/02/healthy-options-2-6-19/ FMI: DNA testing information on YouTube: Inadequate advice can mislead and harm the public onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jgc4.1375 Escherichia coli on the internet: The power of YouTube to educate and influence consumer behavior regarding pathogenic bacteria www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S246804511930001X Glove Changing When Handling Money: Observational and Microbiological Analysis www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26463082 About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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World Ocean Radio 3/5/25: Co-Relation

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 13:30:57 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill shares a smart, succinct new title from the Forerunners: Ideas First series, entitled “Coralatations” by Melody Jue. The book is a philosophical exploration of coral reefs, technology, and media and how, through co-relation, we might expand our understanding of natural resources beyond endangerment to inform how we communicate about climate change. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 3/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 13:00:56 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Wilson Haims of A Climate to Thrive, host of Climate and Community- a short feature that airs at 8:30am every Thursday here on WERU, is here to talk about a climate artists panel at COA… and more community news FMI: www.aclimatetothrive.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 3/4/25: “America Last”

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:30:56 +0000

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Around Town 3/4/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 13:00:57 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Nancy Galland and David Italiaander- veteran advocates for protecting Sears Island from industrial development- are here with news about a public hearing on two proposed bills* to protect the island. The public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, March 12, 2025, starting at 10 am in the State Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. *LD 266, An Act to Protect the Cultural Resources and Historical Heritage of Sears Island in Searsport by Extending Conservation Easement Protections, and LD 735, An Act to Protect Sand Dunes on Sears Island and to Establish Criteria for Legislation Regarding Land Development FMI: www.legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Committees/ENR Legislature Clerk: 207-287-1400 www.protectsearsisland.org/ www.upstreamwatch.org/sears-island www.friendsofsearsisland.org/ www.islesboroislandstrust.org/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 3/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 13:00:23 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A look at some of the public hearings that are scheduled for today in the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committees FMI: www.legislature.maine.gov About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 3/3/25: Of March, Seed Calendars, and the Bell Telephone . . .

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 12:30:25 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 3/2/25: Learning and teaching natural history

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 14:30:49 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is a continuation of an interview with both Jill and Karen who talk about their experience with learning and teaching natural history. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 3/2/25: The Loretto Staircase

Sun, 02 Mar 2025 12:30:06 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 3/1/25

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 14:30:34 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: bluehill.coop/art-in-the-cafe belfastseniorcollege.org haystack-mtn.org/CAMPS belfastmaskers.com mythichearttheatre.com operahousearts.org weru.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine, Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA, and Colloquy Downeast. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 3/1/25: The Process of Spring

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 13:30:15 +0000

The post Earthwise 3/1/25: The Process of Spring first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 3/1/25

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 12:30:31 +0000

Good Morning, People! This is your cosmic curator, Tom Yaroschuk, with a look at the stars for the week of March 1 and the days ahead… About the Host: Tom Yaroschuk is a Vedic Astrologer. His intention is to help people understand their karma and the issues they may confront to cultivate more fulfilling lives. Tom is writing a memoir of the spiritual lessons derived from his work in a Homeless Day Center in between a career as an award winning television and documentary producer.

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Coastal Conversations 2/28/24: Historic Aerial Photography

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 21:00:01 +0000

Host: Trevor Grandin Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. Guest/s: Peter Howe – PhD Student and Acadia Science Fellow, University of Maine Christian Halstead – earth resources information director, Maine Geological Survey Jesse Wheeler – vegetation program manager, Acadia National Park FMI: The University of Maine Sewall Company Aerial Photograph Collection digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/sewell_aerial/ Northern Forest Historical Atlas ee-historical-atlas.projects.earthengine.app/view/historicalatlasproject Maine Geological Survey Aerial Photography www.maine.gov/dacf/mgs/explore/maps/airphotos/ About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 2/28/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 13:00:23 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Andy O’Brien, Communications Director with the Maine AFL-CIO, on how Mainers are impacted by federal budget cuts FMI: www.maineaflcio.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Holbrook Williams Tribute 2.27.25

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 23:00:58 +0000

A live tribute show to the late Holbrook Williams, a past jazz host on WERU. Aired on February 27, 2025.

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Justice Radio 2/27/25: Kim Stevens

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 21:00:52 +0000

Host/s: Emily Goulette Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Emily’s interview with Kim Stevens, a third-year law student at the University of Maine Law School and extern at the Maine Indigent Defense Center, as they talk about the current indigent defense crisis in Maine. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

The post Justice Radio 2/27/25: Kim Stevens first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Climate & Community 2/27/25: Climate and Coffee – How Local Businesses Can Lead on Climate (Part 1)

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 13:30:33 +0000

Host: Wilson Haims Description: Climate and Community speaks with Maggie Iannuzzi, owner of Precipice Coffee in Ellsworth, Maine. In the first part of our conversation, Maggie shares her concerns about the future of the coffee industry and describes how her business practices aim to eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Maggie introduces us to the solar-powered technology her business uses and we hear more about her interest in helping others decarbonize their coffee roasting process. To learn more about Precipice Coffee visit: www.precipicecoffee.com/ About the Host: Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island. Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

The post Climate & Community 2/27/25: Climate and Coffee – How Local Businesses Can Lead on Climate (Part 1) first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 2/27/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 13:00:58 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Andy O’Brien, Communications Director with the Maine AFL-CIO, on reports of federal job cuts this week at the Togus VA facility. FMI: www.maineaflcio.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 2/26/25: Ocean Literacy, A Call to Action

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 13:30:28 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Ocean Literacy is a bottom-up movement driven by classroom teachers who understand the full implication of education, adaptation, and innovation for our future. In Venice, Italy, in 2024, a conference gathered to address ocean issues, and to produce the Venice Declaration for Ocean Literacy in Action, meant to provide goals and agenda items for the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France scheduled for June of 2025. Is the declaration filled with new goals and new items, or is it a new arrangement of old ideas? How might the agenda be revised? Tune in to World Ocean Radio this week to learn more. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

The post World Ocean Radio 2/26/25: Ocean Literacy, A Call to Action first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 2/26/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 13:00:11 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Diana Merenda and Betsy Armstrong from Maine Voices for Palestinian Peace talk about the award-winning, critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film No Other Land. Despite the honors the film is receiving, US film companies have avoided picking up the film for distribution, but it will be shown at the Alamo, tomorrow night. No Other Land, a story of the complex bonds between a Palestinian activist & Israeli journalist during Israeli expulsions in the West Bank. Thursday, February 27, 6 pm (doors open 530) Alamo Theatre, 85 Main Street FMI: www.972mag.com/no-other-land-oscars-masafer-yatta-erasure/ www.mvprights.org/events www.coalitionforpalestine.me/ www.oldfilm.org/alamo-theatre www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/movies/no-other-land-oscars.html About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Wabanaki Windows 2/25/25: Native American Citizenship Under the US Constitution

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 21:00:50 +0000

Producer/Host: Donna Loring Other credits: Technical assistance for the show was provided by Joel Mann of WERU, and Jessica Lockhart of WMPG. Music by Ralph Richter, a track called little eagles from his CD Dream Walk. Wabanaki Windows is a monthly show featuring topics of interest from a Wabanaki perspective. This month: Native American Citizenship under the US Constitution as it relates to the Trump Administration questioning Native American birthright citizenship. Guest/s: Prof. Harald Prins, Emeritus Kansas State University. Prof. Rebecca Tsosie, professor of law at University of Arizona. About the host: Donna M Loring is a Penobscot Indian Nation Tribal Elder, and former Council Member. She represented the Penobscot Nation in the State Legislature for over a decade. She is a former Senior Advisor on Tribal Affairs to Governor Mills. She is the author of “In The Shadow of The Eagle A Tribal Representative In Maine”. Donna has an Annual lecture series in her name at the University of New England that addresses Social Justice and Human Rights issues. In 2017 She received an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Humane Letters from the University of Maine Orono and was given the Alumni Service Award. It is the most prestigious recognition given by the University of Maine Alumni Association. It is presented Annually to a University of Maine graduate whose life’s work is marked by outstanding achievements in professional, business, civic and/or Public service areas. Donna received a second Honorary Doctorate from Thomas College in May of 2022

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Outside the Box 2/25/25: “Power Grab”

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:30:14 +0000

The post Outside the Box 2/25/25: “Power Grab” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 2/25/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 13:00:52 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Debbie Krysak, Pat Pugh, and Debi Estep of Common Good Kitchen join us to talk about their work, and invite you to learn more at a meeting tonight at 5:30 at Southwest Harbor Public Library FMI: www.commongoodkitchen.org/ programs@swhplibrary.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 2/24/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 13:00:43 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI: www.maine.gov/invasives pingree.house.gov/uploadedfiles/letter_to_secretary_burgum_on_indian_affairs_final.pdf About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 2/24/25: Of Teilhard de Chardin, W.E.B. Du Bois, & John Greenleaf Whittier . . .

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 12:30:51 +0000

The post A Word in Edgewise 2/24/25: Of Teilhard de Chardin, W.E.B. Du Bois, & John Greenleaf Whittier . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 2/23/25: Learning as a Maine field naturalist

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:30:00 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is of an interview with Karen who talks about her journey learning field biology in Maine. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 2/23/25: Meditation

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:30:46 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 2/23/25: Meditation first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/22/25

Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:36 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: animecons.ca surrygatherings.org bhpl.net Brooklin’s empty bowl fundraiser 321/480-9208 printbookstore.com About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine, Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA, and Colloquy Downeast. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/22/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 2/22/25: The Color White

Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:30:16 +0000

The post Earthwise 2/22/25: The Color White first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Democracy Forum 2/21/25: Private Equity and You

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:00:44 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: We want to talk about private equity, what is it? Does private equity contribute to wealth and income inequality, erode confidence in shared services and institutions, and undermine faith in capitalism and democracy? Does it always work that way? Has private equity come to Maine? How can Maine protect its people from the worst outcomes? Guest/s: Brendan Ballou, former federal prosecutor and Special Counsel for Private Equity at the U.S. Department of Justice, author of the book, Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America. www.plunderthebook.com/ Hon. Traci Gere, Maine State Representative, (D-Kennebunkport), Housing and Economic Development Committee (Chair). legislature.maine.gov/house/house/MemberProfiles/Details/1408 Chris Noble, Policy Director, Private Equity Stakeholder Project. pestakeholder.org/ Pat Schwebler is Co-Director of the Cooperative Development Institute’s New England Resident-Owned Communities (NEROC) Program. Her background is in real estate, finance, nonprofits, and business management. cdi.coop/rocs/ To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 2/21/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:00:59 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI: Amicus brief (PDF): ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/amicus-curiae/mayor-and-city-council-of-baltimore-v-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-amicus-brief-2025.pdf About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 2/20/25: Part II Coalition for Carceral Nutrition

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:33 +0000

Host/s: Linda Small Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Don’t miss part 2 of Linda’s interview with Daniel Rosen of the Coalition for Carceral Nutrition as they talk about how we can improve nutrition in prisons and jails to create healthier and more cost-effective outcomes not just for people living in carceral spaces, but also for tax payers and policy makers. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Creative Maine 2/20/25

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 21:00:04 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. Guest/s: Dr. Beth Wiemann, President of The Society of Composers and professor of Composition and Clarinet at The University of Maine, Orono bwiemann@maine.edu www.socieyofcomposers.org Chantal Harris, the Director of Monson Arts Residency program, Monson, Maine director@monsonarts.org www.monsonarts.org Marc Mewshaw, Executive Director of Hewn Oaks Artists Residency info@hewnoaks.org www.hewnoaks.org About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach the JMG program at Bucksport High School. She joined the Bangor Band in 2018, where she plays euphonium. She is in her second year as a Board Member at Large for the Bangor Band.

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Around Town 2/20/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 13:00:06 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Firefly joins us to talk about tonight’s event: The Firefly Experience: An Evening for Community A frequency elevating evening of music, experiential sound, light, guided meditation and messages with Firefly of the Penobscot Nation. Advance tickets only (at link below) FMI: www.fireflythehybrid.com/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 2/19/25: Water as Resistance for Metaphor

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 13:30:50 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE “Power is like water. It flows all around us at all times. Sometimes it takes the liquid form of politics-in-action…Sometimes it takes the solid form of settled law: policy is power frozen. Sometimes it is like vapor in the air, invisibly shaping the climate and our behavior in just the way beliefs or ideology or emotions do…” So states Eric Liu, founder of Citizen University and Director of the Aspen Institute Program on Citizen and American Identity. This week on World Ocean Radio, founder Peter Neill expands upon water as metaphor for our changing political landscape and exceptional time of transition. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 2/19/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 13:00:37 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Pamela Salokangas, Director of Belfast Parks and Recreation is here to talk about Belfast’s Annual Ice festival (coming up this weekend) and partnering with Selkie Sauna and DoryWoman Rowing on some of the activities FMI: www.ourtownbelfast.org/ice-festival/ www.dorywomanrowing.com/ www.selkiesauna.com/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 2/18/25: “Bully”

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:30:38 +0000

The post Outside the Box 2/18/25: “Bully” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 2/18/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Sara Trunzo is here with the line up for this month’s Songwriter Rounds at Hey Sailor! in Searsport Thursday night FMI on today’s stories: www.saratrunzo.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 2/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 13:00:27 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Sharon Catus, Director of Advancement at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, is here with an invitation to their Winter Break Community Day this Wednesday FMI on today’s stories: www.abbemuseum.org/events About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 2/17/25: From Langston Hughes to Red Barber . . .

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:30:20 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 2/16/25: Discussion with a dedicated botanist

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 14:30:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is of an interview with Jill, a dedicated botanist from Maine whose work focuses on preserving the unique plant ecosystems of Maine. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 2/16/25: A Curious Valentine

Sun, 16 Feb 2025 12:30:54 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/15/25

Sat, 15 Feb 2025 14:30:28 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: ellsworthlibrary.net frenchmansbaylibrary.org Meetinghouse Theatre Lab on Facebook sargentvillelibraryarchive@gmail.com bhpl.net animecons.ca nehlibrary.org lwvme.org/civicrm-event About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine, Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA, and Colloquy Downeast. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 2/15/25: How February Got Its Name

Sat, 15 Feb 2025 13:30:17 +0000

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Around Town 2/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 13:00:41 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI on today’s stories: www.wilsonmuseum.org space4peace.blogspot.com/ pingree.house.gov/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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We Are Queer 2/13/25: Lori: Art Can Change Hearts and Minds

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 21:00:39 +0000

Host/Producer: Olivia Paruk Music by Juniper Ginger In this episode of We Are Queer, host Olivia Paruk interviews Lori Sitzabee, who is Artistic Director at New Surry Theater in Blue Hill. Their conversation focuses on discovering oneself later in life, finding acceptance in modern society, and how art can challenge our assumptions and spark conversations. We Are Queer, highlights the touching experiences from Maine’s diverse LGBTQ+ community that builds empathy and understanding in our greater community. If you have feedback for the show or want to get in touch email info@weru.org with WERQ in the subject line. About the host: Olivia Paruk (she/her) is a local college student and gardener who is passionate about people and this journey called life we are all on together. She is not a “true” Mainer but moved to Southern Maine with her family when she was ten, but she has been living on Mount Desert Island for three years while attending College of the Atlantic. In addition to radio, Olivia loves analyzing movies with her sister, dancing in her kitchen, attempting to sew, and getting lost in her imagination.

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Justice Radio 2/13/25: Regional Care Teams with Emma Schwartz

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 21:00:37 +0000

Host/s: Liv Eckert and Swathi Sivasubramanian of the Young People’s Caucus Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Don’t miss Liv and Swathi’s interview with Emma Schwartz about Regional Care Teams; a network of individuals from youth serving agencies, systems, organizations, and communities who meet monthly to share resources and respond to the needs of local youth’s referred to the initiative. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Common Ground Radio 2/13/25: Becoming a Seed Steward

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 21:00:16 +0000

Host: Holli Cederholm Editor: Clare Boland Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: Many gardeners and farmers purchase their seeds each year from seed companies. Yet, it hasn’t always been that way. Seed saving is a practice as old as agriculture itself. In this episode of Common Ground Radio, we talk with Dan Brisebois, author of “The Seed Farmer” and host of “The Seed Farmer Podcast,” about growing your own seed. We dive into seed saving basics, as well as seed selection and stewardship. List of subjects: – Getting started with seed saving – Open-pollinated vs. hybrid seeds – Annual vs. biennial seed crops – Self-pollinated vs. cross-pollinated crops – Wet-seeded and dry-seeded crops – Seed crops for beginners – Seed selection – Seed stewardship Guest/s: Dan Brisebois, author of “The Seed Farmer” FMI: – “The Seed Farmer” — danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook – “The Seed Farmer Podcast” — danbrisebois.com/the-seed-growers-podcast – Tourne-Sol Seeds — fermetournesol.qc.ca/en/pages/semences-tourne-sol – MOFGA’s annual Seed Swap & Scion Exchange — mofga.org/trainings/annual-events/seed-swap-and-scion-exchange About the hosts: Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Around Town 2/13/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 13:00:04 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI on today’s stories: www.becountercurrent.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 2/12/25: Tackling Homelessness in Maine

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 21:00:13 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: What are some of the ways that people end up without homes? What are their stories? We know that solving the problem requires two connected strategies: providing people with housing and providing services that help them with physical and mental health, employment, transportation, and other concerns– why is it proving so difficult to put these strategies in place? What is the role of shelters, and other temporary housing solutions, and who provides them? What is the role of Community Housing of Maine and the network of other providers of housing and services? Guest/s: Melody Lewis-Kane, co-producer, “BUILDING HOPE” Tracey Hair, former director, H.O.M.E., Inc Cullen Ryan, executive director, Community Housing of Maine FMI: HOME Inc, East Orland homemmausa.org Community Housing of Maine www.chomhousing.org Kane Lewis Productions www.kanelewis.com/ Building Hope (the film) www.kanelewis.com/building-hope-homelessness About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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Around Town 2/12/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 17:34:13 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne FMI on today’s stories: www.maine.gov/ag/ www.heartofellsworth.org/grantprogram2025 www.witherlelibrary.net www.legislature.maine.gov About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 2/12/25: Eco-Psychology

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 13:30:09 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Eco-psychology studies the relationships between people and nature, and seeks to develop ways to expand the emotional connections between individuals and the natural world. There is progression in the term: understanding of Eco-psychology presents plans, promise, and action toward transformational outcomes, strategies, and prognoses for the future. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Outside the Box 2/11/25: “Rainbow Rule”

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 13:30:10 +0000

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Around Town 2/11/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 13:00:28 +0000

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Around Town 2/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 13:00:58 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Jill Howell, Exec Dir of Upstream Watch, on efforts to protect Sears Island permanently – and an invitation to participate in a discussion about the topic on 2/25/25 at 7pm, Mermaid Plaza, Main St., Searsport FMI: www.upstreamwatch.org www.allianceforsearsisland.org www.protectsearsisland.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 2/10/25: Of St. V’s Day, a Cavalier Poet, & the Full Snow Moon . . .

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 12:30:48 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 2/9/25: Journey into Field Botany

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 14:30:12 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is of an interview with Finn about their journey into the world of field botany and how it all began. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 2/9/25: Welcome to the Fifth Dimension

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 12:30:07 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/8/25

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 14:30:25 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: bhpl.net penobscottheatre.org becountercurrent.com grandonline.org leftbankbookshop.com homemmausa.org schoodicartsforall.org cynthiawiningsgallery.com reversingfalls.org ellsworthlibrary.net About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine, Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA, and Colloquy Downeast. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 2/8/25: Chickadee

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 13:30:50 +0000

The post Earthwise 2/8/25: Chickadee first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Conversations from the Pointed Firs 2/7/25: Avery Yale Kamila

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 21:00:23 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger Music by Casey Neill Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. Airs the first Friday of every month from 4-5pm. Online at pointedfirs.org. Avery Yale Kamila, long-running food columnist with the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, author of 300 Years of Maine’s Untold Vegetarian History, an American journalist/food writer and community organizer in the state of Maine. Kamila has written a vegan food column for the Portland Press Herald /Maine Sunday Telegram and its affiliated newspapers since 2009. About the host: Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete’s Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.

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Around Town 2/7/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 16:47:12 +0000

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Justice Radio 2/6/25: Frenchie Davis, The Abolitionist

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 21:00:18 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman and Linda Small Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Don’t miss Catherine and Linda’s interview with sexologist, Frenchie Davis, host of The Abolitionist radio show on WBAI in New York City, as they talk about the relationship between love, sexuality, oppression, and repression for survivors of sexual violence and those who cause sexual harm. And the difference between an abolitionist feminist and carceral feminist. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 2/6/2025

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 21:00:03 +0000

Host: Stephanie McFeeters, Deputy Editor at The Maine Monitor Production Assistance: Amy Browne The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: The Maine Monitor’s senior health reporter Rose Lundy discusses proposed staffing regulations for assisted living facilities in Maine, as well as other aspects of her investigative and accountability reporting on the long-term care industry. Guests: Rose Lundy, rose@themainemonitor.org FMI: themainemonitor.org/care-facility-staffing-proposal-amended/ themainemonitor.org/door-knocking-context/ themainemonitor.org/residential-care-growing-need/ themainemonitor.org/maine-proposes-care-facility-staffing-changes/

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One Small Step Short Feature: Eric and Donna

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 13:34:41 +0000

WERU One Small Step Moderators: Chris Battaglia and Michele Christle. Produced by Chris Battaglia. Created by StoryCorps, One Small Step is an effort to remind the country of the humanity in all of us, even those with whom we disagree. The initiative brings strangers with different political beliefs together for a conversation—not to debate politics—but to get to know each other as people. This WERU project was in partnership with StoryCorps, and made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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One Small Step Short Feature: Darby and March

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 13:32:16 +0000

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One Small Step Short Feature: Achaia and Beverly

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 13:30:42 +0000

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Healthy Options 2/5/25: The Feldenkrais Method

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 21:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: 1. The origin & principles of the Feldenkrais Method. 2. Exploration of how its practice has been shown to improve movement, posture, balance & coordination. 3. How it may help to reduce pain, and improve range of motion & flexibility- and how Deborah Darr utilized Feldenkrais in her own recovery after a serious injury. 4. Listeners can experience a shortened Feldenkrais session led by Deborah Darr during the last third of the interview. Guest(s): Deborah Darr, Feldenkrais instructor, physical therapist, & dancer. FMI: Feldenkraisproject.com movementandcreativity.com/tiffanysankary About the host: Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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World Ocean Radio 2/5/25: The Jena Declaration

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 13:30:31 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio we are introducing listeners to The Jena Declaration, a new W2O partnership with a UNESCO-Chair project for Sustainability. The Jena Declaration (TJD), is officially described as being built on the premise that information is not reaching the people that need it most: those who are directly affected by climate change, shifting ocean patterns, an increasingly unpredictable systems response. In essence, the Declaration states that a top-down strategy to inform and communicate the change required is not working. The Declaration calls for a new strategy to achieve living sustainably everywhere, through integration of the arts and sciences and new partnerships to further amplify information, communication, and engagement. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 2/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 17:30:38 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Cathy Rees, Executive Director of Native Gardens of Blue Hill is here today to let you know about a new “National Green Infrastructure Certification course the non-profit is sponsoring. Registration is now open FMI: www.nativemainegardens.org/upcoming-events Three of the elections-related bills the State legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs committees will take public input on today – and the position the non-partisan League of Women Voters of Maine takes on each of them. FMI: www. legislature.maine.gov and www.lwvme.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 2/4/25: “Middle East Alternative”

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 13:30:10 +0000

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A Word in Edgewise 2/3/25: Sacred Purgation in the Year of the Snake . . .

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 12:30:49 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 2/2/25: American Rowan

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 14:30:41 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Found atop the Western Maine Mountains and along the rugged Downeast coast, the humble mountain-ash is a boon to wildlife, large and small. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 2/2/25: False Economy

Sun, 02 Feb 2025 12:30:27 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 2/2/25: False Economy first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/1/25

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 14:30:00 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: swhplibrary.org rocklandmaine.gov wendellgilleymuseum.org waterfallarts.org schoodicartsforall.org friendml.org weru.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine, Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA, and Colloquy Downeast. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

The post What’s the Word on Maine Street? 2/1/25 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Earthwise 2/1/25: The Snake

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 13:30:23 +0000

The post Earthwise 2/1/25: The Snake first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

The Cosmic Curator 2/1/25

Sat, 01 Feb 2025 12:30:48 +0000

Good Morning, People! This is your cosmic curator, Tom Yaroschuk, with a look at the stars for the week of February 1 and the days ahead… About the Host: Tom Yaroschuk is a Vedic Astrologer. His intention is to help people understand their karma and the issues they may confront to cultivate more fulfilling lives. Tom is writing a memoir of the spiritual lessons derived from his work in a Homeless Day Center in between a career as an award winning television and documentary producer.

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Around Town 1/31/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 13:00:50 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A group called the Committee for Orland, Penobscot, Surry and Blue Hill, and officials in those towns, are encouraging local residents to let the towns and lake associations know where they stand on possible future plans for the Alamoosook Lake and Toddy Pond dams. There will be a series of meetings in February, and a survey is being circulated on the town office and lake association websites and social media. (Link below) Meeting schedule: -Orland- February 5th at Alamoosook Lakeside Inn -Surry, February 10th at the Surry Elementary School -Blue Hill, February 12th at the Town Hall Auditorium -Penobscot, February 13th at Penobscot Community School (All of the sessions are scheduled for 6-7:30pm) The survey- bit.ly/alamtoddysurvey About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 1/30/25: Toby Jandreau

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 21:00:23 +0000

Host/s: Rob Ruffner Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Don’t miss Rob’s interview with Toby Jandreau from the Aroostook County Public Defender’s Office as they talk about their experience in doing defense work and becoming district defender for Aroostook County. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Around Town 1/30/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 13:00:42 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Dr Charles Rolsky, Executive Director and Senior Research Scientist at the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill, with an update on their work and an invitation to a very Maine-y Valentines Day event FMI: www.shawinstitute.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 1/29/25: A Word for the Ocean

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 13:30:28 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Eudaemonism: What does it mean? What does it have to do with happiness? What is its context for the ocean? Tune in to find out. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 1/29/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 13:00:24 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne -Learn about the ACLU of Maine’s legislative priorities at an online meeting this week. -Opportunities to meet the baby lambs at College of the Atlantic’s Rockerfeller Farm on Crooked Road in Bar Harbor -From the WERU Archives – A discussion on state vs federal powers on this month’s Democracy Forum on WERU. If you missed it, you can listen now on our archives FMI: www.aclumaine.org/en/events/webinar-aclu-maine-2025-legislative-priorities www.coa.edu/prf and @peggy_rockefellerfarm on Instagram www.archives.weru.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 1/28/25: “Lessons Unlearned”

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 13:30:38 +0000

The post Outside the Box 1/28/25: “Lessons Unlearned” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 1/28/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Shawn Keeley from College of the Atlantic on this year’s 24 hour fundraising challenge, February 11th FMI: www.coa.edu/giving/24-hour-challenge/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 1/27/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 13:00:25 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Folks at the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor have been holding a series of community meetings over the past few months to explore reactions to the election and ways to move forward. The next meeting is this week– via zoom. Here’s Judd Esty-Kendall with more FMI: email peacectr@gmail.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 1/27/25: Of Janus, Lewis Carroll, & Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . . .

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 12:30:35 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 1/26/25: Late Autumn Sulphurs

Sun, 26 Jan 2025 14:30:59 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Late autumn isn’t usually a time associated with butterflies, yet a few hardy species persist despite chill and frost. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 1/26/25: The Telepathy Tapes

Sun, 26 Jan 2025 12:30:53 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 1/25/25

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 14:30:35 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: ellsworthlibrary.net bhpl.net littlefreelibrary.org fogtownbrewing.com haystack-mtn.org/camps About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine, Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA, and Colloquy Downeast. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 1/25/25: Honoring Mother Holle

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 13:30:39 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 1/25/25

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 12:30:18 +0000

Good Morning, People! This is your cosmic curator, Tom Yaroschuk, with a look at the stars for the week of January 25 and the days ahead… About the Host: Tom Yaroschuk is a Vedic Astrologer. His intention is to help people understand their karma and the issues they may confront to cultivate more fulfilling lives. Tom is writing a memoir of the spiritual lessons derived from his work in a Homeless Day Center in between a career as an award winning television and documentary producer.

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Power for the People 1/24/25: Planning the New England Electrical Grid, part 2

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 21:00:56 +0000

Producer/Host: Steve Kahl Power for the People: Energy education and solutions for Mainers and Maine communities This month: ISO New England grid management. FERC order 1920 for regional grid planning. ISO-NE first ever regional grid plan is underway. Natural gas pricing controls of electric rates. Guest/s: Anya Poplavska of the Acadia Center, Boston. Claire Lang-Ree of National Resource Defense Council, NYC. FMI: acadiacenter.org nrdc.org About the host: Steve Kahl is Professor of Science at Thomas College where he teaches environmental and energy courses and advises the student sustainability club. He writes the monthly ‘Sustainability Minute’ email which is distributed to over 1,200 readers. He is a member of the Quarry Road Recreational Area board of directors where he is advocating for a net-zero energy new welcome center. He has advised the board of WERU on the current plan for the station to become 100% solar powered in 2020. Steve is a member of the Green Campus Coalition of Maine, the working group of sustainability directors at Maine college campuses. Steve’s past positions include Sustainability Director at Unity College where he developed a plan for the college to become 100% solar powered and earned the college the prestigious STARS Gold ranking with the American Association of Sustainability in Higher Education. Before that, he was Director of Environmental and Energy Strategies for the James Sewall Company of Old Town where he led a Maine Technology Institute research project that found that Maine could be 79% solar powered if all suitably-oriented rooftops had solar PV panels. Prior to moving home to Maine, he was a member of the Energy Commission in Plymouth NH where he was obtained funding for the renovation of a town office building to net-zero energy and the installation of 160 KW of solar PV panels on town properties included a major PV array at the sewage treatment plant that offsets 40% of its electrical costs. In his own home, he has installed two air-source heat pumps to completely eliminate heating oil, a hybrid hot water heater to reduce his water heating costs by 70%, and insulated the basement and attic to further reduce energy consumption and increase comfort. He would like to install rooftop solar panels but so far his shade trees that also produce maple syrup each year have convinced him otherwise. However, he has solar panels on his summer place at the lake and hasn’t paid for any electricity there since 2011. Steve has a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of Maine.

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Coastal Conversations 1/24/24: How Fame Changed MacArthur’s Warblers

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 21:00:28 +0000

Host: Trevor Grandin Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. Guest/s: Dr. Michael Kaspari Bik Wheeler Fiona Young FMI: Sea to Trees – Season 3, episode 2 – schoodicinstitute.org/sea-to-trees-season-3-episode-2/ Schoodic Notes – Bird Sounds of Acadia- schoodicnotes.blog/ About the hosts: Natalie Springuel has hosted Coastal Conversation’s since 2015, with support from the University of Maine Sea Grant where she has served as a marine extension associate for 20 years. In 2019, Springuel received an award for Public Affairs programming from the Maine Association of Broadcasters for the Coastal Conversations show called “Portland’s Working Waterfront.” Springuel is passionate about translating science, sharing stories, and offering a platform for multiple voices to weigh in on complex coastal and ocean issues. She has recently enrolled in audio production training at Maine Media Workshop to dive deeper into making great community radio.

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Around Town 1/24/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 13:00:06 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Upcoming events About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Justice Radio 1/23/25: Coalition for Carceral Nutrition, Part I

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 21:00:53 +0000

Host/s: Linda Small Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Don’t miss Linda’s interview with Daniel Rosen of the Coalition for Carceral Nutrition, as they talk about how we can improve nutrition in prisons and jails to create healthier and more cost-effective outcomes not just for people living in carceral spaces, but also for tax payers and policy makers. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

The post Justice Radio 1/23/25: Coalition for Carceral Nutrition, Part I first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 1/23/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 13:00:48 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Proposed salmon aquaculture development proposal in Belfast is pulled by company. Local citizen groups react. FMI: www.upstreamwatch.org/nordic-aquafarms www.harriethartley.org www.nordicaquafarms.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 1/22/25: A Distillation of Purpose

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 13:30:23 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE What are the five key reasons for ocean conservation? What are the five areas where progress matters most? With the world in an off-axis state of turmoil, W2O founder Peter Neill is taking stock this week, asking the questions and distilling the essential reasons why the ocean is central to human survival. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

The post World Ocean Radio 1/22/25: A Distillation of Purpose first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 1/22/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 13:00:40 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine State Park campground reservations open soon FMI: www.CampWithME.com Maine Dept of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife opens lottery for spots at their week-long overnight camp for kids, Camp Northwoods, in July FMI: www.mefishwildlife.com/campnorthwoods The League of Women Voters Downeast Chapter’s post-election community event in Ellsworth (and via zoom) tomorrow evening “Making Democracy Work: No Quitting Now!” FMI: www.lwvme.org About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 1/21/25: “Credentialism”

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 13:30:37 +0000

The post Outside the Box 1/21/25: “Credentialism” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 1/21/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 13:00:49 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Public hearings in Augusta on the budget (and how you can participate), and the weather in Maine 100 years ago today. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Relationship Rewind 1/21/25: A Tale as Old as Time

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 09:30:26 +0000

Host: Carrie Clark at NextStep Domestic Violence Project. NextStep 24/7 Helpline: 1(800) 315-5579 Theme Music for the show donated by local musicians Megan Light and Nathan Spears. Relationship Rewind: Rewinding relationships in popular media and breaking down behaviors based in power, control, and abuse. This episode: 1. Discussing unhealthy behaviors in the film Beauty and the Beast. 2. Discussing how media normalizes these behaviors. 3. Discussing the impacts of these messages about these relationships and people, on young people in real life. Guest/s: Rayne (he/him) local high school student FMI: www.nextstepdvproject.org About the hosts: Alli Williamson is the youth educator and advocate for NextStep Domestic Violence Project based in Hancock and Washington County, ME. She teaches young people from Kindergarten to College about what power and control looks like in friendships and relationships, what resources are available to support those experiencing this, and how we can work to make our schools and communities safer and more equal spaces where abuse may be less likely to happen.

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Around Town 1/20/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 13:00:23 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Aaron Dority, Ex Dir, Frenchman Bay Conservancy with some good news about land they are protecting and “rewilding”. FMI: Frenchman Bay Conservancy Awarded $1 Million Grant for Tidal Salt Marsh Restoration from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 1/20/25: The Confluence of MLK Jr & Uncle Donny . . .

Mon, 20 Jan 2025 12:30:47 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 1/19/25: Hollies of Maine

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 14:30:52 +0000

Host: Logan Parker Producer: Glen Mittelhauser Hollies have long been associated with winter celebrations, both “across the pond” and here at home. Here we introduce Maine’s three native species: winterberry, mountain holly, and inkberry. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 1/19/25: U-Turn

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 12:30:45 +0000

Chad Trombley | Guest Contributor

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 1/18/25

Sat, 18 Jan 2025 14:30:50 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: operahousearts.org lwvme.org nehlibrary.org ellsworthlibrary.net operahousearts.org americanswhotellthetruth.org WERU.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine, Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA, and Colloquy Downeast. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 1/18/25: The Mouse

Sat, 18 Jan 2025 13:30:36 +0000

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Democracy Forum 1/17/25: States’ Rights, Then and Now

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 21:00:41 +0000

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics. This month: For much of our nation’s history, invoking “states’ rights” has meant opposing the federal government’s efforts to abolish slavery and enforce racial desegregation, and supporting state laws that discriminate against various ethnic, religious, or other minority groups. But there’s more to the history of states’ rights, and there’s a growing movement to invoke states’ rights to defend a progressive agenda in the years ahead from the threat of a hostile federal government. Guest/s: Jessica Bulman-Pozen, Betts Professor of Law and faculty co-director of the Center for Constitutional Governance at Columbia Law School www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/jessica-bulman-pozen Molly Curren Rowles, Executive Director ACLU of Maine www.aclumaine.org/en/biographies/molly-curren-rowles#:~:text=Molly%20Curren%20Rowles%20joined%20the,executive%20director%20in%20May%202024. Lucy Hochschartner, Climate & Clean Energy Director, Maine Conservation Voters www.maineconservation.org/about/staff-board/ To learn Amore about this topic: Visit LWVME.org About the host: Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 1/17/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:00:50 +0000

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Justice Radio 1/16/25: Framing Punishment in Childhood

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 21:30:02 +0000

Host/s: Liv & Swathi Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Join us in welcoming the Young People’s Caucus (YPC) to our Justice Radio collective! Don’t miss the discussion with co-hosts Swathi Sivasubramanian, Program Manager at YPC, and Liv Eckert, Program Coordinator of YPC, as they talk about the framing of punishment in childhood and the current state of healing, repair, and justice for young people in Maine. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Creative Maine 1/16/25

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 21:00:18 +0000

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. Guest/s: Spencer Janney Naiad country Brewery Naiadcountrybrewery@gmail.com Lance and Liz Meadows Sew Rugged www.sewrugged.com 207-619-1898 95 Castine Road, Orland, ME 04472 Keith Drago Director, Carver Memorial Library 12 Union Street, Searsport (207) 548-2303 www.carverlibrary.org About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8. Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra. After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY. After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years. In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school. She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach the JMG program at Bucksport High School. She joined the Bangor Band in 2018, where she plays euphonium. She is in her second year as a Board Member at Large for the Bangor Band.

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Around Town 1/16/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 13:00:28 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Upcoming events and Maine news from 100 years ago today About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 1/15/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 13:00:44 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Mike Bennett with an invitation to celebrate the life of Joel Raymond this weekend at The Grand or livesteamed via youtube— FMI: www.weru.org www.grandonline.org email: drummingmike@hotmail.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 1/14/25: “Origin Too”

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 13:30:18 +0000

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Around Town 1/14/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 13:00:20 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Sara Trunzo on this month’s Songwriter Rounds at Hey Sailor! in Searsport — coming up this Thursday FMI: www.saratrunzo.com www.heysailorhey.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 1/13/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 16:13:21 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne LD1- An Act to Increase Storm Preparedness for Maine’s Communities, Homes and Infrastructure The Maine Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs committee will hold a public hearing on LD1 on Thursday starting at 10am FMI: Read LD1: www.legislature.maine.gov/backend/App/services/getDocument.aspx?documentId=108081 Committee, bill and public hearing information: legislature.maine.gov/committee/#Committees/AFA About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 1/13/25: A New Year’s Blessing of Boats . . .

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 12:30:51 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 1/12/25: Maine Seabird Crew, Part 2

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 14:30:23 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is part 2 of an interview with Tracey, Liz, and Coco who are field biologists working out on offshore seabird colonies in Maine. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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Esoterica 1/12/25: The Legend of Dumpling Pond

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 12:30:00 +0000

Andree Bella | Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 1/11/25

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 14:30:47 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: bhpl.net mainewriters.org artwavesmdi.org haystack-mtn.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine, Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA, and Colloquy Downeast. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 1/11/25: The Hearth

Sat, 11 Jan 2025 13:30:17 +0000

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Around Town 1/10/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 13:00:16 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Upcoming events and news FMI: www.friendsofsearsisland.org www.nonprofitmaine.org/events/2025-nonprofit-day www.aclumaine.org/en/events/webinar-how-bill-becomes-law www.politifact.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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We Are Queer 1/9/25: OutMaine – Looking Out for Our Queer Children

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 21:00:12 +0000

Host/Producer: Olivia Paruk Music by Juniper Ginger This month’s guest is Maggie Hirshland, who is the Youth Engagement Coordinator at OutMaine. In this episode we specifically touch on the landscape of queer youth in Maine, resources for queer youth, and the special Rainbow Ball put on by OutMaine. We Are Queer, highlights the touching experiences from Maine’s diverse LGBTQ+ community that builds empathy and understanding in our greater community. If you have feedback for the show or want to get in touch email info@weru.org with WERQ in the subject line. FMI: www.outmaine.org/ About the host: Olivia Paruk (she/her) is a local college student and gardener who is passionate about people and this journey called life we are all on together. She is not a “true” Mainer but moved to Southern Maine with her family when she was ten, but she has been living on Mount Desert Island for three years while attending College of the Atlantic. In addition to radio, Olivia loves analyzing movies with her sister, dancing in her kitchen, attempting to sew, and getting lost in her imagination.

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Justice Radio 1/9/25: Dr. Brashani Reece Drop LWOP

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 21:00:12 +0000

Host/s: Catherine Besteman Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Don’t miss Catherine’s interview this Sunday, November 3 at 1:30pm with Dr. Brashani Reece, Executive Director of Drop LWOP, as they talk about their experience both as a victim and survivor of a violent crime and their mission to end the death penalty and all forms of extreme punishment. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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Around Town 1/9/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 13:00:31 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Two of the bills the Maine Legislature will be considering this session, L.D. 9 “An Act Regarding Campaign Finance Disclosure”, and L.D. 38 “An Act Requiring Photographic Identification for Voting” FMI: www.legislature.maine.gov/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 1/8/25: Helping Maine Downtowns Thrive

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 21:00:54 +0000

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: What is the mission of the Maine Downtown Center? What led leaders in Ellsworth and Belfast to work with the Maine Downtown Center and what was the process for connecting? With leadership from Heart of Ellsworth, that city recently became an accredited Main Street America community. What does that mean and what was involved in getting there? How does Our Town Belfast support new and existing downtown businesses? How does a downtown organization work with local government, Chambers of Commerce, tourism organizations or other groups? Guest/s: Cara Romano, Executive Director, Heart of Ellsworth. Amanda Cunningham, Our Town Belfast. Sylvie Piquet, Program Director, Maine Downtown Center, Maine Development Foundation. FMI: www.mdf.org/program-partnerships/maine-downtown-center/ www.heartofellsworth.org ourtownbelfast.org About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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Around Town 1/8/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 13:00:30 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne A quick look at some of the bills the Maine Legislature will be considering this session FMI: www.legislature.maine.gov/ About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 1/7/25: “Origin Story”

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 13:30:09 +0000

The post Outside the Box 1/7/25: “Origin Story” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Around Town 1/7/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 13:00:19 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Maine Teacher of the Year Nominations FMI: www.mainetoy.org/nominate Androscoggin Hydro Dam License Renewal Opposed by “Save the Andro” coalition FMI: Chip Spies, Free the Andro: chipspies@gmail.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 1/6/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 13:00:05 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Josh Kauppila from the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor joins us to talk about a community forum (via zoom)) tomorrow evening FMI: www.facebook.com/pjcmaine or peacectr@gmail.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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A Word in Edgewise 1/6/25: Epiphany Now! . . .

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 12:30:27 +0000

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 1/5/25: Maine Seabird Crew, Part 1

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 14:30:02 +0000

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode is part 1 of an interview with Tracey, Liz, and Coco who are field biologists working out on offshore seabird colonies in Maine. More information is available at mainenaturalhistory.org/nature-notes. About the hosts: Glen Mittelhauser founded Maine Natural History Observatory (MNHO) in 2003 to fill the need for an organization that specializes in collecting, interpreting, and maintaining datasets for understanding changes in Maine’s plant and wildlife populations. Glen received his Bachelor’s in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic in 1989 with a focus in the biological sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine. Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee. Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

The post Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 1/5/25: Maine Seabird Crew, Part 1 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Esoterica 1/5/25: Willow Faeries

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 12:30:21 +0000

CJ Kenna | Producer+ Writer/Reader

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 1/4/25

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 14:30:20 +0000

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings! FMI: newsurrytheatre.org woodlawnellsworth.org PBS.org surrygatherings.org deerisleartists.com colloquydowneast.org curtislibrary.com islandmeadowarts.com ellsworthlibrary.net WERU.org About the host: Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine, Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA, and Colloquy Downeast. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill. Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 1/4/25: The Winter Wren

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 13:30:45 +0000

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The Cosmic Curator 1/4/25: New Year!

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 12:30:14 +0000

Good Morning, People! This is your cosmic curator, Tom Yaroschuk, with a look at the stars for the week of January 4 and the days ahead… About the Host: Tom Yaroschuk is a Vedic Astrologer. His intention is to help people understand their karma and the issues they may confront to cultivate more fulfilling lives. Tom is writing a memoir of the spiritual lessons derived from his work in a Homeless Day Center in between a career as an award winning television and documentary producer.

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Around Town 1/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Fri, 03 Jan 2025 13:00:02 +0000

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Justice Radio 1/2/25: Katie Kelly

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 21:00:50 +0000

Host/s: Emily Goulette Production Coordinator: Daria Cullen Other credits: TECHNICAL SUPPORT – Aaron Pyle and Sarah Johnson | MUSIC – Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. This week: Emily’s interview with Katie Kelly, the Maine Indigent Defense Center’s extern this semester from North Eastern Law School, as they talk about their personal experience and motivation to study criminal law. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. Her research and practice engage the public humanities to explore abolitionist possibilities in Maine. In addition to coordinating Freedom & Captivity, she has researched and published on security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism with a focus on Somalia, post-apartheid South Africa, and the U.S. She has published nine books, contributed to the International Panel on Exiting Violence, and received recent fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations. MacKenzie Kelley is a formerly incarcerated woman in long term recovery. She is a teachers assistant for inside-out courses through MIT. MacKenzie works at the Maine Prisoner Reentry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters, a program designed to assist women reentering the community from prison. Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving Maine and beyond. She is a Project Coordinator for the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition. Linda serves on the Maine Prison Education Partnership board at UMA and the New England Commission for the Future of Higher Education in Prison through The Educational Justice Institute at MIT. The Young People’s Caucus (YPC) builds pathways for young people who have been directly impacted by systems involvement and systemic oppression to have a genuine voice and power in decision making in Maine. We create opportunities and connect young people, agency partners, and policy makers to work together to create public systems that support and empower all young people, with a focus on youth who have experienced the juvenile justice and foster care systems. MIDC: Maine Indigent Defense Center is a criminal defense firm accepting only court-appointed cases in primarily Cumberland and York counties. We bring a holistic approach to every criminal case, collaboratively addressing our clients’ problems outside the courtroom, which are the problems that often bring them into court in the first place. By addressing these issues we believe our clients are able to achieve better outcomes in and out of court. MIDC was formed in December of 2007 amid cuts to funding for court appointed attorneys. Today, MIDC splits time between representing individual clients, working with students, collaborating with other professionals in our community to work towards a fully holistic defense model, and advocating for reform by providing a critical voice at the legislature and other forums. Robert J. Ruffner: Robert Joseph Ruffner, Director of MIDC. grew up in New England and is a graduate of Clark University (’92). Rob attended Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (’96) where, to no one’s surprise, he was Managing Editor of the Devil’s Advocate. After a short stint as a defense attorney Rob worked as a prosecutor in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Maine. In 2001 Rob returned to his true calling, criticizing the State Criminal Defense, forming his own practice to focus exclusively on criminal (almost entirely indigent) defense. A Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Rob is also member of the Maine State Bar Association and Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and was the recipient of the 2009 MACDL, Unsung Hero Award for “highest level of commitment, passion and tireless pursuit of justice in the representation of indigent defendants”. Rob is never far from his three senior Labrador Retriever partners, Luke (8), Gideon (3) (featured on Our Team page) and Flynne (6 months). When he isn’t Monday morning quarterbacking the Commission during public comment or poking the State in the eye with a stick, Rob spends as much time as possible with Luke, Gideon and Flynne in a tent in the remote woods of Vermont, from where he “Zooms” back to court in Maine … and pokes the State a little more. Emily Goulette: Emily is a Maine native and 2019 graduate of Colby College. Emily then earned her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law (2023) where she worked in Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic’s Youth Justice Clinic representing youth in criminal and education matters. Emily assisted in re-instituting Maine Law’s chapter of the Student Animal League Defense Fund while working for the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland. Emily also interned for Webb Law Firm during law school, assisting on misdemeanor and felony cases. Before joining the Maine Indigent Defense Center, Emily advocated for Maine’s homeless population supporting youth and their families through Homeless Youth Services at the Opportunity Alliance in South Portland, ME. Emily (alongside her service dog Finley) now serves as the Director of Policy and Development for MIDC, creating new MIDC initiatives, running the robust student programming, and kick-starting Maine’s newest non-profit – The Center for Indigent Defense Studies. Emily lives in Hollis, ME with her horse (Chevy) and problem-causing dog and cat (Stanley and Lennie, respectively).

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The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 1/2/25

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 21:00:37 +0000

Host: Stephanie McFeeters Production Assistance: Amy Browne The Maine Monitor Radio Hour is a collaboration between WERU-FM and the Maine Monitor, the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. This month: Maine’s indigent defense crisis. Symposium co-hosted by The Maine Monitor and the Maine Indigent Defense Center, recorded by the University of Maine at Augusta events team. Guests: Josh Keefe, government accountability reporter. Robert Ruffner, director of the Maine Indigent Defense Center. Ron Schneider, the general counsel and vice president of legal affairs at the University of New England. Tina Nadeau, executive director of the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. FMI: themainemonitor.org/indigent-defense-symposium-discussions/

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Around Town 1/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 13:00:36 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne In the news in Maine, 100 years ago today.. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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World Ocean Radio 1/1/25: At the Fishhouses

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 13:30:08 +0000

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE This week on World Ocean Radio we share our yearly reading of Elizabeth Bishop’s poem At the Fishhouses. In its richly-detailed mastery, it distills Bishop’s seaside meditations, evokes the clarity of meaning contained in personal encounters at the shore and with the ocean, and holds the reader and the listener in the space that lies between land and sea, a site of transience, mystery, and the sublime. At the Fishhouses is a clear favorite for the New Year. We hope it is for you, too, whether you are revisiting a reading or are hearing it for the first time. It speaks to all of us that dwell at the water’s edge, in a physical space or merely in the mind. Cold dark deep and absolutely clear, element bearable to no mortal, to fish and to seals . . . Happy New Year from World Ocean Radio and World Ocean Observatory. The sea connects all things. WORLD OCEAN RADIO 5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 700 episodes offer perspectives on global ocean issues and viable solutions, and celebrate exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and for broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide. You will also find this week’s World Ocean Radio episode at Exchange.prx.org, at Audioport.org, WorldOceanObservatory.org where the full catalog of episodes is searchable by theme, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Around Town 1/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 13:00:41 +0000

Host/Producer: Amy Browne WERU Staff members Susan Pierce, Joel Mann, Willie Marquart, Amy Browne and Matt Murphy with a new year’s greeting About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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