Maine Currents | WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Studio Engineer: John Greenman Segment 1: An interview with award-winning “Bricks and Mortars” columnist Lawrence Reichard The biweekly column appears in the Republican Journal and VillageSoup.com To receive the column via email, contact Lawrence Reichard at lreichard@gmail.com Segment 2: Mainers Thought They Passed Ranked Choice Voting- Legislature Divided On...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Audio recorded by Matt Murphy Maine Storytellers at the 2017 Common Ground Fair Stories by Anu Dudley, Jenny Tibbetts, Lesley Kristeller and Naomi Graychase Maine Currents- independent local news, views and culture, Tuesdays at 4pm on WERU-FM and weru.org The post Maine Currents 9/26/17 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Audio recorded by John Greenman Activist and author George Lakey on “Building a Movement: the Big Picture Vision for the Climate” George Lakey’s keynote at the Sierra Club of Maine’s “Maine Grassroots Climate Action Conference” on Saturday, September 16th on the topic of “Building a Movement: the Big Picture Vision for the Climate”. He recently retired from Swarthmo...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Segment 1: Behind the scenes at the H.O.M.E. Co-op in Orland, with Executive Director Tracey Hair Maybe you’ve been to their auction or have heard that they house people when they are homeless, but you may be surprised at just how many things they actually do there. Tracey Hair took time out of her very busy schedule yesterday to speak with me and show me around. NOTE: As...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Audio recorded by Carolyn Coe Bruce Gagnon on the “US Pivot to the Asia-Pacific” and ties with BIW here in Maine Bruce Gagnon is well known in Maine as the co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, and as an active member of Veterans for Peace. He is also a senior fellow at the Nuclear Policy Research Institute and a membe...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Bangor City Council votes to recognize Indigenous People’s Day and approves a proposal “Urging the United States Congress to enact a Revenue Neutral Carbon Tax and Dividend” We take you to last night’s meeting of the Bangor City Council to listen in on the testimony from tribal council member Maulian Dana Smith, Chief Kirk Francis and others, and the council’s...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Studio Engineer: John Greenman Legalized Marijuana in Maine: Workplace Drug-testing, Federal Law vs State Law, and the Maine Legislature’s Marijuana Legalization Implementation Committee’s Progress Guests: Attorney Lynne Williams, worked on legalization efforts in Maine and serves on the legal panel for NORML Activist Paul McCarrier, worked on legalization eff...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Contributing producers: Carolyn Coe, Denis Howard Segment 1: Bruce Gagnon on Korea, BIW and the US “Pivot to the Asia-Pacific” Maine-based peace activist Bruce Gagnon spoke in Deer Isle on August 3rd about what’s being called the US “Pivot to the Asia-Pacific”. Gagnon has traveled to South Korea and worked with peace activists there and elsewhere in the region...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Maine Storytelling On July 26th WERU held our 3rd annual Maine storytelling event at the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport, as part of that town’s Wednesday on Main summer series. The theme this year was “My Maine: The State as Experienced by Local Storytellers”. Today we bring you Act 2 which featured Amy Roeder, John & Katie Greenman, Brook Ewing Minner and Naomi Graychas...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Maine Storytelling Last week WERU held our 3rd annual Maine storytelling event at the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport, as part of that town’s Wednesday on Main summer series. The theme this year was “My Maine: The State as Experienced by Local Storytellers”. Today we bring you Act 1 which featured Sandra Bowden Dillon, David Weeda, Anu Dudley and Lesley Kristeller. Maine Curre...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Maine Storytelling WERU and Wednesday on Main are hosting our 3rd annual local storytelling event at the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport tomorrow evening (7/26/17) To get you in the mood for tomorrow night, I’ve selected some of my favorite stories from various local storytelling events over the past few years. Storytellers (recorded at past events and rebroadcast today): Stac...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Contributing producers: Meredith DeFrancesco, Matt Murphy Segment 1: Penobscot Nation member and indigenous rights attorney Sherri Mitchell speaking at the Penobscot River Sovereignty Rally held on the Bangor waterfront on July 9th in response to the recent court decision against the tribe- produced by Meredith DeFrancesco Segment 2: Matt Murphy interviews former Senator...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Segment 1: The public comment period has closed and now those who care about Maine’s new National Monument are waiting to hear its’ fate. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke visited Katahdin Woods and Waters recently as part of a federal review. While his comments after touring the area seemed to indicate that he was favorably impressed, they are open to interpretation at this...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Contributor: Matt Murphy Yankee Magazine Editor Mel Allen on “The Power of Community” Longtime Yankee magazine editor Mel Allen spoke at the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport, Maine on June 21st in conjunction with that town’s “Wednesday on Main” summer series. His topic was “The Power of Community” and he commented on how that is at pla...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Engineer: John Greenman Contributor: Matt Murphy Segment 1: Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument Our guests in the studio are recent visitors to Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument: Christina Perkins, an Orland resident who has hiked in KWW with friends and her dog Rye- and plans to return several times this summer; Don Duncan, a photographer from Southe...

Guest Producer/Host: John Greenman Engineer: Amy Browne Avoiding and Mitigating Watershed pollution -What is “clean” water? -what’s the Section 319 grant? -Who can apply and get help? Guests: Zack Steele, Exec. Dir. Hancock Cty. S.W.C.District Chip Stubbs, Alamoosook Lake resident, past president of the Alamoosook Lake Association John Wedin, Watershed Stewart for the Ellsworth, ME Water District...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Will Maine’s New Ranked Choice Voting Law Survive the State Legislature? The Ranked Choice Voting law passed by Maine voters in November may soon be repealed by the legislature, based on a word that was changed in the state constitution back in the 1800s. The word “plurality” was substituted for “majority” after a contentious gubernatorial race in 1880. As a result,...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Engineer: John Greenman Conspiracy theory or healthy distrust of a corrupt system? How do you decide? A call-in show discussion of this issue and of Richard Otto’s book The Paradox of Our National Security Complex: How secrecy and security diminish our liberty and threaten our democratic republic with author Richard Otto and veteran journalist Peter Taber. Maine Cur...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne 2nd segment audio recorded by John Greenman Minimum Wage Increase: Did Mainers Know What They Were Doing? Last November Mainers voted to gradually increase the state’s minimum wage from the (then) current rate of $7.50 an hour up to $12 an hour by 2020. After 2020 increases would be tied to inflation. Despite the fact that the measure drew strong support, several bills ha...

Producer/Host: John Greenman Studio Engineer: Joel Matt & Matt Murphy Update on Maine’s Cuban Connections Program Topics: Embargo/Blockade and Guantanamo Key Discussion Points: Update on the effects of the decades-old embargo The latest on the US presence in Guantanamo Bay Guests: Judy Robbins, “Let Cuba Live” Dud Hendrick, Maine Veterans for Peace (just returned from Cuban conference on fore...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Studio Engineer: John Greenman “Building Bridges Through Political Diversity” & “Corinna and Charleston Residents Suspicious of a Maine Power Company’s Expansion Plans” Segment 1: A new discussion/support group called “Building Bridges Through Political Diversity” has started meeting in Belfast with the goal of “find(in...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Studio Engineer: John Greenman Segment 1: Multi-partisan panel discussion on communicating with people with political differences Segment 2: Indivisible MDI’s April Town Hall for Senator Collins (who did not attend) Guests: Multi-partisan panel Renee Trust, Ken Gleason, Thomas White (Tim Wilson was unable to join us this week) WERU thanks Jeff Dobbs who provided us...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Anti-immigration bills introduced in Maine We take you to last week’s public hearing for LD 366 “An Act To Ensure Compliance with Federal Immigration Law by State and Local Government Entities”, LD 847 “An Act To Hold Refugee Resettlement Agencies Accountable to Maine People” and LD 1099, a resolve that would have “Required the State To Bring Suit against the...

Segment 1: Proposed Commission on the Status of Racial and Ethnic Populations in Maine Segment 2: Communities Coming Together for Civil Political Discourse Producer/Host: Amy Browne Engineer: John Greenman State Representative Rachel Talbot Ross of Portland is sponsoring LD1008, legislation that would create a “Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial and Ethnic Populations” in the state...

Producer/Host: Amy Browne Engineer: John Greenman A multi-partisan panel discussion of how personal experiences influence political beliefs, and how to communicate with people with different beliefs. Listeners call in and share their views as well. Guests: Renee Trust, Tim Wilson, Thomas White, Ken Gleason Note from Jennifer, one of the callers on today’s show, re “Bridging the Gap&#82...