WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Audio Archives

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.

The post Earthwise 3/30/24: The Real Story of the Easter Bunny first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Good Morning, People! This is your cosmic curator, Tom Yaroschuk, with a look at the stars for the week of March 30th 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.

The post The Cosmic Curator 3/30/24: Opportunities for Transformation Abounds! first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Producer/Host: Amy Browne A discussion between reps from local environmental groups that are often on the same side on issues.  On the topic of industrializing Sears Island, a 940-acre undeveloped island in Searsport, the groups are split. Today they sit down together and explain their positions, and learn where they agree — and where they don’t. Guests: Francis Eanes, Maine Labor Climate Council Steve Miller, Islesboro Islands Trust Jack Shapiro, NRCM Rolf Olsen, Friends of Sears Island Links and events that were mentioned by guests or callers: https://allianceforsearsisland.org/about/ friendsofsearsisland.org www.searsport.maine.gov www.mcht.org/story/a-community-embraces-sears-island/ www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?ld=1895&PID=1456&snum=131 FB page: Protect Wahsumkik Email: [email protected] maineaflcio.org/news/legislature-advances-compromise-strengthen-labor-wage-standards-offshore-wind About the Host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team 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.

The post Maine Currents Special 3/29/24: Sears Island, Part 2 of 2 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Sears Island, 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

The post Around Town 3/29/24: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

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: Hosts Linda Small and Mackenzie Kelley, and special guests, Darlene George and Shawn Libby, continue the conversation about their extraordinary community service work from inside the Maine Department of Corrections while serving longer sentences in the carceral system. Guests: Darlene George, Consultant for CEPP (Center for Effective Public Policy) and currently housed at the Maine Correctional Center for Women. Shawn Libby, Peer Leader, Recovery Coach, Master’s degree student in Youth Development, and currently incarcerated at the Maine State Prison. About the hosts: The Justice Radio team includes: Leo Hylton is currently incarcerated at Maine State Prison, yet is a recent Master’s graduate, a columnist with The Bollard, a restorative and transformative justice advocate and activist, a prison abolitionist, and a Visiting Instructor at Colby College’s Anthropology Department, co-teaching AY346 – Carcerality and Abolition. 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. Zoe Brokos (she/her) is the executive director of the Church of Safe Injection, a comprehensive harm reduction program that operates in Southern and Central Maine. Zoe is a person who uses drugs, a mom, a wife, and has led harm reduction programs in Maine for 15 years. She is part of the Maine Drug Policy Coalition, sits on the board of Decriminalize Maine and joined Justice Radio to promote compassionate conversations and drug user-led advocacy efforts that focus on evidence-based, public health responses to the housing and overdose crises in Maine. Marion Anderson: Before joining The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls in January of 2022, Marion worked as a harm reductionist, housing navigator, certified intentional peer support specialist, CCAR recovery coach, and a re-entry coach for a diverse range of non-profit organizations. Charlotte Warren is a former State Representative. She served on the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee for eight years – six as the house chair. Warren previously served on the Judiciary Committee and as the house chair of Maine’s Mental Health Working Group and the house chair of the Commission to Examine Reestablishing Parole. Previous to her time in the legislature, Charlotte served as Mayor of the city of Hallowell. 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 post Justice Radio 3/28/24: Creating Windows Not Bars – Doing Decades in Prison, Part II first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Producer/Host: Amy Browne A discussion of Governor Mills’ recent announcement that undeveloped Sears Island in Searsport  is the state’s preferred location to build an offshore wind terminal. What do people who have worked to protect the island from threats in the past think about this proposal? For the guests who were part of the planning process, what are your feelings about that? If not Sears Island, where? Guests: Steve Miller, Islesboro Islands Trust Jack Shapiro, NRCM Francis Eanes, Maine Labor Climate Council Becky Bartovics, Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club Rolf Olsen, Friends of Sears Island Chris Buchanan, Searsport resident Links and events that were mentioned by guests or callers: www.islesboroislandstrust.org/ www.nrcm.org/ www.mainelaborclimate.org/ friendsofsearsisland.org www.sierraclub.org/maine https://allianceforsearsisland.org/about/ www.mcht.org/story/a-community-embraces-sears-island/ www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?ld=1895&PID=1456&snum=131 FB page: Protect Wahsumkik Email: [email protected] maineaflcio.org/news/legislature-advances-compromise-strengthen-labor-wage-standards-offshore-wind About the Host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team 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.

The post Maine Currents Special 3/28/24: Sears Island, Part 1 of 2 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host: Brianna Cunliffe   Description: Climate & Community covers the Brooklin Climate Response Committee’s Neighbor-to-Neighbor Home Visit Program, which supports community members in seizing opportunities to decrease their emissions, save money, and improve comfort in their spaces. We speak with Island Institute Fellow Grace Carrier on the challenges and opportunities of climate work that starts right here at home. Learn more about this initiative at www.brooklinmaine.com/directory/climate_response/climate_response.php   Johannah, Brianna, Tanvi, Gus, Corey, and Beth 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 3/28/24: Neighborly Energy with the Brooklin Climate Response Committee first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

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

The post Around Town 3/28/24: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Producer/Host: Steve Kahl Power for the People: Energy education and solutions for Mainers and Maine communities This month: Status and maintenance of the Versant grid. Solar PV and other renewables as a challenge for the Maine grid. The status and source electricity for the separate northern Maine sub-grid. Guest/s: Judy Long, Senior Manager of Communications. David Norman, Manager for Regulatory Support. FMI: versantpower.com 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.

The post Power for the People 3/27/24: Perspective of Versant Power staff on the Maine grid and future of renewables first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

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.

The post Outside the Box 3/26/24: “Lesser Known II” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.