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

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman Co-Producer: Petra Hall Technical Assistance: Joel Mann Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well This month: – The spreasd of new tick species and diseases in Maine & the Northeast – Prevention is the best medicine! Keep ticks from attaching. Create a barrier with clothes. Using permethrin on clothes & gear (embedded commercially, or sprayed on carefully). – Use repellants on skin (deet, picaridin, lemon-eucalyptus) – Essential oils not effective for very long & may cause skin irritation – Symptoms of tick infections for Alpha-gal syndrome, Lyme, Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Borrelia miyamotoi, Powassan virus & which ticks carry them – When doxycycline is used & most effective, & other treatments for tick illness – How soon can disease be transmitted after a bite (Powassan virus within 15 minutes!) Guest(s): Dr. Beatrice Szantyr on Lyme disease & other tick-borne illness, for an update on tick diseases & new tick species which are spreading here in Maine (& beyond), how we need to be tick-conscious to try to prevent tick bites, & the challenges in identifying and treating tick-borne illness. FMI: EPA info on effective repellents www.epa.gov/insect-repellents? EPA tool to find the repellent that is right for you www.epa.gov/insect-repellents/find-repellent-right-you 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 ESPECIALLY FOR MEDICAL PROVIDERS: VectorWise CME: “Empowering clinicians through vector-borne disease education – free, virtual, accredited CME” vectorwisecme.org/ LymeCME: “Free, Evidence-based, AAFP-Accredited Courses that Physicians Can Trust” lymecme.info/ 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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Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE As we’ll demonstrate this week, climate denial is a foolish mistake. We’ll show the ways that denial allows us to ignore prospects of sea level rise, extreme weather, floods and coastal inundations, access and supply chain disruptions, hampered training and preparedness to meet conditions, denials that lead us into wars and conflicts to which we may be strategically unprepared to adapt. 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 5/6/26: Climate and Defense first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne League of Women Voters of Maine’s June 9th Semi-Open Primary Voter Guide The VOTER HOTLINE number is 207-558-3333 The Maine Dept of Environmental Protection has issued a Notice of Opportunity to File for intervenor status in an upcoming public hearing on the controversial Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion Community Action has expanded their Walk-in-Wednesdays for heating assistance applications in Aroostook, Washington and Hancock counties as they encourage residents to apply for heating assistance as soon as possible. Walk-in appointments for the Home Energy Assistance (HEAP) program are available at their Ellsworth office on Avery Street from 9am to 4pm on Wednesdays through May. They recommend reviewing their list of helpful paperwork before coming in. Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 5/6/26: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Hosts: Nolan Altvater and Nick Bear Recording and Editing: Nick Bear 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: A conversation about the roles of running within indigenous communities as a way to connect to our homelands and build healthy communities. We are joined by Dustin Martin, a Dine runner and Chief Visionary Officer of WINGS of America, a Santa Fe based organization that works to build healthy Native communities by empowering youth through running, and Brian Altvater who is a Passamaquoddy elder with a deep experience in running and community organizing as the Wabanaki Wellness Coordinator for Wabanaki REACH. Guests: Dustin Martin and Buck Altavater. FMI: wingsofamerica.org Links: Wabanaki REACH: www.wabanakireach.org/ Dawnland Signals: www.wabanakireach.org/dawnland_signals

The post Dawnland Signals 5/5/26 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 5/5/26: “Yes to Better Health Options” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne DIY Energy Efficiency for a More Affordable and Comfortable Home, hosted by A Climate to Thrive, Wednesday, May 6th DIY projects to save money on energy and make your home more comfortable? Learn more about do-it-yourself energy efficiency projects from energy auditor, Colin McCullough Wednesday, May 6th at 6 PM in the basement stacks, Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor FMI and to register Also on Wednesday, May 6th: Friends of Sears Island will host a Zoom presentation by Ron Butler about the butterflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes, at at 6:30pm This presentation will cover the taxonomy, evolution, morphology, and ecological significance of butterflies. It will include images of some representative species of the region’s six butterfly families, explore butterfly conservation issues (particularly climate change), and briefly consider the ‘insect apocalypse’. The presentation will conclude with some recommended butterfly identification guides, apps, and websites. Ron Butler is an animal ecologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Maine at Farmington, where he taught courses in Zoology, Entomology, Ecology, and Conservation Biology. While Ron spent the first part of his career conducting research with seabirds in Maine, Newfoundland, and Antarctica, for the past several decades his work has focused on ecologically important groups of insects in Maine. Ron helped plan and coordinate several state-wide citizen science initiatives, including the Maine Damselfly and Dragonfly Survey, the Maine Butterfly Survey, the Maine Bumble Bee Atlas, and (presently) the Maine Flower Fly Survey. Ron co-authored Butterflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces (2023) and Dragonflies and Damselflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces (in press). You can find more information and sign up to receive the zoom link at Friends of Sears Island’s website or go directly to the registration form The Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport is offering Pre-Season Sneak Peak guided tours this week.. Explore new exhibit updates, learn about projects in the library and photo archives, watch newly added sardine videos, and examine historical documents. Guided by PMM staff and volunteers, this 1.5-hour walking tour is a unique chance to learn and ask questions. Sessions are limited to 20 people and will be starting at 10am and noon, this Thursday, May 7th For more information and to reserve a spot Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 5/5/26: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s public statement regarding the House passage of the Farm Bill – outlining several specific concerns. Politico: House passes GOP-led farm bill The policy package now faces a murky path forward in the Senate after years of stalled negotiations, Grace Yarrow, 4/30/2026 Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 5/4/26: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

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.

The post A Word in Edgewise 5/4/26: Of Maia, Nestbuilding, Carl Phillips, & the Eta Aquariids . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

CJ Kenna | Producer + Writer/Reader

The post Esoterica 5/3/26: Beltane first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

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: winterportopenstage.net mainepotterytour.org colloquydowneast.org operahousearts.org bhpl.net 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? 5/2/26 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.