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

Host/s: Rob Ruffner 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: Rob and Jon discuss the importance of values and culture in the context of a public defender’s office.  The second episode of a two-episode interview. Guest: Jon Rapping, founder of Gideon’s Promise

The post Justice Radio 7/2/26: Values and Culture of a Public Defender’s Office, Part 2 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host: Stephanie McFeeters, Kate Cough 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, listeners will hear a recent panel discussion on ranked-choice voting, moderated by Monitor elections and government reporter Matt Junker. Panelists examined the ranked-choice voting strategies that came into play, debated whether the process makes candidates and campaigns more inclined to keep things civil and looked at potential improvements the state could make to expedite the timeline for tabulating results. Guests: Matt Junker, Chrissy Hart, Ronald Schmidt, Aaron Chadbourne FMI: themainemonitor.org/events/

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

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Out In the Open, a local rural queer community organization, invites you to join them tonight for a Mycology Walk & Community Meal on Wahsumkik/Sears Island in Searsport FMI and to register Please contact [email protected] for accessibility requests Indivisible’s Immigrant Justice Summer Protect Your Lungs From Firework Smoke With Tips From the American Lung Association Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 7/2/26: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Philanthropy is more than giving—it’s the art and act of improving the world with purpose. It is the thoughtful use of one’s resources to strengthen communities, support shared values, solve problems, and build a legacy. How to date has ocean science and policy been funded? 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 7/1/26: Summing Up Public and Private Philanthropy for the Ocean first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Rosalani Moore, Executive Director of H.O.M.E., Inc invites listeners to H.O.M.E.’s Empty Bowl fundraiser, 7/9/26, 4:30-7:30PM Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 7/1/26: Local News, Culture and Events 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 6/30/26: “Tiny Gardens” first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Bangor Pride Rainbow awards – recorded 6/27/26. Part 2 of 2 Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 6/30/26: 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 Bangor Pride Rainbow awards – recorded 6/27/26. Part 1 of 2 Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

The post Around Town 6/29/26: 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 6/29/26: Whiskey for $20K, Two Tiny Fawns, Tomás Q. Morín, & the Strawberry Moon . . . first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Read by: Pepin Mittelhauser Producers: Glen Mittelhauser and Daaby Tingle Sandhill Crane recording by Logan Parker In this episode, Pepin reads an essay by Sandra Mitchell, recounting her first encounter with Sandhill Cranes in a Maine marsh and exploring the remarkable appearance, history, and recovery of this once-rare breeding bird in the state. More information about Maine Natural History Observatory can be found on our website 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 6/28/26: Sandhill Cranes in Maine, Part 1 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.