Maine Currents 7/13/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Engineer: John Greenman

The latest edition of our multipartisan political roundtable discussions of the upcoming elections, with a focus today on Question 5 on Maine’s ballot this fall, a citizen’s initiative that reads: “Do you want to allow voters to rank their choices of candidates in elections for U.S. Senate, Congress, Governor, State Senate, and State Representative, and to have ballots counted at the state level in multiple rounds in which last-place candidates are eliminated until a candidate wins by majority?”.

Guests: Area residents Betsy Garrold (Green Party supporter), Dave Gulya (Trump supporter), Renee Trust (Republican-leaning Libertarian), Steve Godsoe (Clinton supporter) and Tim Wilson (Bernie Sanders supporter) — and (by phone) former State Senator Dick Woodbury, one of the promoters of the ranked choice voting question.

FMI:
http://maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/
http://www.lwvme.org/RCV.html
http://www.fairvote.org/rcv#how_rcv_works
https://ballotpedia.org/Maine_Ranked_Choice_Voting_Initiative,_Question_5_(2016)

Maine Currents 7/6/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Engineer: John Greenman

Candidate scandals and lies- it’s hard to keep up, but today we do some fact checking following Trump’s rally in Bangor last week, his recent controversial tweets and the FBI’s findings re Hillary Clinton’s email servers. Features audio clips from the FBI press conference and Trump’s rally. Guest commentator, cultural critic and former Ism Prism host Valentine King gives us his take.

Maine Currents 6/22/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Engineer: John Greenman

Today we continue with our ongoing series of multi-partisan roundtable discussions / call-in shows re the upcoming presidential elections. Today’s guests represent a range of political backgrounds, but we are committed to keeping this discussion civil, keeping in mind that no matter who becomes president, we will all still be neighbors.

Guests:
Renee Trust- Libertarian-leaning Republican
Tim Wilson- Bernie Sanders supporter
Steve Godsoe- Hillary Clinton supporter
Dave Gulya- Donald Trump supporter
David Bright- Green-leaning Bernie Sanders supporter (filling in for Green Party rep Betsy Garrold)

Maine Currents 6/15/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Engineer: John Greenman

Local communities respond to the recent mass shooting in Orlando. We bring you to vigils held this week in Bangor and Belfast, Maine and then we talk with long time activist and former “Ism Prism” host Valentine King and open the phone lines for your calls. Valentine King is a cultural maven and independent thinker who has been based in Sommesville, Maine for the past 8 years. Originally from Philadelphia, he was active in the independent arts and queer cultural movement in the 1980s, and was part of the movement fighting for recognition of AIDS as a national health crisis at that time. For many years, he was a youth development worker at the Youth Health Empowerment Project, an agency devoted to promoting HIV prevention and youth leadership.

Maine Currents 6/8/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Production Assistance: Bill Solomon

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and her brother/co-author David Goodman, speaking at the UU Church in Bangor on May 14, 2016 at a fundraiser for WERU — part of their book tour for “Democracy Now! 20 Years Covering the Movements Changing America”. Part 2 of 2. Part 1 aired last week and is available on our archives.

WERU Special: Orland Dam Removal Public Forum 6/3/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Production Assistance: John Greenman

Today we have a special report on the proposal to remove the Orland Dam – a decision that regardless of which way it goes, will likely have impacts not only on that town, but on surrounding areas as well. Orland took over ownership of the dam from Verso in 2011. The dam has been found to have serious structural issues, has failed in the past, and currently salt water flows over the top periodically. It also blocks fish passage and the existing fish ladders are considered inadequate. The town will be voting on June 14th on a ballot question that gives 2 options: Keep the dam and have the town foot any associated costs, or move forward toward removal of the dam by working with NOAA fisheries and the Nature Conservancy to acquire available funding for removal of the dam and ancillary costs. NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the major forces behind the Penobscot River Restoration project. In 2014 they designated the Penobscot River Watershed as a “Habitat Focus Area” — one of just two on the east coast –citing the environmental, cultural and recreational significance of New England’s second largest river, which provides habitat to many migratory fish species, including 3 that are listed as endangered.

Those who oppose removing the dam are concerned about the impact on water front views, which would start changing with the tides, potential impacts of salt water on wells and bridges, and the need to find a new source of water for fire fighting (as the impoundment created by the dam has been used for that purpose)—and whether the grants the town might receive would cover those costs. The need to coordinate dam removal with the clean up of mercury in the river so as to not further mobilize a mercury hotspot just below the dam is also a concern.

At a well-attended forum Wednesday night in Orland, experts who have been studying the issues and agencies offering funding for the project, provided updates and heard comments and questions from the public. The entire presentation last more than 2 hours. This morning we hear from some of the panelists and a few of the public comments.

NOTE: The link to the full meeting (2+ hours in length) is also posted below. The 1st link is for today’s program, the second is the full meeting.

FMI:
http://orlandfutures.blogspot.com/
http://www.orlandme.org/Orland%20Dam.html
https://www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/protected/riverherring/tewg/presentations/river_herring_-_penobscot_hfa__september_3__2014_.pdf

Maine Currents 6/1/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Production Assistance: Bill Solomon

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and her brother/co-author David Goodman, speaking at the UU Church in Bangor on May 14, 2016 at a fundraiser for WERU — part of their book tour for “Democracy Now! 20 Years Covering the Movements Changing America”. Part 2 will air in this time slot next week. (Wednesday, June 8th at 4pm)

Maine Currents 5/25/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Engineer: John Greenman

The next installment in our series of round table discussions / call-in shows about the upcoming presidential elections.

Guests:
Republicans Renee Trust and Billy Bob Faulkingham, Democrats Bernie Sanders supporter Tim Wilson, and Hillary Clinton supporter Margaret Hannah, and Betsy Garrold of the Green Party.