Category: WERU News Report

WERU News Report 12/17/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Studio Engineer: John Greenman

It’s Wednesday, so we’ve just got a few short news clips and we’re opening the phone lines for your calls for most of the half hour. We’re working on a theme of local solidarity today. How do we keep power, control and resources in LOCAL hands? How do we get it back when it’s been lost?

*Judy Robbins from “Let Cuba Live” with a reaction to today’s news about normalizing relations with that country *Audio from a rally that just ended, outside the mill in Bucksport this afternoon as the last shift of workers leaving the mill were met by supporters
*A report on a donation to the solidarity fund for Fairpoint workers made earlier in the week
*News about a fracking ban in New York that was announced today
*Listener calls

WERU News Report 12/16/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Segment 1: Elves from the Community Union of Ellsworth and Hancock County paid a visit to Fairpoint strikers in Bangor yesterday, on Day 59 of their strike, dropping off a gift in solidarity.

Spirits are high on the picket line, despite the bitter cold and minimal progress on contract negotiations, partly due to all of the support the strikers have been receiving from the community. While waiting for them to arrive, we got an update from spokesperson James Feeney, a 32-year service technician based out of Fairpoint in Bangor:

More information about the Fairpoint strike is available on facebook at: fairnessatfairpoint The elves also have a facebook page: communityunionofellsworth

Segment 2: In the spirit of peace on this first night of Hanukkah, we have some words from Dr Alice Rothchild. Some of the strongest opposition to the Israeli government’s policies toward Palestinians is coming from Jewish activists like Dr. Rothchild, who work for justice by speaking out publicly, often at great risk. She is a physician, author, filmmaker, and human rights activist who shares her observations on the conflict based on her Jewish upbringing as well as her personal, first hand knowledge of the region. She has been a member of several health and human rights delegations to the region, working with Israelis and Palestinians who “refuse to be enemies”. Here is some of what she had to say during a visit to Maine earlier this month, as one of the latest in Robert Shetterly’s “Americans Who Tell the Truth” portrait series. (Audio recorded by Matt Murphy)

WERU News Report 12/9/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

The Department of Marine Resources held a public hearing in Searsport last night on a proposal for maintanence dredging at the Sprague Energy docks in that town. As we’ve reported previously, testing that was done last year near the Sprague piers found high levels– many above reporting limits–of a large variety of contaminants and known carcinogens including pesticides, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In addition, Dr. Kevin Yeager, an independent scientist hired by the federal court in the Holtrachem mercury case, has examined the testing that was done in this case, and raised concerns that it was inadequate. The DMR will report any concerns about impacts on the fisheries to the Department of Environmental Resources. Today on the News Report, we bring you to last night’s hearing:

WERU News Report 12/3/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Engineer: John Greenman

Program Topic: The University of Maine System today took a big step toward becoming the first public land grant system in the country to divest from coal. Two of the students who helped make that possible are with me here in the studio today to tell us how they did it, and what other plans they have up their sleeves — and then we’ll open the phone lines to your calls.

Connor Scott and Brooke Lyons-Justus are members of Maine Students for Climate Justice. Along with another student, Catherine Fletcher, they are also the co-founders of Divest UMaine at UMaine Orono. They’ve been working on fossil fuel divestment of the entire University of Maine system, which is 7 campuses and Maine Maritime Academy. Connor is also the student representative for the UMaine-Orono on the Board of Trustees.

WERU News Report 12/2/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

(NOTE: There are 2 audio files attached to this post. The first is this program, as it aired, with a segment of Dr Juan Cole’s presentation. The 2nd is the full, unedited speech)

The Howard B. Schonberger Peace and Social Justice Memorial Lecture at the University of Maine, draws progressive speakers to the campus each year. Last night’s presentation of the 2014 lecture drew an overflow crowd. The speaker was Prof. Juan Cole, a Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Professor Cole has been a guest on the Rachel Maddow show, Democracy Now and the Cobert Report, among others, and has written several books about the middle east and Islam. The most recent being “The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East”. His talk at UMaine last night was called “The Obama Administration and the Arab Youth Revolutions”. Professor Juan Cole

WERU News Report 11/25/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Today we’re joined by local award-winning artist Rob Shetterly, creator of the “Americans Who Tell the Truth” portrait series, and Dud Hendrick of Maine Veterans for Peace. They’re here to talk about two speakers that will be in the area in early December, at events they are helping organize, along with local Peace & Justice groups, Lily Yeh & Dr. Alice Rothchild

FMI: www.americanswhotellthetruth.org , http://peacectr.org/wp/

WERU News Report 11/19/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

“The Power and Potential of Nonviolent Struggle: Lessons from the Arab Spring, the Global Occupy Movement, and Beyond” was the topic of a lecture at UMaine last week. The presenter was Jamila Raqib. the Executive Director of the Albert Einstein Institution in Boston, a non-profit organinization dedicated to advancing the study of nonviolent action. Born in Afghanistan, Jamila Raqib was raised in Maine and currently works closely with the Institution’s founder: internationally renowned author and activist, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Dr. Gene Sharp.

Following up on yesterday’s News Report, today we hear a few more excerpts and take your calls.

FMI: http://www.aeinstein.org

WERU News Report 11/18/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

“The Power and Potential of Nonviolent Struggle: Lessons from the Arab Spring, the Global Occupy Movement, and Beyond” was the topic of a lecture at UMaine last week. The presenter was Jamila Raqib. the Executive Director of the Albert Einstein Institution in Boston, a non-profit organinization dedicated to advancing the study of nonviolent action. Born in Afghanistan, Jamila Raqib was raised in Maine and currently works closely with the Institution’s founder: internationally renowned author and activist, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Dr. Gene Sharp.

FMI: http://www.aeinstein.org