Democracy Forum 6/16/17

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine    
Engineer: Amy Browne

Jobs in Maine: What’s the Future?

Key Discussion Points:
a) global changes in employment and the nature of work
b) the shifting demographics of jobs
c) barriers to work
d) what it means for Maine

Guests:
James Breece, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Maine. http://umaine.edu/soe/faculty-and-staff/breece/
Rosalie Hughes, is an investigative journalist and writer at the Bangor Daily News and a contributor to the Maine Focus series. http://bangordailynews.com/staff/bdn-maine/content/rosalie-hughes/
Beth Stickney, Executive Director of the Maine Business Immigration Coalition http://mainebic.org/about/

To learn more about this topic:
The State of American Jobs, Pew Research Center
Did China Eat America’s Jobs, Freakonomics, January 25, 2017
Visualizing the Jobs Lost to Automation
An Overview of the Maine Economy: Per Capita Personal Income 2014, James Breece, 2016
Maine Job Outlook to 2024

The all-volunteer team at the League of Women Voters – Downeast who plan and coordinate this series includes:
Starr Gilmartin
Maggie Harling
Linda Hoskins
Ann Luther
Maryann Ogonowski
Pam Person
Leah Taylor
Linda Washburn

FMI re League of Women Voters of Maine: www.lwvme.org

RadioActive 6/15/17

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Penobscot River Rally and Flotilla

1) Today we hear some audio from Saturday’s Penobscot River Rally and Flotilla on the Bangor Waterfront, where people gathered to support the Penobscot Tribe’s struggle for continued stewardship of the River, and other local and statewide struggles for clean water and clean energy.
2) Over 30 organizations co-sponsored the event, which showed support for the Penobscot Nation’s efforts to retain sovereignty and stewardship on the section of the river passing through their island territory. In 2012, the Maine Attorney General’s office sought to establish that section as State territory. The Tribe has sued the State in an on going legal case: Penobscot Nation v Attorney General Janet Mills.
3) Speakers broadcast in this program address the Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion in Old Town and the dumping of toxic leachate into the Penobscot River and on state bills and policies that could support or paralyze the development of solar energy in Maine.

Guests:
Ed Spencer, Old Town resident, logger and intervenor in Juniper Ridge Landfill expansion process
Dawn Neptune Adams, Penobscot tribal member and activist
Fred Greenhalgh, ReVision Energy and solar activist
Jim Freeman, Flotilla organizer, Alliance for the Common Good,

This program was produced in partnership with the Sunlight Media Collective.