Tag: Maine

Family Corner 5/24/17

Producer/Host: Sue Mackey Andrews
Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Homelessness in Hancock County

Program Topic: Families First Community Center (FFCC)

Key Discussion Points:
a) Young families, especially young women ages 18-23, and young children constitute the greatest increase in homelessness nationally and here in Maine
b) FFCC is working to break th ecucle of homelessness by equipping young families with minor children with the skills they need to gain self-sufficiency
c) They are working to open a transitional home that will house up to six families for between 12-18 months, supporting them to learn essential like skills (cooking, money management, child development, etc.), prepare for life through employment training, etc. with mentors to support them in overcoming barriers and learning new skills.

Guests
Dawn Carter Coffin, President of FFCC Board of Directors
Jamie Willis Hunt, FFCC Board member and lead for their fund development efforts

Democracy Forum 5/19/17

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

Issue: Participatory Democracy

Program Topic: Free Trade: Winners and Losers in Maine

Key Discussion Points:

We’ll talk about international trade policy
How does it work?
Who sets the rules?
What does it mean for Maine?

Guest: Kate DeLutio, economist, applied researcher, and trade expert. http://www.45northresearch.com/about/

To learn more about this topic:
a) Did China Eat America’s Jobs, Freakonomics, January 25, 2017 freakonomics.com/podcast/china-eat-americas-jobs/
b) Maine History Online: Trade and Transport, from the Maine Historical Society. www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/885/page/1296/display
c) Maine Trade Assessment Report 2016, Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, prepared for the Maine Citizen Trade Policy Commission. www.maine.gov/legis/opla/CTPC2016TradeAssessmentFinal.pdf
  

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

Maine Currents 5/17/17

Producer/Host: John Greenman
Studio Engineer: Joel Matt & Matt Murphy

Update on Maine’s Cuban Connections

Program Topics: Embargo/Blockade and Guantanamo

Key Discussion Points:
Update on the effects of the decades-old embargo
The latest on the US presence in Guantanamo Bay

Guests:
Judy Robbins, “Let Cuba Live”
Dud Hendrick, Maine Veterans for Peace (just returned from Cuban conference on foreign military bases)


Maine Currents- independent local news, views and culture, every Wednesday at 4pm on WERU-FM and weru.org

Maine Currents 4/26/17

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Anti-immigration bills introduced in Maine

We take you to last week’s public hearing for LD 366 “An Act To Ensure Compliance with Federal Immigration Law by State and Local Government Entities”, LD 847 “An Act To Hold Refugee Resettlement Agencies Accountable to Maine People” and LD 1099, a resolve that would have “Required the State To Bring Suit against the Federal Government for Failure To Comply with the Federal Refugee Act of 1980”. All were introduced by Rep. Lawrence Lockman of Amherst.

In breaking news just before we went to air, the Judiciary Committee voted “Ought Not to Pass” on LDs 1099 and 847, and tabled LD366.

Update: We mentioned on the show that we had contacted Rep. Lockman to inquire about two issues that were raised during the hearing: His testimony that the City of Portland had redirected educational funding to refugee support, and the comments made by members of the public that he did not stay to hear their comments after introducing the legislation. We did hear back from him after the show. Here is his response: “I was there for most of the hearing, stepped out twice to do TV interviews, then had to attend my own committee.” And he provided this link to a 2015 article entitled “LePage to fight Portland over asylum seekers money”: www.centralmaine.com/2015/06/30/lepage-to-fight-portland-over-asylum-seekers-money/


Maine Currents- independent local news, views and culture, every Wednesday at 4pm on WERU-FM and weru.org

Democracy Forum 3/17/17

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

Program Topic: Two Maines: Can We Bridge the Divide?

Key Discussion Points:
a) We’ll talk about the cultural, demographic, and economic differences that define the two Maines and how those differences are sharpening political differences. b) Are there only two Maines?
c) Can we bridge the divide?

Guests:
a) Alan Caron, is the owner of Caron Communications and the author of “Maine’s next Economy” and “Reinventing Maine’s Government”
b) Erin Rhoda, Editor of Maine Focus for the Bangor Daiy News http://bangordailynews.com/staff/bdn-maine/content/erin-rhoda/
c) Matt Stone, journalist and writer for the Bangor Daily News

To learn more about this topic:
What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class, Joan C. Williams in the Harvard Business Review, November 30, 2016 hbr.org/2016/11/what-so-many-people-dont-get-about-the-u-s-working-class%20
6 takeaways from an examination of rural Maine’s future, Erin Rhoda, Bangor Daily News, January 29, 2017 bangordailynews.com/2017/01/29/mainefocus/6-takeaways-from-an-examination-of-rural-maines-future/
This remote Maine region has a chance to grow, Matt Stone, Bangor Daily News, December 7, 2106 mainefocus.bangordailynews.com/2016/12/wilderness-and-a-way-forward/#.WLsNjfnyuUk
Maine’s Next Economy: How the State’s Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Doers are Growing a New Prosperity, Alan Caron, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 16, 2015)

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

Maine Currents 12/21/16

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Special thanks to Bill Solomon

This Solstice edition of Maine Currents features stories about holidays, families and winter in Maine. Rev. Dr. Anu Dudley (host of WERU’s “Earthwise” feature which airs Saturdays at 7:30) kicks things off with a look at the history of Solstice celebrations, then we hear from storytellers Marjorie Longwood of Surry, Edee Howland of Blue Hill, Cathy Mink of Waldo and Roger Sprague of Belfast. We close out the hour with some voices from the past- a 2006 holiday special recorded at WERU.

Maine Currents- independent local news, views & culture on WERU-FM 89.9 Blue Hill, 99.9 Bangor, Maine and www.weru.org, Wednesdays 4-5pm Eastern

WERU News Report 12/3/13

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Today we continue our on-going coverage of the re-write of Maine’s mining laws, as there is breaking news out of Augusta: the Board of Environmental Protection is revealing their recommendations and the news is worse that some environmentalists fear. Interview with Lindsay Newland Bowker, CPCU, ARM Environmental Risk Manager, Bowker Associates, Science and Research in the Public Interest

RadioActive 5/16/13

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco

Issue: Environmental and Social Justice

Program Topic: Two unsuccessful legislative attempts to block tar sands pipeline and metallic mining; developments in global retailers reaction to Bangladesh building collapse

Key Discussion Points:
a) This week, the Maine legislature’s Natural Resources Committee watered down a bill that would have set a two year moratorium on pumping of tar sands oil through the Montreal Portland Pipeline, 76% owned by Exxon Mobil. Changes were made to the bill after the Maine Attorney General’s office claimed such a moratorium would interfere with federal interstate commerce laws.
b) A bill (LD 1059) that would have reversed last year’s legislation that opens Maine to open pit metallic mining did not pass out of committee this week. Instead, LD 1302 was voted out of committee, a bill that only seeks to mitigate environmental damages. Though 350 Maine and others did not support this compromise, other environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Council of Maine did.
c) Over 30, primarily European, clothing companies have signed onto a legally binding building and fire safety agreement for their Bangladesh factories. It requires independent safety inspections with public reports, mandatory factory building renovations, an obligation that brands and retailers underwrite the cost of repairs, and a genuine role for workers and unions. Us companies, such as Walmart and Gap have not signed on, making them the continued target of labor rights campaigns.

Guests:
A) Bob Klotz, organizer with 350 Maine Team, www.350maine.org
FMI:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/05/02/1952171/exxon-spills-tar-sands-oil-again-in-missouri-cant-find-126000-gallons-spilled-in-arkansas/?mobile=nc
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/05/130510-earth-co2-milestone-400-ppm/

B) Liana Foxvog, organizer with International Labor Rights Forum, Sweatfree Communities campaign
FMI:
www.ilrf.org
http://corporateactionnetwork.org/campaigns/human-rights-for-all-walmart-workers-the-bangladesh-fire/petitions/demand-that-walmart-ensure-basic-safety-and-human-rights-of-its-workers-2
Laborrights.org/safety
Gapdeathtraps.com

C)Update on Coal is Stupid blockade in Somerset, MA
FMI: http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x438180711/Activists-declaring-Coal-Is-Stupid-attempt-blockade-of-coal-delivery-at-Somersets-Brayton-Point?zc_p=1