Weru 89.9 Fm Blue Hill, Maine Local News And Public Affairs Archives

Host/Producer: Amy Browne US – El Salvador Sister Cities statement on Trump’s actions in Venezuela Applications are now open for Maine Initiative’s 2026 Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine As

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The Maine State Legislature’s Taxation committee will hold a public hearing this morning at 10 for LD 382 “An Act to Establish a System of Revenue Sharing for the Use and Management of Coastal Resources”(concept draft), and LD 1939 “An Act to Close Maine’s Tax Loophole for Offshore Profit Shifting” Live Stream of Taxation Committee public hearing About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatc

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Author and AI expert Jeff Pennington will give a presentation called “You Teach the Machines: From Virtual Hearts to Smarter Harbors” at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor Wednesday from 6-7pm, in-person only. Registration is encouraged. Seaweed Valentine workshop, Saturday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m, at College of the Atlantic’s Dorr Museum of Natural History in Bar Harbor, led by Ecologist and seaweed expert Jordan Chalfant ’12 of the Maine Natural History Observatory. Registration required. The Ellsworth Public Library series of Creative Winter Programs for Kids, this week: Afterschool Beach Party, “a lighthearted program that brings summer vibes indoors through games, activities, and relaxed afterschool fun”, Friday, January 16 at 3:30 PM Winnie-the-Pooh Birthday Picnic, a cozy and cheerful gathering honoring A.A. Milne’s classic stories, Saturday, January 17th at 11 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affair

Host/Producer: Amy Browne LD1671 – An Act to Establish Disclosure Requirements Regarding Law Enforcement Officer Credibility Information. A public hearing was held last week and a work session is scheduled for Wednesday starting at 9:45 am (along with 2 other bills). Read the text of LD1671 Bill tracker: Bill sponsors, testimony from the public, history of the bill Maine State Legislature Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety – Live stream, contact information, schedule About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Frenchman Bay Conservancy has some good news to share! Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition’s Immigrant Resource Hub and Hotline Information is available in several languages. Hotline: 207-544-9989 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The state legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology committee held a work session this week for LD 343. The original title of the bill (and the title still posted on the legislature’s website as of Wednesday afternoon, was “An Act to Direct the Public Utilities Commission to Seek Informational Bids Regarding Small Modular Nuclear Reactors in the State”, but the committee chair noted that the name was changed by amendment last October to “An Act to Ensure Periodic Assessment for Clean Energy Technology”. Here are some clips from the discussion at the work session. You can listen to/watch the entire meeting, archived here About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Witherle Memorial Library‘s Foreign Affairs Discussion Group meets tonight from 5 to 6 pm over Zoom. The topic will be the Administration’s National Security Strategy dated November 2025 and released on December 4. Click here to link to more information and to register. Hollywood Factotum talk with author Celeste Donohue, Thursday evening, 6:30-7:30pm at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor with an option to join remotely. For more information and to register, follow this link The Ellsworth Digital Inclusion Task Force monthly “Bring Your Device to Lunch” event, Thursday from noon to 1:30 at Loaves and Fishes in Ellsworth. Participants should bring their devices and a wish list of what they’d like to learn. The event is free and open to all. A light lunch will be provided. Space is limited and registration is required. Call 664-7110 to register From Indivisible Bangor (no further information or contact info included): “Thursday, January 8, there is a one-t

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Maine Congressional District 1, and Graham Platner, candidate for the Democrat’s nomination for Senate, hoping to unseat Senator Susan Collins in the next election, issued statements over the weekend in response to the situation in Venezuela. Indivisible Bangor’s weekly “No Kings” rallies at the Federal Building in Bangor, Tuesdays, 11am-1pm Friends of Sears Island annual meeting in Searsport on Saturday, January 10th, 12:30-2:30 at the Mermaid Plaza. Watch the Friends of Sears Island facebook page for updates including weather-related cancellation if needed. About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Applications open tomorrow / Tuesday for Haystack Mountain School of Crafts upcoming 75th season. “Supporting Older Mainers: A Legislative Conversation” will be held at the Durgin Center in Brewer on Saturday, January 17th from 11-1. Space is limited. Registration is required, and closes on January 9th For more details or to register, click on the link (above) or call 941-2865 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica Pe

Host/Producer: Amy Browne LD 287- “An Act to Require and Encourage Safe and Interconnected Transportation Construction Projects” will have a public hearing at 10:30 Tuesday morning in the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee On Housing and Economic Development On Wednesday the Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee will hold a round of public hearings starting at 1pm. One of the proposed bills they’ll be taking comments on is LD 1671, “An Act to Establish Disclosure Requirements Regarding Law Enforcement Officer Credibility Information” The bill’s summary reads in part: “This bill requires that a law enforcement agency disclose to a prosecuting attorney’s office when a law enforcement officer who is a potential witness in a criminal prosecution has engaged in certain specified conduct that calls into question the credibility of the officer as a witness, including, but not limited to, knowingly making untruthful statements of material facts, t

Host: Erin Rhoda, Interim Deputy Editor at The Maine Monitor. 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: We discuss Monitor Local, a new reporting initiative from the The Maine Monitor focused on what’s happening in towns across Western and Downeast Maine — how the idea came to be and what its coverage has looked like so far. Guests: Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, Executive Director of The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting — micaela@themainemonitor.org Judith Meyer, Editor of Monitor Local — judy@themainemonitor.org FMI: themainemonitor.org/monitor-local/ The post The Maine Monitor Radio Hour 1/1/26 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne The regular schedule of public hearings and work session for proposed legislation resumes in Augusta next Tuesday. Here’s what the Joint Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology will be tackling first — and some ways you can listen in or participate About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Kids’ Noon Year’s Eve Party today, 11:00AM – 12:00PM at the Ellsworth Public Library Family friendly New Year’s Eve celebration in Blue Hill at the Shaw Institute, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm today. Space is limited, so registration is required The Carver Memorial Library in Searsport family/kids mid-day New Year Eve event, today at 11 with “countdown” to noon. FMI: Carver Memorial Library’s facebook page Rockland Public Library kid’s new year party, starts at 11 this morning. Rockport’s Holiday on the Harbor festivities will begin in the village as the sun sets at 4:30 p.m The Maine Outdoor School’s 5th Annual New Year’s Eve Sunset Hike starts at 2:30 this afternoon. Free, but registration is required Eastport’s 21st annual New Year’s Eve Great Sardine and Maple Leaf drop at midnight (will also be live streamed through Tides Institute & Museum of Art’s Facebook and Instagram pages– starting a litt

Host/Producer: Amy Browne College of the Atlantic’s new scholarship program – Pine Tree Scholars Maine Academy of Modern Music’s summer camps in Portland and Bangor in summer 2026 All are welcome to join a new book club at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor this winter. The Do the Work! Book Circle will meet on Thursday evenings from Jan 8th – March 5th For more information and to register, email organizer Alexa Kelly at alexamkelly@gmail.com About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the Kennedy Center and more than 70 of her colleagues in Congress have called on President Trump to reverse what they say is an illegal renaming effort The Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS’) Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) urges Mainers to take steps to protect their health as influenza (flu) activity begins to rise across Maine. Maine’s weekly influenza surveillance report for week 51, which ended December 20th shows: Number of hospitalizations: 69 Number of outbreaks: 12 The Challenger Learning Center of Maine in Bangor is offering Girls Who Code: A Free Intro to Coding for All Students “A free introductory club for all students in grades 3-5, no experience required! This beginner-friendly program welcomes all young coders, including those trying programming for the very first time” FMI and to register Activate Maine&

Host: Galen Koch Editorial Help: Camden Hunt, Olivia Jolley, and Keegan Claunch Most of the music in this episode is by Cue Shop Coastal Conversations: Conversations with people who live, work, and play on the Maine coast, hosted by the University of Maine Sea Grant Program. Forms of sustainable energy. Resilience in Island communities. Economics and infrastructure of sustainable energy. Guest/s: Bruce Fernald – Lobsterman from Islesford Jamie Cook, Lia Morris – Senior Community Development officers, Island Institute Danny Fernald – Bruce’s Brother, Year round Islesford resident FMI: To view Versant’s connectivity maps, go to vpcapmap.cliffhanger-solutions.com/ For more information about the lobster co-op, go to littlecranberrylobster.com/ From the Sea Up is made possible by the Fund for Maine Islands through a partnership between Island Institute, College of the Atlantic, Maine Sea Grant, and the First Coast. To hear past episodes and for more information visit www.islandinstitute.org/podca

Host: Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger ABOUT THIS EPISODE Each year at the holidays we like to share a special reading of “Christmas at Sea”, an evocative poem written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1883. Stevenson, the son of a lighthouse engineer, had intimate, first-hand knowledge of storms, weather, and life on and by the sea. Read for you by World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill. Happy Holidays! 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 12/24/25: Christmas at Se

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser This episode features a discussion with Coco and Tracey Faber, Alison Ballard, and Peyton Caylor, seabird researchers who worked on Maine’s offshore colonies this summer. Together they reflect on the role of these islands beyond nesting seabirds, describing their importance as stopovers for migrating shorebirds and staging areas for gulls. They share observations of sandpipers, plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, and other migrants, and note how islands like Eastern Egg Rock can host large flocks during peak migration. More information about Maine Natural History can be found 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

Host/Producer: Amy Browne Andy O’Brien, Maine AFL-CIO, with news of successful organizing efforts with University of Maine graduate workers. NOTE: Around Town will be away next week. We’ll return on 12/29/25 About the host: Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Mai

Producer/host: Adina Salmansohn Other credits: Theme music written and performed by Ariel Chapman. A monthly show exploring Maine‘s culture, art and crafts that enrich our lives and bring us joy. Listeners will learn about Mainers who use their crafting skills to do good in their communities. Guest/s: Rosa Moore, Executive Director and Jackie Perkins, Arts and Activities Director, HOME Inc. homeemmaususa.org Heidi O’Donnell, Art Teacher at Belfast Area High School, rsu71 hodonnell@rsu71.org Sara Brand-New sbrandnew@gmail.com Jillian Liversidge jillianliver@gmail.com About the Host: Adina Salmansohn started learning to play the trombone at the age of 8.  Her undergraduate years were at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Robert F. Boyd of the Cleveland Orchestra.  After returning to her native New York, she played freelance in the NY Metro area, including multiple orchestras, big bands, and a 17 year stint with The Soundview Brass Quintet, which she founded in 19