WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Host/s: Liv and Sophie Editor: Sarah Johnson Music: Samuel James Justice Radio is a WMPG production. Justice Radio: Tackling the hard questions about our criminal legal system in Maine. Guests:  This week: Sophie and Liv discuss the history of Student Resource Officers and how they came to be so present in our school system. Starting with roots in settler colonialism, Sophie tracks the relevance of SROs in the United States’ history of systemic racism. This is the first part of a longer conversation on why Student Resource Officers exist and how we can reimagine systems where policing isn’t the only solution.  The post Justice Radio 11/12/26: Narrative History of SROs first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host: Sarah Alexander Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond. This month: For the last five years, Maine has been leading the nation in investigating and addressing PFAS chemical contamination on farms. Maine has created a roadmap for other states to follow, from turning off the tap on PFAS by banning consumer products and sludge spreading, to creating a robust safety net to help impacted farmers. This month on Common Ground Radio, we’ll be exploring Maine’s PFAS response, as well as the emerging science around TFA, the smallest PFAS molecule, which is being found in increasingly higher amounts around the world.? Guest/s: Caleb Goossen, Crop Specialist with the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) FMI- About PFAS: www.mofga.org/advocacy/pfas/ PFAS Information and Support for Farmers: www.mofga.org/farmer-resources/pfas-information-and-support-for-farmers/ PFAS FAQ for Gardens and Homesteads: www.mofga.org/pfas-faq-garden/ ABOUT THE HOSTS: Sarah Alexander is the executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), where she advocates for organic agriculture, a healthy environment, local food production, and thriving communities. Sarah has worked on issues related to food sovereignty, clean energy, public water systems, genetic engineering, and local food security. Her background is in community organizing, strategic campaigning, and legislative campaigns, having previously worked with Food & Water Watch, Green Corps, the White Earth Land Recovery Project, Shepherd’s Corner Farm, and the American Community Gardening Association. Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has since worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland, and Italy, and founded her own small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. Previously, she managed a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers; hosted “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and contributed to The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA. Seth Kroeck is an organic grower at Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick, Maine. Seth is an active member of the Organic Farmers Association, Real Organic Project, and the Maine Grain Alliance, and is committed to supporting and building regional food systems. He serves on the board of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). Ivonne Vazquez is the owner/grower at Bas Rouge Farm & Forge, a native plant nursery located in Orono, Maine. She is a sought-after public speaker, a Registered Maine Guide, gardening instructor at Bangor Adult Ed, and a nationally certified Green Infrastructure Practitioner. She sits on the board of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). The post Common Ground Radio 11/12/26: PFAS – Emerging Science, and Maine’s Response first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne ICE Officer Involved in Maine Shooting Expressed Hatred of Immigrants, by Katie Benner and Alexandra Berzon, New York Times, 11/11/2026, and a response from Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree About the host: Amy Browne, WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager, is a 9th generation Mainer with roots in Hancock County and Portland, Maine. After dabbling in ‘zines and IndyMedia in the 1990s, Amy started in radio as a volunteer producer/host at WERU-FM in 2000, cohosting RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined WERU’s team of Voices producers a few years later, and began serving as News & Public Affairs Manager in January 2006. WERU productions have included: RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents, Maine: The Way Life Could Be, the WERU News Report, WERU’s Multi-partisan Election Panel, and Around Town. She has covered protest movements from cities across the US, and El Salvador, most recently covering the No Kings! Movement for WERU and the Pacifica Radio Network. Her freelance work over the years has included segments for Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and the WBAI News Report Amy received an Excellence in Environmental Journalism award from the Sierra Club of Maine in 2014, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for segments on immigration and hate groups in Maine, in 2017 and 2021. BA in Anthropology and Sociology, Rollins College, and MSW in Clinical Social Work, Boston College Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License The post Around Town 11/12/26: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves College of the Atlantic provides help with production. Engineering by Joel Mann of WERU Community Radio. Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording. Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities This month: How did Ken Curtis’s early life on a Maine farm influence his path to serve as governor? What were his major accomplishments? What were his disappointments? How did he balance the need for environmental protection with economic development? What were his qualities as a leader? How did Curtis, elected as a Democrat, with Ed Muskie as a mentor, work with Republicans to improve the way state government works? Guest/s: Doug Rooks, author of Transformational, the biography of Governor Ken Curtis. Peter Bradford, former Chair, Maine Public Utilities Commission. Lloyd Irland, former director Maine Bureau of Public Lands and State Economist. FMI: douglasrookswrites.com www.maine.gov/msl/maine/writdisplay.shtml? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_A._Bradford About the hosts: Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals. Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor. The post Talk of the Towns 11/11/26: Ken Curtis, Maine’s Reform Governor 1967-75 first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

Host/Producer: Amy Browne An Armistice Day message from Veterans for Peace About the host: Amy Browne, WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager, is a 9th generation Mainer with roots in Hancock County and Portland, Maine. After dabbling in ‘zines and IndyMedia in the 1990s, Amy started in radio as a volunteer producer/host at WERU-FM in 2000, cohosting RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined WERU’s team of Voices producers a few years later, and began serving as News & Public Affairs Manager in January 2006. WERU productions have included: RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents, Maine: The Way Life Could Be, the WERU News Report, WERU’s Multi-partisan Election Panel, and Around Town. She has covered protest movements from cities across the US, and El Salvador, most recently covering the No Kings! Movement for WERU and the Pacifica Radio Network. Her freelance work over the years has included segments for Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and the WBAI News Report Amy received an Excellence in Environmental Journalism award from the Sierra Club of Maine in 2014, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for segments on immigration and hate groups in Maine, in 2017 and 2021. BA in Anthropology and Sociology, Rollins College, and MSW in Clinical Social Work, Boston College Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License The post Around Town 11/11/26: Local News, Culture and Events first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.