Around Town 4/20/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Berit Becker from the Ellsworth Public Library is here with an invitation to view the new documentary The Librarians on Saturday. April 25th at 2pm. A discussion will follow. More information and registration here

Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Democracy Forum 4/17/26: Constitutional Crisis: They’re Watching

Host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters of Maine
Production Assistance: Linda Washburn, Joel Mann

Democracy Forum: Participatory Democracy, encouraging citizens to take an active role in government and politics.

This month:
Mass surveillance constitutes a threat to free speech. Commercial and government surveillance infrastructure has grown and continues to grow, encompassing license plate readers, location tracking, and facial recognition and other biometric data. How do these invasions of privacy threaten free speech? What protections should individuals and civil society adopt to protect civil liberties?

Guest/s:
Cindy Cohn, Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), author of the book, Privacy’s Defender.
Hannah Cyrus, Digital Media Librarian, Bangor Public Library.
Cooper Quintin, security researcher and senior public interest technologist with the EFF Threat Lab and board member of Open Archive.

To learn more about this topic:
Visit LWVME.org

About the host:
Ann Luther currently serves as Treasurer of the League of Women Voters of Maine and leads the LWVME Advocacy Team. She served as President of LWVME from 2003 to 2007 and as co-president from 2007-2009.

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Around Town 4/17/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Checking in with Rebecca Porter ahead of her show tomorrow/Saturday night (4/18) at Hey Sailor! in Searsport — an appearance inspired by Sara Trunzo and WERU listeners!

Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Creative Maine 4/16/26: Living the Writer’s Life in Coastal Maine

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.

Four Maine writers discuss their lives, publishing journey, and tips for other writers.

Guest/s:
Linda Buckmaster, Poet and Essayist – www.lindabuckmaster.com
Elizabeth W. Garber, Poet and Memoirist – www.elizabethgarber.com
Shanna Compton, Visual Artist and Poet – www.shannacompton.com
Catherine Schmitt, Journalist, Science Writer and Creative Author – www.catherineschmitt.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 1980. In addition, she had a busy career as an arts administrator, directing and teaching in Community Arts schools, light opera companies, and season programming for other non-profit organizations. Adina founded the Hudson School of Creative Arts in inner-city Yonkers, NY.

After her second child was born, she returned to school, and earned a degree in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Institute of America. Her family then moved to the Chicagoland area, where she became Principal Trombone of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, and also served as a board member and Personnel Manager for many years.  In that time, she also taught Culinary Arts in high school.  She earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from Northern Illinois University in 2018. Upon retirement, she and her husband moved to Orland, Maine; she came out of retirement to teach in the JMG program. She performs with the Bangor Band, where she has been a Board Member at Large for four years, and is a member of a trombone quartet based at The University of Maine, The Bear Bones.

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Around Town 4/16/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Around Town 4/15/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Outside the Box 4/14/26: “Saying Yes and No”

Producer/Host: Larry Dansinger

About the host:
Larry Dansinger (no pronouns) of Bangor came to Maine in 1974 and has been here ever since. Some of Larry’s activities since then: Done community organizing on numerous issues through INVERT and then Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), committed civil disobedience several times, grown a garden yearly since 1977, joined various food cooperatives and two men’s groups, refused to pay federal income taxes for war, lived on a community land trust for 23 years, and met a wonderful partner whom Larry has loved for over 40 years. Larry has produced Outside the Box features on WERU since 2007 and continues to look for unique ways of seeing almost any problem or situation.

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Around Town 4/14/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne