Audio Archives from Community Radio WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine

Democracy Forum 5/15/26: Pillars of Democracy: Democracy costs money. Who pays?

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:
We’ll talk about taxes and democracy. Everyone complains about paying taxes. But what if we need taxation if we want the benefits of democracy? If democracy costs money, who should pay for it? Author Vanessa Williamson argues that some of the most important battles that shape our democracy hinge on one issue—taxes. How has that played out in our history. How is it playing out in this moment? And how is it playing out in Maine?

Guest/s:
Garrett Martin, President and CEO, Maine Center for Economic Policy.
Vanessa Williamson, senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, and a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Author of the book, The Price of Democracy.

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 5/15/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

JD Vance comes to Bangor, plans to save Maine taxpayers from “fraudsters” wasting our money. We talk w/ protesters outside the venue.

Trump’s Other ‘Vanity Projects’ Will Cost $162.5 Million—In Addition To $1.4 Billion Ballroom Possibly Funded By Taxpayers, Sara Dorn, Forbes Staff. May 13, 2026, Forbes

Let’s Get to the Bottom of Trump’s Expensive, No-Bid Contracts for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Public Citizen, May 12, 2026

Reflecting Pool Repairs to Cost $13.1 Million. Trump Had Promised $1.8 Million, David A. Fahrenthold and Luke Broadwater, New York Times, May 11, 2026

Report exposes sketchy no-bid deals as costs spiral on Trump’s vanity ballroom project, Jen Psaki, MS NOW via YouTube, May 6, 2026

Firm Building Trump’s Ballroom Got a Secret No-Bid Contract for a Nearby Job David A. Fahrenthold, Luke Broadwater and Andrea Fuller, New York Times, April 27, 2026

ICE, Inc.: The Top Companies Profiting from Trump’s Immigration Crackdown, Nick Schwellenbach, Luisa Clausen, and Aarushi Sahejpal, POGO (the news reporting division of the Project on Government Oversight), February 18, 2026

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

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Around Town 5/14/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Fundraiser for Waldo County Bounty at Hey Sailor! this weekend, featuring the Sugar Snaps

VP JD Vance’s stop in Bangor today, scheduled to be at 188 Maine Avenue on the BIA property, with doors opening at 9:30, the program starting at 11:30 and Vance scheduled to speak at 12:30. Registration Protest/rally info

Turning Point USA: A Case Study of the Hard Right in 2024, Southern Poverty Law Center, Rachael Fugardi, May 22, 2025
Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Talk of the Towns 5/13/26: Historic Preservation as an engine for building community

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 have various historic preservation projects energized community development, with examples from Ellsworth, Norway and elsewhere in Maine?
How has the Heart of Ellsworth organization used its designation of its downtown district for the National Register of Historic Places to spur redevelopment of underutilized commercial spaces?
What steps did folks in Norway Maine take to preserve their historic Gingerbread House and how does it figure into the future of the downtown area?
What is the role of Maine Preservation to support community-based projects?
What is the status of work to preserve the historic Hancock County Jail in Ellsworth?
What advice might spur historic preservation in other Maine communities?

Guest/s:
Cara Romano, Executive Director, Heart of Ellsworth
Carla Haskell, Owner, DGC Architects, board member Ellsworth Historical Society
Brad Miller, Director of Programs and Services, Maine Preservation
Joan Beal, Norway Maine, project to restore Gingerbread House

FMI:
www.heartofellsworth.org/
www.heartofellsworth.org/historic-preservation
www.heartofellsworth.org/dt-housing-opportunity
www.heartofellsworth.org/historic-preservation-workshops
www.mainepreservation.org/2026-honor-awards/2026/3/17/carla-haskell-ellsworth
www.mainepreservation.org/

Maine Downtown Center

www.maine.gov/mhpc/
www.mainepreservation.org/2024-honor-awards/2024/3/18/gingerbread-house-norway
www.norwaydowntown.org/
www.wfltmaine.org/
www.norwayoperahouse.org/
www.lightsoutgallery.org/
www.norwayuu.org/save-the-belfry/

Our Society and Museum

www.fundforsacredplaces.org/

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.

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World Ocean Radio 5/13/26: True Ocean Value

Host: Peter Neill
Producer: Trisha Badger

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
How do we value nature? How do we price it and define its asset value? This week we’re looking to a recent report issued by the UK Office of National Statistics to provide illustration of four ocean functions that underlie our capacity to sustain life on Earth. The ocean’s contribution to the past, present, and future of the world economy and civilization is the core principle for real calculation of the value of natural capital and its relation to human endeavor.

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.

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Around Town 5/13/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

After the Secretary of State’s office found the “protect girl’s sports” petitions to be valid in March, a challenge was filed in Maine Superior Court. The court ordered further fact-finding, to be followed by a new determination of validity by the Sec of State by May 26th At a hearing in Augusta yesterday, there was testimony regarding the concerns and irregularities that led to the challenge

Turning Point USA: A Case Study of the Hard Right in 2024, Southern Poverty Law Center, Rachael Fugardi, May 22, 2025
Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 5/12/26: “Yes to Greater Public Safety”

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.