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

Around Town 4/13/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Equality Maine is looking for volunteers to help with Pride and other events across the state, and has launched a Pride 2026 Guide

The American Civil Liberties Union and Indivisible are offering a virtual Train-the-Trainer event on Immigrants’ Rights, next Monday, April 20th.

The Wabanaki Alliance and Penobscot Nation‘s 2026 US Senate Candidates forum will be held at the Indian Island School on Thursday. Doors will open at 5:30 and the event starts at 6pm

This will be the second of three candidate forums to be organized by the Wabanaki Alliance. A forum for gubernatorial candidates was held March 19 before a crowd of more than 150 people. Plans for a forum for US House candidates for the second Congressional district will be announced soon

From the City of Bangor and Maine Department of Transportation:
The Maine Department of Transportation is beginning preliminary work this month on two separate bridge replacement projects along Interstate 95 in Bangor.
The early work on the I-95 bridges over Stillwater Avenue and the Hogan Road bridge over I-95 coincide with other MaineDOT interstate bridge work in the City: the ongoing construction of the northbound and southbound bridges over Broadway, which is scheduled to conclude in spring 2027, and the replacement of the Kenduskeag Avenue bridge over I-95. The two, aging interstate bridges that extend over Stillwater will be replaced with a single span. A median cross-over utilizing the new northbound alignment will be put in place to maintain through-traffic during construction, according to MaineDOT. While some traffic delays will be necessary as the bridge supports are put in place, no extended detours are anticipated. There will be periodic closures of Stillwater Avenue and Exit 186 ramps requiring detours. Access to businesses and the pedestrian path will be maintained at all times. There will be nighttime I-95 lane closures the week of April 13 to accommodate the start of this work. Starting on Monday, April 13, the southbound passing lane will be closed from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The same lane will be closed on consecutive nights, with the closure scheduled to conclude at 7 a.m. Thursday, April 16. The construction is expected to last about two years.

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

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Nature Notes: A Maine Naturalist Afield 4/12/26: A Conversation with Seaweed Biologist Amanda Savoie, Part 2

Host/Producer: Glen Mittelhauser

Research scientist Amanda Savoie describes how new surveys are revealing more Arctic seaweed diversity than previously assumed, even in regions once thought to lack suitable substrate. She reflects on the cultural importance of kelp in northern communities, the ecological role of seaweeds as primary producers and habitat-formers, and why documenting coastal biodiversity is critical as warming oceans reshape kelp forests in places like the Gulf of Maine.

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 sciences and received his Master of Science degree in Zoology (with a focus on ornithology and statistics) from the University of Maine in 2000. Glen was the Managing Editor for Northeastern Naturalist and Southeastern Naturalist for 18 years and has served as external graduate faculty for 3 graduate student committees at the University of Maine.  Glen currently serves on the Baxter State Park Research Committee.

Logan Parker is an Ecologist residing in Waldo County, Maine. Logan started the Maine Nightjar Monitoring Project in 2017 and brought the project (and his passion for bird conservation) to MNHO when he joined the team in 2018. Logan is heavily involved in the ongoing Maine Bird Atlas where he both coordinates and participates in the project’s special species surveys. When “off the clock”, Logan enjoys birding, writing, gardening, and working alongside his wife, Hallee, on their off-grid home in the Maine woods. Logan is also a wildlife photographer and shares photos and field notes through his project, Here In The Wild.

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What’s the Word on Maine Street? 4/11/26

What’s the Word on Maine Street?, hosted by Sarah Pebworth, is a weekly short feature Saturdays at 9:30am looking at local literary and visual arts events and offerings!

About the host:
Sarah Pebworth leads the steering committee for Word—a Blue Hill Literary Arts Festival, founded in 2017 and held each October. She serves on the boards of the Cultural Alliance of Maine and Lawrence Family Fitness Center YMCA. Since February 2023 Sarah has written “Shared Seas and Common Grounds,” a column published in the Penobscot Bay Press’s Weekly Packet. She and her wife Julie Jo Fehrle live in Blue Hill.

Theme music: Ross Gallagher is a bassist who grew up in East Blue Hill, ME, and currently lives between Bath, ME and Brooklyn, NY, where he works with a wide variety of musical artists. Infinite Blues is a cut from his recently released neon night, an excursion into an ambient/electronic musical world built around rhythmic bass ostinatos, clouds of processed looping electronic atmospheres, and melody. By turns both subtle and unapologetically noisy, the songs are a collection of luminous constellations, roved between by a band of texturally minded instrumental improvisers.

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Earthwise 4/11/26: April Showers

Producer/Host: Anu Dudley

About the host: Rev. Dr. Anu Dudley is an ordained Pagan minister and a retired history professor. She continues to teach classes, including the three-year ordination curriculum at the Temple of the Feminine Divine, and others such as History of the Goddess, Paganism 101, Ethical Magic, and Introduction to the Runes. Currently she is writing a book about how to cast the runes using their original Goddess meanings. She lives in the woods off-grid in a small homesteading community in Central Maine.

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Let’s Talk About It 4/10/26: Survivors Share experiences with the medical community

Producer/Host: Patrisha McLean
Production Assistance: Tammy Oropesa
Music: Jackie Lee McLean

Let’s Talk About It: Conversations with Survivors of Domestic Abuse

This month: Six survivors talk about what medical providers got right and what they got wrong in treatment for their domestic abuse injuries and trauma.

Topics:

1) The medical community.
2) Physical symptoms of emotional abuse.
3) Why survivors reveal and do not reveal the real cause of their partner-inflicted injuries.

Guests:
Mary Kamradt, Mary Lou Smith, Laudan Ghayebi, Bethany McInnis, Sydney, Amy

About the host:
Patrisha McLean is the founder/president of Finding Our Voices, the grass roots survivor-powered non profit organization breaking the silence of domestic abuse one conversation and community at a time all across Maine.

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