Archives for Misc (News/Public Affairs)

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Audio recorded by: Matt Murphy

A conversation about our health care system with Dr. Phil Caper of Maine AllCare advocating for universal health care, and Matt Gagnon of The Maine Heritage Policy Center promoting free market alternatives. The discussion, taped Monday, October 14 in a small gathering above Old Professor’s Bookshop in Belfast, provides background for listeners who might have a heightened interest based on the upcoming 2020 political season.

Moderator for the talk, Jim Campbell (host of “Notes from the Electronic Cottage” on WERU-FM), began by asking the speakers to define what they meant by universal health care. While both agreed in theory to the idea of covering as many people as possible, Mr. Gagnon believed calling it a human right oversimplified the question. “Health care is a fixed resource. Every question of care comes down to: how can you serve the most people?”

Dr. Caper countered with his belief that every single person should be covered, that the US is the only wealthy country in the world without universal health care. “Other countries spend half of what we do on health care, and even with all that we spend, our life expectancy keeps dropping. Are they smarter? What are the barriers to reform?” he asked, citing money in politics as a major problem.

The two speakers saw different scenarios of what would result from the State of Maine adopting universal health care, with Mr. Gagnon fearing that people would leave the state in droves because of higher taxes. He cited Vermont as a state that worked hard to create a system for universal health care, characterizing their downfall due to businesses threatening to move away because of higher government costs, necessitating higher taxes.

Dr. Caper said Maine would attract new people by making health care premiums and co-pays disappear. Detaching employment from health care would encourage young entrepreneurs, freeing up economic growth as people become free to leave unsatisfying jobs. “We don’t need better insurance,” he said. “We need something better than insurance. Making money should not be the primary goal to health care.”

Both speakers agreed that the current system is a nightmare and that something needs to be done to clear away the inefficiencies, with Mr. Gagnon certain that nothing would happen in the short run and Dr. Caper arguing for phasing in a plan over a predetermined period of time.

For more information on Maine AllCare, contact Abbie Ryder, [email protected]. To reach The Maine Heritage Policy Center, contact Nick Murray, [email protected].

NOTE: The presentation lasted more than an hour. The unedited, full version is also available below. At about 4 minutes into the recording there is a brief gap due to a technical issue.

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Producer/Host: Tressa Versteeg

Explaining The Village Canoe
Stories from the inaugural expedition
Behind the scenes interview with creator

Guests:
Chris Battalgia — The Village Canoe Creator
Nancy Zane — Maine Guide of North Star Adventures
Sam Costello — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident
Chloe Dubois — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident
Alex Hacket — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident
Amanda Kidd-Schall — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident
Matea Mills-Andruk — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident
Paige Speight — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident
Brian Wasster — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident
Ally Reed — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident
Gabby Schulz — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident
Willow Wildheart — The Village Canoe 2019 Art Resident

Music Credits:
• Podington Bear – Platformer – licensed under Attribution-Noncomercial Creative Commons License
• Lee Rosevere – We’ll Figure It Out Together – licensed under Attribution license
• Kai Engel – Headway – licensed under Attribution license.
• aAirial – Quatrain – licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License
• Lobo Loco – Psychedelic Blues 2 – licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0

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Shaw Institute Environmental Speaker Series: Margaret Mulholland, Oceanographer on “Measuring The Muck: Water Quality, Coastal Flooding and Sea Level Rise”, July 31, 2019 at the Shaw Institute in Blue Hill, Maine

Recorded by: Matt Murphy
Production assistance: Amy Browne

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Producer/Host: Joel Mann

Students from the Adams School in Castine talk about their work to save right whales, and a benefit for a trip to Barcelona to share their work

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Producer/Host: Matt Murphy
Production Assistance: Amy Browne

Today’s special features Martha White speaking about a new collection of her grandfather, E.B. White’s writings. “On Democracy” is a collection of essays, letters and poems intended to “shed historical context on the state of the nation and offer of hope for the future of our society”.

Martha White lives on the coast of Maine. A longtime contributing editor to Yankee Publishing and The Old Farmer’s Almanac, she also compiled two weekly columns for United Feature Syndicate for many years. Her articles, book reviews, short stories, and essays have been published in The New York Times; The Boston Globe; Christian Science Monitor, etc., and numerous other national magazines and small presses. She edited this collection of her grandfather’s work.

We start with a talk by Martha White, recorded at the Blue Hill Library on July 17th, followed by a chat with her, recorded a few days later

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On Women’s Windows on July 28, 2019, program host Linda Washburn welcomed Amy Grant, whose one-woman show, “Less Linear,” premiers at David’s Folly Farm in Brooksville on July 30 and 31. Joining them in the studio for the interview was student intern Cora Hutchins.

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