Archives for Specials

WERU News Special Report 5/26/11

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Continuing our coverage of yesterday’s work session on LD 1534, “An Act To Reform the Land Use and Planning Authority in the Unorganized Territories” which eliminates the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, effective July 15, 2012. This bill as it is currently worded also establishes a “Land Use Planning in the Unorganized Territory Transition Advisory Board” to advise the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry on matters relating to the transfer of authority over land use planning in the unorganized territory to the counties in which the land is located. The board is required to render its advice to the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry by December 2, 2011. The board is dissolved July 15, 2012. At that point the counties would presumably take over the responsibilities now handled by LURC, though many at the public hearing expressed serious concerns about their ability to do so.
The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC or the Commission) was created by the Maine Legislature in 1971 to serve as the planning and zoning authority for the state’s townships, plantations and unorganized areas. LURC’s jurisdiction stretches over half the state, encompassing more than 10.4 million acres and the largest contiguous undeveloped area in the Northeast.

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WERU Special 4/25/11

Producer/Host: Meaghan LaSala

Topics:

Segment1: Interview with Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, about their art collaborations, upcoming performances in Maine, sex positivity, and their role in creating the ecosexual movement. What is sex positivity? What does it mean to be ecosexual? FMI: www.loveartlab.org/

Segment 2: Audio from a panel “Journalism and Democacy: Rebuilding Media for Our Communities,” from the National Conference for Media Reform. Is journalism finding new models in the age of the internet, as newspapers continue to fold? Is American journalism supporting democracy? NCMR website (for the full panel and more audio from the conference):
conference.freepress.net/

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WERU Special: Old Town Dump 2/21/11

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Contributor: Meaghan LaSala

A recorded panel discussion, “LIVING DOWNSTREAM: THE OLD TOWN DUMP AND UNIVERSITY OF MAINE” –one of the discussions in Spring 2011 Socialist and Marxist Studies Lecture Series at the University of Maine. It was recorded Feb. 3rd, 2011, and has been edited for length.

The panel members were John Banks of the Juniper Ridge Landfill Advisory Committee and Director of the Natural Resources Department, Penobscot Nation; Paul Schroeder, Orono resident and member of Trash Trackers Network; Old Town resident Ed Spencer, and Panel Chair: Darren Ranco, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Coordinator of Native American Research

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