Talk of the Towns 2/11/11

Producer/Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne

Topic: Looking Ahead: Municipal concerns for Maine’s Legislative Agenda

What is the Maine Municipal Association (MMA)’s history and its role in creating a legislative agenda with the help of its Legislative Policy Committee? Given the make up of this legislature and the election of Governor LePage, what do you see as your most important opportunities and challenges over the next two years? In general, what strategies have proven effective in helping legislators understand municipal concerns? What are your hopes for the relationship between municipal and state government, in this session and going forward?

Guests:
Geoff Herman, Director of State and Federal Relations, Maine Municipal Association; Michelle Beal, City Manager, Ellsworth;
Gary Fortier, Ellsworth City Council Member; Jim Schatz, Selectman, Town of Blue Hill

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RadioActive 2/10/11

Producers: Carolyn Coe and Lindsey Saunders
Host: Amy Browne

Topic: Santurban mine, a proposed gold and silver mine in Colombia

Report highlights the uniqueness and importance of the paramo of Santurban, resistance to Greystar Resources application for an environmental license to extract mineral resources from the area, and community perceptions of the short and long-term effects of a large-scale mining project in the region.

Featured speakers:
Tatiana Rodriguez Maldonado of Friends of the Earth Colombia
Deputy Roberto Schmalbach, president of the department (state)-level assembly of Santander
Andres Fabian Ita, student at the Industrial University of Santander and a member of the ecological collective La Nawal
along with people interviewed at a bus station in Bucaramanga, Colombia

Report by Carolyn Coe and Lindsey Saunders

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