Election Security Forum in Blue Hill on 5/15/26

May 15th forum on election security. The event, sponsored by the Blue Hill Constitution Committee and WERU Community Radio, was held at the First Congregational Church of Blue Hill.

Moderator: Ann Luther of the League of Women Voters

Panelists:
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows

Cindy Reilly, Sedgwick town clerk from 1995 to 2024

Holly Idelson, Policy Strategist with Protect Democracy, and former Senior Counsel for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Around Town 5/21/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Tonight in Searsport, Friends of Sears Island and Carver Memorial Library will be hosting a presentation by Julia Hiltonsmith titled “Historical Memory of Land Use Proposals at Sears Island”. This program will be held at Carver Memorial Library at 12 Union Street in Searsport, Maine, at 6:30 tonight. It’s free and open to the public. Advance registration is not required.

A few more events coming up on Saturday in honor of World Fish Migration Day. See the archives for Tuesday’s AT for others.

Maine Coast Heritage Trust let us know about 3 more events on Saturday, on the Orange, Narraquaugus and Bagaduce rivers – that will focus on sharing fish passage plans and restoration updates “Two of these rivers are preparing for major 2026 fishway construction projects, and partners will be publicly walking through the plans, renderings, and ecological significance. These are community?driven efforts to reopen habitat for alewives, shad, salmon, eels, and other migratory species.”

Orange River — Whiting
May 23, 9–11 a.m. | MCHT Office, Route 1
A community gathering to share 2026 construction plans for the Orange River Millpond Dam fishway — a key barrier on one of the largest freshwater sources flowing into Cobscook Bay.

Narraguagus River — Cherryfield
May 23, 1–3 p.m. | Below the dam, downtown Cherryfield
Partners will present plans and renderings for a 2026 nature?like fishway to replace a dam that has blocked fish passage for more than 65 years.

Bagaduce River — Penobscot/Brooksville/Sedgwick
May 23, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. | Pierce Pond boat ramp
Part of Alewife Day, celebrating Maine’s first fully restored watershed for fish passage after installation of five nature?like fishways.

FMI re these events – and several others happening around the state- on Maine Coast Heritage Trust’s website

Orland will celebrate Migratory Fish Day on Saturday with a festival celebrating the return of alewives and Blueback herring on the Orland/Narramissic river.
The day will feature viewing of the fish weir, led by Orland Fish Commissioner Peter Robshaw, cheering herring as they migrated up the fish ladder at the Orland dam, speakers in the main tent, a special activity area for kids, booths and snacks. The Festival is free and open to all, Saturday from 10am – 2pm in Orland Village Click here for more information

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

Around Town 5/20/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Hancock County Soil & Water Conservation District is partnering with the Maine Natural Areas Program, UMaine Cooperative Extension and Native Gardens of Blue Hill to cohost the 2026 Invasive Plant Educational Workshop on Tuesday, May 26, 2026 at Emerson Hall in Castine.

Mary Thibodeau, District Manager, Hancock County Soil & Water Conservation District joins us today to let listeners know about this annual series that trains home gardeners and industry professionals to identify invasive plants and manage them across forest, farm, and garden systems. The morning session is indoors, and the afternoon moves into the field for hands-on identification (rain or shine, so dress for the weather).

For more information and to register

Study cited in intro today: Non-native Plants and Animals Expanding Ranges 100 Times Faster than Native Species, Finds New Research Led by UMass Amherst, Annual Reviews of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 2024

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

Relationship Rewind 5/19/26: Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends

Host: Jazz Bradley at NextStep Domestic Violence Project. NextStep 24/7 Helpline: 1(800) 315-5579
Theme Music for the show donated by local musicians Megan Light and Nathan Spears.

Relationship Rewind: Rewinding relationships in popular media and breaking down behaviors based in power, control, and abuse.

This episode:
1. Discussing unhealthy themes in the tv series, “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.”
2. Discussing how media normalizes these themes. 3. Discussing the impacts of these messages about these relationships and people, on young people in real life.

Guest: Local student Will

FMI:
www.nextstepdvproject.org

About the hosts:
Alli Williamson, Carrie Clark, and Jazz Bradley are at NextStep Domestic Violence Project based in Hancock and Washington County, ME. They teach young people from Kindergarten to College about what power and control looks like in friendships and relationships, what resources are available to support those experiencing this, and how we can work to make our schools and communities safer and more equal spaces where abuse may be less likely to happen.

Outside the Box 5/19/26: “Yes to New Art and Culture”

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.

Around Town 5/19/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Today’s Fish News was hosted by Bea Alsop-Cheeney in Milbridge with assistance from youth from the Independent Downeast Association for Homeschoolers. It was produced by Kate Blofson from WRUJ-LP in Richmond VT and made possible with support from Greenhorns and Eat Downeast

Upcoming fish-tivals and fish-tivities:

Fifth Annual Pennamaquan Alewife Festival — Free, family-friendly fun with the fish. Saturday, May 23, 2026, 10am–5pm, 12 Little Falls Road, Pembroke

The For All the Fish conference and concert in Machias on May 31 is organized by the Greenhorns and Downeast Salmon Federation The free concert will feature The Mallett Brothers Band, The Midnight Riders, and The Milk & Honey Rebellion,
May 31, 2026, 4–9pm, Bad Little Falls Park, Machias

More info on upcoming fish/alewife festivals around the state

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

Around Town 5/18/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Berit Becker, Communications and Development Director at the Ellsworth Public Library, is here today to let listeners know about the final event in their Indie Lens series, coming up this weekend: Community Screening of The Grocery List Show

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

A Word in Edgewise 5/18/26: Windblown Ticks, Philip Metres, & Hercules Cluster M13 . . .

Producer/Host: R.W. Estela

Hi, I’m RW Estela: Since 1991, I’ve been presenting A Word in Edgewise, WERU’s longest-running short feature, a veritable almanac of worldly and heavenly happenings, a confluence of 21st-century life in its myriad manifestations, international and domestic, cosmopolitan and rural, often revealing, as the French say, the more things change, the more they stay the same — though not always! Sometimes in addressing issues affecting our day-to-day lives, in this age of vagary and ambiguity, when chronological time is punctuated elliptically, things can quickly turn edgy and controversial, as we search for understanding amid our dialectic. Tune in Monday mornings at 7:30 a.m. for an exciting journey through space and time with a few notable birthdays thrown in for good measure during A Word in Edgewise . . .

About the host:
RW Estela was raised as a first-generation American in Colorado by a German mother and a Corsican-Basque father who would become a three-war veteran for the US Army, so RW was naturally a military brat and later engaged in various Vietnam-era civil-service adventures before paying his way through college by skiing for the University of Colorado, playing Boulder coffeehouses, and teaching. He has climbed all of Colorado’s Fourteeners; found work as an FAA-certificated commercial pilot, a California-licensed building contractor, a publishing editor, a practitioner of Aikido, and a college professor of English; among his many interdisciplinary pursuits are the design and building of Terrell Residence Library (recently renamed the Terrell House Permaculture Living & Learning Center at the University of Maine), writing Building It In Two Languages (a bilingual dictionary of construction terminology), aerial photo documentation of two dam removals (Great Works and Veazie) on the Penobscot River, and once a week since 1991 drafting an installment of A Word In Edgewise, his essay series addressing issues affecting our day-to-day lives — and WERU’s oldest continuous short feature. When pandemics do not interfere, he does the Triple Crown of Maine open-water ocean swims (Peaks to Portland, Islesboro Crossing, and Nubble Light Challenge) and the Whitewater Downriver Point Series of the Maine Canoe and Kayak Racing Organization. RW is the father of two and the grandfather of three and lives with his partner Kathleen of 37 years and their two Maine Coons in Orono.