Around Town 9/5/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

PAWS Animal Adoption Center Hosts Annual Maine Wienerfest on Sunday, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Steamboat Landing in Belfast.
The Town of Deer Isle Committee for Community and Economic Development will host two events to gather input from residents and interested parties about the future of the village area
Indivisible Bangor & MoveOn issued a “Save the Date” alert this week for the next nationwide No Kings! protest on October 18th

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

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

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Climate & Community 9/4/25: Hallowell Climate Action with Hilary Neckles (Part 2)

Host: Wilson Haims

Description: Climate and Community continues the conversation with Hilary Neckles, the leader of Hallowell Climate Action. In this segment, we learn about how Hallowell Climate Action supports their town’s climate and sustainability goals, while helping other communities get started on their own projects and initiatives. Hallowell Climate Action’s approach recognizes that the success of the climate movement relies on the involvement of all of our communities!

About the Host:
Wilson Haims is from Portland, Maine and earned her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College in 2023. Upon graduating, Wilson contributed to climate and conservation-related field work, policy and community engagement work in New England and the Pacific Northwest. Now, Wilson is the Manager of Community Engagement and Resilience at A Climate to Thrive and spends her time hiking, running, making art and cooking on Mount Desert Island.
 
Johannah, Beth, Wilson, Gus, Alison and Angie are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Around Town 9/4/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Checking in with Chrissy Fowler of Belfast Flying Shoes – they have a very busy month of events and we’re all invited!

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Around Town 9/3/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Jennifer Traub from Native Gardens of Blue Hill drops by to invite you to their 2025 Fall Native Plant Sale coming up on Saturday, September 6th, 9 am-12pm, NGBH Gardens at Bagaduce Music, 49 South St, Blue Hill

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Around Town 9/2/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Some local Labor Day events (recap)

Lisa Ladd, Director at Buck Memorial Library and Vanessa Newman from Bucksport Bay Healthy Communities Coalition are with us today to invite listeners to the Tell Your Story book launch party at Bucksport Trading Post on Saturday, 9/6, 1:00 – 4:00pm The book is a community effort they describe as a “living time capsule”

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Around Town 9/1/25: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Some local Labor Day events (recap)

Indivisible Bangor: Workers Over Billionaires Rally
10 – 11:30am West Market Square. “In solidarity with the AFL-CIO, and all labor movements, Indivisible Bangor invites you to join them in collective action to demand an economy, country, and government that serves the needs of everyday people, not billionaires at a Workers Over Billionaires rally on Labor Day as we take back OUR day and show the big corporations who we are and how we fight.”

Eastern Maine Labor Council, AFL-CIO & Food AND Medicine’s 22nd Annual Labor Day Celebration in Brewer.

The Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here with Bernie Sanders tour stops in Portland on Labor Day with Special Guests Troy Jackson and Graham Platner
FMI and to register

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download