Around Town 4/9/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

A 30 day window opened this week for comments on the draft wording of a citizen initiated referendum question that will be on the ballot in November.
The ballot question, as drafted, reads: “Do you want to change civil rights and education laws to require public schools to restrict access to bathrooms and sports based on the gender on the child’s original birth certificate and allow students to sue the schools?”
Maine law requires Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to present each proposed legislation “concisely and intelligibly” as a ballot question.
The Secretary will be accepting public comments regarding the question’s form and content until 5 p.m. on May 7. All comments will be reviewed and considered before the ballot question is finalized. Public comment form
Comments can also be made by emailing [email protected] and using subject line “Public Comment – Referendum Question”, or by mail to the Secretary of State, Attn: Public Comment, 148 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0148

Beth C Wright Cancer Resource Center is starting a monthly craft night, starting tonight, and then meeting on second Thursday of every month from 6pm to 8pm in Ellsworth
More information and registration here , or by calling 207-664-0339 or emailing [email protected]

The Good Life Center, the nationally recognized historic homestead of back to the land icons Helen and Scott Nearing, will host its annual apple tree pruning workshop on Saturday, April 11th from 10am to 12pm. Arborist, organic farmer, and Blue Hill Tree Warden Phil Norris will lead the workshop. The workshop will focus on selecting the best tools and best practices for healthy tree growth, promoting optimal harvest results, and safe pruning techniques. All levels of experience and expertise are welcome. Bring pruning tools and dress for the weather. Admission is free. For directions and information: goodlife.org or call 374-5386

Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust invites the public to join them for a night of Stargazing In The Wildlands with Astronomer and Director of the Jordan Planetarium at UMaine, Shawn Laatsch. The group will meetup at the South Trailhead in Orland, Saturday night at 8. The event is free though donations are accepted. RSVP is required if you would like to attend. You can do that at greatpondtrust.org

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

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Talk of the Towns 4/8/26: The Trees of Acadia– the overstory of a new book by Catherine Schmidt

Producer/Hosts: Ron Beard and Liz Graves
College of the Atlantic provides help with production. Engineering by Joel Mann of WERU Community Radio.
Theme music for Talk of the Towns Theme is a medley from Coronach, on a Balnain House Highland Music recording.

Talk of the Towns: Local Community concerns and opportunities

This month:
What are some of the important tree species that make up the woodland of the eastern-most national park?
What records were important to telling the story of Acadia’s trees?
What have been some of the dynamic forces shaping Acadias past and present forests?
What are researchers discovering that will help natural resource managers in Acadia National Park cope with insect pests and changes in climate which affect present and future forests?
How will reading this book make any walk in the woods more enjoyable!

Guest/s:
Catherine Schmidt, author of Trees of Acadia, science communicator, Schoodic Institute.
Nick Fisichelli, President, Schoodic Institute.
Caroline Kanaski, forest ecologist, assistant professor of forestry, University of Maine Fort Kent.

FMI:
Catherine Schmidt’s website: catherineschmitt.com/
Schoodic Institute: schoodicinstitute.org
Downeast Books : www.globepequot.com/imprint/down-east-books/

About the hosts:

Ron Beard is producer and host of Talk of the Towns, which first aired on WERU in 1993 as part of his community building work as an Extension professor with University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant. He took all the journalism courses he could fit in while an undergraduate student in wildlife management and served as an intern with Maine Public Television nightly newscast in the early 1970s. Ron is an adjunct faculty member at College of the Atlantic, teaching courses on community development. Ron served on the Bar Harbor Town Council for six years and is currently board chair for the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, where he has lived since 1975. Look for him on the Allagash River in June, and whenever he can get away, in the highlands of Scotland where he was fortunate to spend two sabbaticals.

Liz Graves joined Talk of the Towns as co-producer and co-host in July 2022, having long admired public affairs programming on WERU and dreamed of getting involved in community radio. She works as the Town Clerk for the Town of Bar Harbor, and is a former editor of the Mount Desert Islander weekly newspaper. Liz grew up in California and came to Maine as a schooner sailor.

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World Ocean Radio 4/8/26: Lobstering and Aquaculture in Maine–Where is the Plan?

Host: Peter Neill
Producer: Trisha Badger

ABOUT THIS EPISODE
This episode will summarize two recent Maine-based conferences dedicated to ocean issues: the first focused on the blue economy–particularly the emerging aquaculture opportunities along the Atlantic coast, and the second an annual gathering of local industry representatives of the lobster industry in Maine. Many forces are affecting the future of both: where is the comprehensive plan for success?

WORLD OCEAN RADIO
5-minute weekly insights dive into ocean science, advocacy and education hosted by Peter Neill, lifelong ocean advocate and maritime expert. A catalog of more than 730 episodes offering perspectives on global ocean issues and solutions, and celebrating exemplary projects. Available for RSS feed and broadcast by college and community radio stations worldwide via Exchange.prx.org and Audioport.org. Visit WorldOceanObservatory.org for the full catalog, searchable by theme.

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Around Town 4/8/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Ann Luther from the League of Women Voters of Maine, and host of the Democracy Forum on WERU (3rd Friday of every month, 4-5pm, and archived here) weighs in on the Maine Supreme Court’s ruling this week on Ranked Choice Voting

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

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Dawnland Signals 4/7/26

Hosts: Nolan Altvater and Nick Bear
Zoom Recording Technician: Scarlett Tudor
Producer: Esther Anne
Original music: Nick Bear

Dawnland Signals highlights indigenous topics not immediately represented in mainstream media and is meant to share, inspire, and inform.

This month:
– Wabanaki cultural economic growth through community-based planning.
– Wabanaki Cultural Tourism Initiative and Fellowship Program.
– Rematriation and Land Return.
– Land Claims Settlement Act’s negative impact on Wabanaki economic growth.
– Self-governance and economic growth.

Guests:

Frances Soctomah is the Collaborative Fund Manager for the Wabanaki Commission on Land and Stewardship and basket maker who belongs to the Peskotomuhkatiyik – the People Who Spear Pollock. Known in English as the Passamaquoddy. The Wolankeyutomone kisi apaciyewik (“Let us take good care of what is returned” Fund) was created to repair, rebuild, and sustain Wabanaki relationship, kinship, and access to place and to directly help Wabanaki people and institutions to fulfill their care-taking responsibilities for the lands and waters of Maine.
www.dawnlandreturn.org
Socials – @wabanakicommision

Matthew Lewis is the executive Director of Four Directions Development Corporation. Matthew is a citizen of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik with comprehensive expertise in non-profit sectors and community development financial institutions. Matthew has over a decade of experience working alongside Municipal, State, Tribal, and Federal Governments, administering revolving loan funds and executing community development projects.
fourdirectionsmaine.org/
Socials –  @fourdirectionsmaine

Nick Francis is the Executive Director of the Wabanaki Community Foundation and is a citizen of Penobscot Nation. The Wabanaki Community Foundation (WCF) is an Indigenous-led organization that exists to build intergenerational wealth and vibrant futures for Wabanaki people and communities. This organization helps to invest in people and communities with direct support with the aim of promoting self-determination in the philanthropic sector.
www.wabanakifoundation.org/

Links:
Wabanaki REACH: www.wabanakireach.org/
Dawnland Signals: www.wabanakireach.org/dawnland_signals

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Outside the Box 4/7/26: “Whose Land?”

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.

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Around Town 4/7/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Around Town 4/6/26: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Friends of Sears Island’s April activities
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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