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25 episodes with maine public radio
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2 episodes with maine public radio
2 episodes with maine public radio
2 episodes with maine public radio
2 episodes with maine public radio
2 episodes with maine public radio
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE).In the aftermath of Lewiston, healing and recovery is taking many forms. One shooting location was renovated and reopened. Another has become a nonprofit that serves some of the area's most vulnerable residents. One victim's father now advocates for increased gun control while dozens of others have joined a lawsuit against the federal government. And the shooter's sister has made it her mission to raise awareness about traumatic brain injury among military service members.In our final episode of “Breakdown,” we look at how some have turned their anguish into action.To hear the previous episodes in the series, subscribe to Breakdown: Turning Anguish Into Action on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE).Four members of Maine's deaf community died in Lewiston in October 2023 in what is believed to be the deadliest mass shooting of deaf people in the U.S. The pain of that loss was magnified by the barriers to communication and information deaf survivors and loved ones faced in the immediate aftermath.Episode 5 examines the outsize impact of the Lewiston shooting on those who are deaf and hard of hearing, how the community often feels forgotten and why the tragedy has become a catalyst for equity.To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown: Turning Anguish Into Action on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch.
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE).When a gunman opened fire in a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, last October, he used an autoloading rifle to fire 54 rounds in less than two minutes. Eighteen were killed and 13 wounded.Although nearly half of Maine households owns a firearm, the state is considered one of the safest in the country. Episode 4 examines the history and politics of guns and hunting in Maine, the state's unique “yellow flag” gun laws and its powerful gun lobby, which shaped state officials' response to the Lewiston shootings.To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch.
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE).How did leaders of the Army Reserve respond to the many, clear warning signs about the Lewiston shooter, a part-time soldier who was in a dangerous, downward spiral? And why didn't they take further action?The Army has acknowledged some failures but also cast blame elsewhere. In Episode 3, we look at questionable medical decisions, missed communication and lack of follow up by the Army.Finally, we'll learn why the shooter's family believes the military could do more to prevent brain injuries in troops.To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch.
The FRONTLINE Dispatch presents: Breakdown (from Maine Public Radio, The Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE).Months before the mass shooting in Lewiston that claimed 18 lives, the gunman's family and friends were desperately trying to get him help.His mental health was deteriorating. He was experiencing auditory delusions. And there were multiple warnings about his potential for violence, his access to guns and his threats to do harm.Six weeks before the attacks, his best friend warned the Army Reserve that he might snap and commit a mass shooting.Episode 2 begins a two-part examination into the numerous opportunities for intervention that could have changed everything.To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch.
“Mass shooting.” Two words heard all too often in the United States.There were 656 mass shootings in the U.S in 2023. The one in Lewiston, Maine on October 25, 2023 was the year's deadliest — and it may have also been the most preventable.For the last year, the newsroom at Maine Public Radio has been on the ground investigating, combing through documents, listening to testimony and interviewing dozens of people.Over six episodes, Breakdown explores the missed opportunities to prevent the shooting, the role of guns and hunting in Maine's politics, and the aftermath for shooting victims, some of whom were deaf and hard of hearing.Breakdown is a new podcast series from Maine Public Radio, the Portland Press Herald, and FRONTLINE.To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to Breakdown on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or stay tuned for more episodes on The FRONTLINE Dispatch.
The effects of Agent Orange spraying at CFB Gagetown in the 1970s continue to be felt not only in Canada, but south of the border as well. Vanessa Vander Valk spoke with Maine Public Radio's Carol Bousquet about a state commission looking at Maine veterans who may have been exposed.
About tattoos, great books, and the dark side of the subjunctive. Phuc Tran is the author of "Sigh, Gone: A Misfit's Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In," published by Flatiron Books in 2020. "Sigh, Gone" received the New England Book Award and the Maine Literary Award, and it was also named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon. Phuc received a bachelor's degree from Bard College and a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and he spent more than 20 years as a high school Latin teacher. In addition to his work as a classicist, writer, teacher, and tattoo artist, Phuc is known for his popular TEDx presentation entitled “Grammar, Identity, and the Dark Side of the Subjunctive.” A resident of Portland, Maine, he is also an occasional contributor to Maine Public Radio. Recorded in November of 2023. Quintilian is supported by a Bridge Initiative Grant from the Committee for the Promotion of Latin and Greek, a division of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South. Music: "Echo Canyon Instrumental" by Clive Romney Comments or questions about this podcast may be directed to ryangsellers@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying Quintilian, please leave us a rating and/or a review on your favorite podcast distribution platform.
People with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM fields, and all too often, they face isolation and ableism in academia. In this week's episode, two stories from the recently published book Uncharted: How Scientists Navigate Their Own Health, Research, and Experiences of Bias, have been adapted for the podcast. Both of our storytellers showcase how they, as scientists with disabilities, navigate their careers. Part 1: When Skylar Bayer's heart condition sidelines her from doing her dive research, she struggles with not feeling worthy enough as a scientist. This story was originally produced by SoundBites and aired on Maine Public Radio in 2019. Part 2: When Mpho Kgoadi loses feelings in his legs as a child, he worries he won't be able to achieve his dreams. Skylar Bayer is a marine biologist, a storyteller, and a science communicator. She completed her Ph.D. in the secret sex lives of scallops, a subject that landed her on The Colbert Report in 2013. Since then she has dabbled in a diversity of science communication activities, all of which you can read about on her website (skylarbayer.wordpress.com). She's an alum of the D.C.-based Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program. She is the co-editor with fellow MIT alum, Gabi Serrato Marks, of the book Uncharted: how scientists navigate health, research, and bias. When there isn't a pandemic going on, she also enjoys Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the gentle art. Follow her on Twitter @drsrbayer. Mpho Kgoadi is a PhD student at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. He has a rare auto-immune disease called Transverse Myelitis and has been using a wheelchair for the past 15 years. He has always been fascinated by the mysteries of the cosmos, and his research focuses on the effect of dark matter in the early universe. Outside of his research, he is passionate about science outreach and making scientific knowledge accessible to people from diverse backgrounds, he loves coding and have a deep passion for tech. In his free time, he enjoys stargazing, reading science fiction novels, and playing video games. Purchase a copy of Uncharted and read more powerful first-person stories by current and former scientists with disabilities or chronic conditions. Books can be purchased here: uncharted.ck.page Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Our guest this month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs is Stuart Kestenbaum, arts innovator and poet.STUART KESTENBAUM is the author of six collections of poems, most recently Things Seem to Be Breaking (Deerbrook Editions 2021), and a collection of essays The View from Here (Brynmorgen Press). He was the host of the Maine Public Radio program Poems from Here and was the host/curator of the podcast Make/Time. He was the director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts from 1988 until 2015. More recently, working with the Libra Foundation, he has designed and implemented a residency program for artists and writers called Monson Arts. Stuart Kestenbaum has written and spoken widely on craft making and creativity, and his poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines. He served as Maine's poet laureate from 2016-2021. CONVERSATIONS FROM THE POINTED FIRS is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life.Learn more at pointedfirs.org
WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives
Host:Peter Neill Producer: Trisha Badger Music by Casey Neill Conversations from the Pointed Firs is a monthly audio series with Maine-connected authors and artists discussing new books and creative projects that invoke the spirit of Maine, its history, its ecology, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. This month: Our guest this month on Conversations from the Pointed Firs is Stuart Kestenbaum, arts innovator and poet. Guest/s: STUART KESTENBAUM is the author of six collections of poems, most recently Things Seem to Be Breaking (Deerbrook Editions 2021), and a collection of essays The View from Here (Brynmorgen Press). He was the host of the Maine Public Radio program Poems from Here and was the host/curator of the podcast Make/Time. He was the director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts from 1988 until 2015. More recently, working with the Libra Foundation, he has designed and implemented a residency program for artists and writers called Monson Arts. Stuart Kestenbaum has written and spoken widely on craft making and creativity, and his poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines. He served as Maine's poet laureate from 2016-2021. About the host: Peter Neill is founder and director of the World Ocean Observatory, a web-based place of exchange for information and educational services about the health of the ocean. In 1972, he founded Leete's Island Books, a small publishing house specializing in literary reprints, the essay, photography, the environment, and profiles of indigenous healers and practitioners of complimentary medicine around the world. He holds a profound interest in Maine, its history, its people, its culture, and its contribution to community and quality of life. The post Conversations from the Pointed Firs 12/2/22: Stuart Kestenbaum first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.
ASTHO CEO Michael Fraser reflects on last week's White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health; Dr. Nirav Shah, ASTHO Immediate Past President and Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, makes a seasonal vaccine pitch during a recent appearance on a Maine Public Radio call-in show; Jessica Frain, a school mental health consultant with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, explains how Wisconsin education and public health officials are working together to give frontline staff the tools and training to better serve students dealing with mental health challenges; and ASTHO's Public Health Weekly newsletter is a great resource for everything going on in public health. White House Webpage: Biden-Harris Administration National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health Maine Public Radio Webpage: Maine CDC director Nirav Shah addresses the state of the pandemic, boosters, flu and more Wisconsin Department of Health Services Webpage: Resilient Wisconsin ASTHO Webpage: Be in the Know
Chip Haynes is an artist, writer, juggler and cyclist living in Clearwater, Florida; but most importantly, he is the devoted husband of the lovely JoAnn. Born in 1951 in Portsmouth, Ohio (a great place to be from), Chip grew up in a suitcase. (His father was in the Army.) The family settled in Clearwater in 1969, and Chip has been increasingly reluctant to leave the county, let alone the state. He likes it here. Knowing that it takes ten years of hard work to be an overnight sensation, Chip wrote over 1200 articles on bicycling and global resources for Mason St. Clair's Wire Donkey bicycling newsletter out of Nashville, Tennessee before his first two books, "The Practical Cyclist" and "Wearing Smaller Shoes", were released in 2009 by New Society Publishers of British Columbia, Canada. In that same period, two works on global oil, "Ghawar is Dying" (2001) and "60 Days Next Year" (2004) were published on line by The New Colonist (www.newcolonist.com), a web site devoted to urban issues and resources. "60 Days Next Year" also became a radio program for the State of Maine Public Radio in the summer of 2004.After studying the global oil situation for over a dozen years, Chip and JoAnn live in a modest home in suburbia, using far less resources than the average home, and recycling much of what they do use. Chip rides his bicycle a lot, and they both walk to the store. While no one can be truly ready for the oil crisis many predict we will face, Chip would like to delude himself into thinking he's got a handle on it. Only time will tell. Well, that and maybe a sequel to "Peak of the Devil". Stay tuned."Peak of the Devil" is the culmination of many years of reading far too much on the subject of global oil and the impending energy crisis that few see coming. The lack of media and public attention on the subject of peak oil has long been something of an inside joke among those that do study the issue, and Chip hopes to garner a bit of attention to the subject with his book. Stranger things have happened. In the meantime, Chip and JoAnn will continue to live in paradise on Florida's west coast, and Chip's long-standing parting words take on all new urgency as oil (and the lack thereof) makes the news: Keep your bike tires pumped. - www.peakofthedevil.com******************************************************************To listen to all our XZBN shows, with our compliments go to: https://www.spreaker.com/user/xzoneradiotv*** AND NOW ***The ‘X' Zone TV Channel on SimulTV - www.simultv.comThe ‘X' Chronicles Newspaper - www.xchroniclesnewspaper.com ******************************************************************
As many regions of the United States endure the extreme effects of climate change, some scientists believe interior Maine could be a refuge. Maine Public Radio's Fred Bever reports. And, the Muscogee Creek Nation was forced by the government to leave Georgia two centuries ago. But a new move by the Biden administration will give them a say in the management of the Okefenokee Swamp, a part of the tribe's ancestral history. WABE's Molly Samuel reports.
Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato is a professional concert sound engineer who has worked for some of the most recognizable names in music for almost three decades. Starting with her first tour with the band Spin Doctors in 1992, Michelle has been touring the world as an independent engineer, mixing for a diverse slate of artists and musicians including Janet Jackson, Indigo Girls, Jewel, Gwen Stefani, Ke$ha, Mr. Big, Adam Lambert, Melissa Etheridge, Goo Goo Dolls, Styx, Elvis Costello and more. In 2013, she co-founded SoundGirls to create a supportive community for women working in professional audio. In 2015, Michelle was inducted into Full Sail University's Hall of Fame. Most recently, Michelle launched Mixing Music Live, online course designed for students aspiring to learn about Live Sound and Mixing. More about Michelle: https://soundgirls.org/its-about-the-music-michelle-sabolchick-pettinato/ mixingmusiclive.com Caroline Losneck is an independent documentarian, filmmaker, radio producer, and installation artist in Maine. Her radio work has been featured on NPR, Marketplace, BBC, Maine Public Radio, podcasts, and immersive installations. Her documentary film work has been featured in the New York Times, Camden Film International Film Festival, and museums and festivals around the country. She has received Maine Arts Commission, Warhol Foundation, and other grants for her documentary film, storytelling, and immersive installation work. More about Caroline https://www.carolinelosneck.com/ Watch the rest of the episode here: https://youtu.be/n4RmElb220E?t=1827 Soundgirls.Org
Michele Kriegman born Suzanne Gilbert is a storyteller by nature but she was missing her own backstory well into adulthood. Finding her birth-father helped complete it. She worked for many years in U.S. and Japanese journalism, including ABC News, iVillage.com, Lilith, Maine Public Radio, NYT Nippon TV's morning show, . More recent journalism has been for cybersecurity publications such as Info Security Professional. Michele is an adoptee who searched successfully for her birth-father in New York before the state opened its records. She reclaimed her birth-name, Suzanne Gilbert, to write the novel, Tapioca Fire, that is the prequel to The Birth-Fathers' Club. She teaches writing workshops for adoptees and donor-conceived people finding their #ownvoices. She speaks on panels for social workers, adoptive families, and intentional parents about birthright issues. Her approach, though well-researched, isn't academic or clinical; she's been an in-the-trenches adoptive stepmom too. Most recently, a DNA test kit that came as a Chrismukkah present, revealed a sister! Their shared birth-father, and his complex effort at redemption later in life, inspired the story in one of the novellas. Music by Corey Quinn
Thriving Adoptees - Inspiration For Adoptive Parents & Adoptees
Michele Kriegman is a storyteller by nature but she was missing her own backstory well into adulthood. Finding her birth-father helped complete it. During this session of the U.S. Supreme Court the focus of many of her public talks will be the Indian Child Welfare Act, a new battlefield in the culture wars, which played a pivotal role in her own story.She worked for many years in U.S. and Japanese journalism, including ABC News, iVillage.com, Lilith, Maine Public Radio, Nippon TV's morning show, parenting magazines, Tokyo Broadcasting, and TV Asahi. More recent journalism has been for cybersecurity publications such as Info Security Professional.Michele Kriegman is an adoptee who searched successfully for her birth-father in New York before the state opened its records. She reclaimed her birth-name, Suzanne Gilbert, to write the novel, Tapioca Fire, that is the prequel to The Birth-Fathers' Club. She teaches writing workshops for adoptees and donor-conceived people finding their #ownvoices. She speaks on panels for social workers, adoptive families, and intentional parents about heritage equality. Her approach, though well-researched, isn't academic or clinical; she's been an in-the-trenches adoptive stepmom too.Most recently, a DNA test kit that came as a Chrismukkah present, revealed a sister! Their shared birth-father, and his complex effort at redemption later in life, inspired the story in one of the novellas.Connect with her athttps://www.facebook.com/michele.kriegmanhttps://twitter.com/ReunionLand1) Rock Memoir:Book 1 of The Birth-Fathers' Club SeriesFrom Amazon UK/Ireland: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895From Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3olbMpPFrom Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895From Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895From Independent Bookshop US: https://bookshop.org/a/78945/97817379477072) From a Desert City by the Sea:Book 2 of the Birth-Fathers' Club SeriesFrom Amazon UK/Ireland: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895From Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3Hk6vHJFrom Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895From Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Michele-Kriegman/e/B09HSPD895From Independent Bookshop US: https://bookshop.org/a/78945/9781737947714
A Spike In Winter COVID Cases Begins The United States reached a grim milestone this week: 800,000 total deaths from COVID-19. A winter spike in COVID cases is beginning across the country. And Omicron is making up an increasing share of new cases. Early data shows that the new variant is likely more transmissible than previous ones. Joining guest host John Dankosky to discuss this and other science news this week is Rachel Feltman, Executive Editor of Popular Science and host of the podcast, The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. They also discuss cracks in the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica and a new species of millipede with 1,036 legs. The Webb Telescope Is Counting Down To Liftoff If current plans hold, the James Webb Space Telescope may launch from French Guiana late next week, no earlier than December 24. After the launch, the telescope must travel for over a month and a million miles to reach its final destination, an orbit at the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point. There, it will try to stay in the same position relative to the Earth and Sun, and position the telescope's heat shield to block out unwanted infrared signals. The mission has been over 20 years in the making. In 1996, astronomers first proposed a next-generation space telescope capable of observing the universe in infrared light, which would be more capable of seeing through dust and gas clouds. The project has been plagued by a series of delays and shifting timelines—but at long last, the telescope is at its launch site, on top of an European Space Agency rocket, and awaiting liftoff. Dr. Amber Straughn, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Deputy Project Scientist for James Webb Space Telescope Science Communications, joins John Dankosky to talk about the upcoming launch and why the new telescope has astronomers excited. Black Protestant Clergy Are Effectively Encouraging Vaccines For many people in or adjacent to the Christian faith, Christmas is one of the only times of year they go to church. But even though attendance has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people in the U.S. still attend church in person or virtually at least once a month. Research from the Pew Research Center has found that some of these regular church attendees are much more likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19, compared to people who only attend a few times a year. The study found that this was the case in historically Black Protestant churches—in large part because clergy members in these churches are much more likely to encourage members to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Joining guest host John Dankosky to talk through this data, and the role historically Black Protestant churches play in public health education, is Greg Smith, associate director of religion research at the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C, and pastor Gil Monrose, leader of the Historic Mount Zion Church of God in Brooklyn, New York. What Is Causing Maine's Puffins To Physically Shrink? The ocean islands off the coast of Maine are home to the Atlantic puffin, a peculiar and charismatic bird. This cold-weather species loves to hang out on rocky shores, chomping down on little fish. But like many species, these puffins are threatened by climate change. Rapid warming in the Gulf of Maine has changed the food available in their habitat, creating a bizarre problem of “micro-puffins”: members of the species 40 to 50% smaller than normal, due to malnutrition. Joining guest host John Dankosky to discuss the long history of oscillating puffin populations, and what's being done to get them back to a healthy size, is Fred Bever, reporter at Maine Public Radio in Portland, Maine.
Our sponsor: Houghton Hornswww.houghtonhorns.comWBHM Websitehttps://wbhm.orgIf you've ever had a question or comment about the station's programming, or were looking for a story from WBHM or NPR, chances are you've spoken with WBHM's Program Director Michael Krall. His job includes overseeing the station's on-air staff and curating the program schedule.You can hear Michael hosting Morning Edition or All Things Considered from time to time, and listen out for his interviews with artists and other interesting people who make their way through Birmingham.Originally from Chappaqua, N.Y., Michael came to WBHM in September of 1998 from WCBU in Peoria, Illinois. A graduate of the University of Maine, he's spent his entire career in public radio working in WKNO in Memphis and WSCL in Salisbury, Maryland, as well as Maine Public Radio.In his free time, Michael enjoys hiking, attending concerts, and playing Scrabble.Support the show (https://thatsnotspit.com/support/)
Parosmia, a long-term COVID-19 symptom, is a disorder that can make food smell and taste rancid. Patty Wight of Maine Public Radio reports on this perplexing condition that has a profound impact on people's lives but few treatment options. And, scientists thought that humans with stone weapons may have caused the disappearance of Ice Age beasts like wooly mammoths. But as Jeff St. Clair of WKSU reports, new research shows that stones were no match for mammoths' hair and hide.
Chip Haynes is an artist, writer, juggler and cyclist living in Clearwater, Florida; but most importantly, he is the devoted husband of the lovely JoAnn. Born in 1951 in Portsmouth, Ohio (a great place to be from), Chip grew up in a suitcase. (His father was in the Army.) The family settled in Clearwater in 1969, and Chip has been increasingly reluctant to leave the county, let alone the state. He likes it here. Knowing that it takes ten years of hard work to be an overnight sensation, Chip wrote over 1200 articles on bicycling and global resources for Mason St. Clair's Wire Donkey bicycling newsletter out of Nashville, Tennessee before his first two books, "The Practical Cyclist" and "Wearing Smaller Shoes", were released in 2009 by New Society Publishers of British Columbia, Canada. In that same period, two works on global oil, "Ghawar is Dying" (2001) and "60 Days Next Year" (2004) were published on line by The New Colonist (www.newcolonist.com), a web site devoted to urban issues and resources. "60 Days Next Year" also became a radio program for the State of Maine Public Radio in the summer of 2004.After studying the global oil situation for over a dozen years, Chip and JoAnn live in a modest home in suburbia, using far less resources than the average home, and recycling much of what they do use. Chip rides his bicycle a lot, and they both walk to the store. While no one can be truly ready for the oil crisis many predict we will face, Chip would like to delude himself into thinking he's got a handle on it. Only time will tell. Well, that and maybe a sequel to "Peak of the Devil". Stay tuned."Peak of the Devil" is the culmination of many years of reading far too much on the subject of global oil and the impending energy crisis that few see coming. The lack of media and public attention on the subject of peak oil has long been something of an inside joke among those that do study the issue, and Chip hopes to garner a bit of attention to the subject with his book. Stranger things have happened. In the meantime, Chip and JoAnn will continue to live in paradise on Florida's west coast, and Chip's long-standing parting words take on all new urgency as oil (and the lack thereof) makes the news: Keep your bike tires pumped. - www.peakofthedevil.com ****************************************************************** To listen to all our XZBN shows, with our compliments go to: https://www.spreaker.com/user/xzoneradiotv *** AND NOW *** The ‘X' Zone TV Channel on SimulTV - www.simultv.com The ‘X' Chronicles Newspaper - www.xchroniclesnewspaper.com ******************************************************************
Chip Haynes is an artist, writer, juggler and cyclist living in Clearwater, Florida; but most importantly, he is the devoted husband of the lovely JoAnn. Born in 1951 in Portsmouth, Ohio (a great place to be from), Chip grew up in a suitcase. (His father was in the Army.) The family settled in Clearwater in 1969, and Chip has been increasingly reluctant to leave the county, let alone the state. He likes it here. Knowing that it takes ten years of hard work to be an overnight sensation, Chip wrote over 1200 articles on bicycling and global resources for Mason St. Clair's Wire Donkey bicycling newsletter out of Nashville, Tennessee before his first two books, "The Practical Cyclist" and "Wearing Smaller Shoes", were released in 2009 by New Society Publishers of British Columbia, Canada. In that same period, two works on global oil, "Ghawar is Dying" (2001) and "60 Days Next Year" (2004) were published on line by The New Colonist (www.newcolonist.com), a web site devoted to urban issues and resources. "60 Days Next Year" also became a radio program for the State of Maine Public Radio in the summer of 2004.After studying the global oil situation for over a dozen years, Chip and JoAnn live in a modest home in suburbia, using far less resources than the average home, and recycling much of what they do use. Chip rides his bicycle a lot, and they both walk to the store. While no one can be truly ready for the oil crisis many predict we will face, Chip would like to delude himself into thinking he's got a handle on it. Only time will tell. Well, that and maybe a sequel to "Peak of the Devil". Stay tuned."Peak of the Devil" is the culmination of many years of reading far too much on the subject of global oil and the impending energy crisis that few see coming. The lack of media and public attention on the subject of peak oil has long been something of an inside joke among those that do study the issue, and Chip hopes to garner a bit of attention to the subject with his book. Stranger things have happened. In the meantime, Chip and JoAnn will continue to live in paradise on Florida's west coast, and Chip's long-standing parting words take on all new urgency as oil (and the lack thereof) makes the news: Keep your bike tires pumped. - www.peakofthedevil.com ****************************************************************** To listen to all our XZBN shows, with our compliments go to: https://www.spreaker.com/user/xzoneradiotv *** AND NOW *** The ‘X' Zone TV Channel on SimulTV - www.simultv.com The ‘X' Chronicles Newspaper - www.xchroniclesnewspaper.com ******************************************************************
Chip Haynes is an artist, writer, juggler and cyclist living in Clearwater, Florida; but most importantly, he is the devoted husband of the lovely JoAnn. Born in 1951 in Portsmouth, Ohio (a great place to be from), Chip grew up in a suitcase. (His father was in the Army.) The family settled in Clearwater in 1969, and Chip has been increasingly reluctant to leave the county, let alone the state. He likes it here. Knowing that it takes ten years of hard work to be an overnight sensation, Chip wrote over 1200 articles on bicycling and global resources for Mason St. Clair's Wire Donkey bicycling newsletter out of Nashville, Tennessee before his first two books, "The Practical Cyclist" and "Wearing Smaller Shoes", were released in 2009 by New Society Publishers of British Columbia, Canada. In that same period, two works on global oil, "Ghawar is Dying" (2001) and "60 Days Next Year" (2004) were published on line by The New Colonist (www.newcolonist.com), a web site devoted to urban issues and resources. "60 Days Next Year" also became a radio program for the State of Maine Public Radio in the summer of 2004.After studying the global oil situation for over a dozen years, Chip and JoAnn live in a modest home in suburbia, using far less resources than the average home, and recycling much of what they do use. Chip rides his bicycle a lot, and they both walk to the store. While no one can be truly ready for the oil crisis many predict we will face, Chip would like to delude himself into thinking he's got a handle on it. Only time will tell. Well, that and maybe a sequel to "Peak of the Devil". Stay tuned."Peak of the Devil" is the culmination of many years of reading far too much on the subject of global oil and the impending energy crisis that few see coming. The lack of media and public attention on the subject of peak oil has long been something of an inside joke among those that do study the issue, and Chip hopes to garner a bit of attention to the subject with his book. Stranger things have happened. In the meantime, Chip and JoAnn will continue to live in paradise on Florida's west coast, and Chip's long-standing parting words take on all new urgency as oil (and the lack thereof) makes the news: Keep your bike tires pumped. - www.peakofthedevil.com******************************************************************To listen to all our XZBN shows, with our compliments go to: https://www.spreaker.com/user/xzoneradiotv*** AND NOW ***The ‘X' Zone TV Channel on SimulTV - www.simultv.comThe ‘X' Chronicles Newspaper - www.xchroniclesnewspaper.com ******************************************************************
Do you think "Fish" when you think of business. You should. Peter Handy has turned his seafood company into a major entrepreneurial venture and has grown the business in the middle of a pandemic. While you might think supplying fish to restaurants would be problematic during the last 18 months, he expanded the business in other areas and has added revenue and staff. About Peter Handy Peter Handy is president & CEO of Bristol Seafood, a processor and distributor known for its uncompromising Maine standards. In addition to his role at Bristol, he serves on the boards of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, Maine Public Radio and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, and the investment committee of the Portland Museum of Art. Before joining Bristol, Peter co-founded BoxMyDorm.com, a national storage and shipping company for college students. In addition, he held financial services roles in New York at JPMorgan and Sanford Bernstein in roles ranging from asset management to institutional trading. Peter is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Chartered Financial Analyst. He lives in Yarmouth, Maine with his wife Jocelyn and three daughters. About Bristol Seafood Bristol Seafood is on a mission to make seafood America's favorite protein. Since its founding in 1992 on the waterfront in Portland, Maine, the company built a nationwide following for its steadfast adherence to its Uncompromising Maine Standards. Bristol was named to the Top 25 Seafood Sustainability & Conservation list, the Top 25 Seafood Product Innovations, and is the first seafood company in the US to earn a Fair Trade certification. The company specializes in dry scallops, wild-caught haddock and cod, and ready to cook Seafood for the retail market under its My Fish Dish brand. See more at www.bristolseafood.com, or contact Iréne Moon VP – Marketing irenem@bristolseafood.com and 207-200-2561. https://thomsinger.com/podcast/bristol-seafood Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For National Poetry Month, Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum speaks with Maine's next generation of poets in this one-hour special.
Today, Debbie has a conversation with Maine’s Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum. Whether or not you're a fan of reading or writing poetry, you won't want to miss this episode. Stuart tells stories in his soothing, often humorous style, including what led him to decide to become a poet and how he fell in love with Maine. They talk about listening to poems read aloud and how that slows time down and creates a moment of community. They also talk about his process of discovery when he is writing poems. The topics they touch on: community and connection, love and loss, grief and creativity are relevant to this pandemic year. Stuart is the author of five collections of poems, most recently Things Seemed to Be Breaking (Deerbrook Editions 2021), and a collection of essays The View from Here (Brynmorgen Press). He was the director of the internationally renowned Haystack Mountain School of Crafts from 1988 until 2015. He was the host of Maine Public Radio’s popular program Poems from Here, where each week he read aloud a poem by a Maine author. He hosted/curated the podcast Make/Time and he is the host/curator of a soon-to-be-released podcast, Voices of the Future, a series of conversations with a dozen young Maine writers about their writing and their lives. This 12-episode podcast is his last project as Maine’s Poet Laureate as his five-year tenure, sadly, is coming to an end in 2021.He also reads two of his poems on this episode, including one of Debbie's favorites, Starting the Subaru at Five Below. As former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser has written: “Stuart Kestenbaum writes the kind of poems I love to read, heartfelt responses to the privilege of having been given a life. No hidden agendas here, no theories to espouse, nothing but life, pure life, set down with craft and love.” See below for links to Stuart’s poetry collections, his podcasts, stage performances and more. He writes and speaks widely on craft-making and creativity. His poems and writing have appeared in numerous small press publications and magazines including Tikkun, The Sun, The Beloit Poetry Journal, The New York Times Magazine, and on the Writer’s Almanac and American Life in Poetry.This was a wonderful conversation. Mentioned in this episode or useful:Stuart Kestenbaum's websitePoems from Here with Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum, his program on Maine Public RadioFor final project, Maine poet laureate puts out podcast featuring young writers by Bob Keyes, Portland Press-Herald, March 7, 2021Words of Gratitude From Maine, New York Times, Nov. 25, 2020Make/Time PodcastStarting the Subaru at Five Below by Stuart KestenbaumAmen, Stuart's poem selected by Naomi Shihab Nye for the New York Times, Jan. 2, 2020Sometime during eternity... by Lawrence FerlinghettiWild Geese by Mary OliverOut of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking by Walt WhitmanProfessor Fred WagnerStuart Kestenbaum's talk at Maine Live about his brother Howard who died in the Twin Towers on 9/11Susan Webster: Stuart’s wife and collaborator on art & writing:Maplewood, NJLong Lake, Naples, MaineCadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, MaineMount Desert, MaineHaystack Mountain School of CraftsHancock CountyThe Telling Room, Portland, Maine Note from DebbieI hope you enjoyed this podcast. Would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than sixty seconds, and it really makes a difference in attracting new listeners and upcoming guests. I might read your review on my next episode!Sign up for occasional updates and get my free writing guide at http://eepurl.com/qGTPConnect with me:Twitter: @debbieweilInstagram: @debbieweilFacebook: @debbieweilLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/debbieweilEmail: thegapyearpodcast@gmail.com- Debbie WE ARE LOOKING FOR A SPONSORIf you are interested in reaching a smart and thoughtful audience of midlife, and older, listeners, contact Debbie Weil. Media PartnersNext For MeEncore.orgMEA Support this podcast:Leave a review on iTunes: it will help us find a sponsor! If you are interested, contact Debbie WeilSubscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or Spotify Credits:Host: Debbie WeilProducer: Far Out MediaPodcast websiteMusic: Lakeside Path by Duck Lake
The Biden administration has set a goal: a majority of public schools open "at least one day a week" by the 100th day of his presidency. But it's possible the country is already there — and decisions about when to reopen largely fall to cities and school districts, where administrators and teachers sometimes don't see eye-to-eye. Students are losing a lot of academic ground the longer their schooling is disrupted. Maine Public Radio's Robbie Feinberg reports on how one rural district is trying to reach students who haven't been showing up for online classes. This week, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to release new guidelines about how schools can reopen safely, three public school teachers weigh in: Mike Reinholdt of Davenport, Iowa; Maxie Hollingsworth of Houston, Texas; and Pam Gaddy of Baltimore, Md. For more education coverage, follow NPR's Anya Kamentez on Twitter, and check out her recent story "Keep Schools Open All Summer, And Other Bold Ideas To Help Kids Catch Up."In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
The Biden administration has set a goal: a majority of public schools open "at least one day a week" by the 100th day of his presidency. But it's possible the country is already there — and decisions about when to reopen largely fall to cities and school districts, where administrators and teachers sometimes don't see eye-to-eye. Students are losing a lot of academic ground the longer their schooling is disrupted. Maine Public Radio's Robbie Feinberg reports on how one rural district is trying to reach students who haven't been showing up for online classes. This week, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to release new guidelines about how schools can reopen safely, three public school teachers weigh in: Mike Reinholdt of Davenport, Iowa; Maxie Hollingsworth of Houston, Texas; and Pam Gaddy of Baltimore, Md. For more education coverage, follow NPR's Anya Kamentez on Twitter, and check out her recent story "Keep Schools Open All Summer, And Other Bold Ideas To Help Kids Catch Up."In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Irwin Gratz is an award-winning journalist, Morning Edition Producer & Host for Maine Public Radio, former president of the Society of Professional Journalists, former chairman of the Maine Association of Broadcasters, and holds a Masters in Journalism from NYU. In this final episode for 2020, Irwin and Eric discuss the importance of journalism in today's world. On the subject of people going to only one or two different outlets for their news, Irwin says, "You really should sample other sources [of news]. That's part of being a well-informed citizen." Pertinent links: 2019 Sigma Delta Chi Awards (examples of stellar journalism) - https://www.spj.org/sdxa19.asp Irwin on MPR (with links to his work) - https://www.mainepublic.org/people/irwin-gratz Mentioned content: Deep Dive Coronavirus Irwin Gratz with Charles Wheelan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQPcJQC4Fc0 Announcing the 2019 Sigma Delta Chi Award winners • Society of Professional Journalists - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IKRzh63Q40 Headlines mentioned or used in research for this piece include: "Pete Buttigieg is right. Airports are romantic" by Lisa Bonos, Washington Post. December 16, 2020. "How Effective Is the Mask You're Waring? You May Know Soon" - NYTimes.com "Pandemic 'Not Over Yet,' Officials Stress, as U.S. Vaccinations Being - NYTimes.com "Congress closes in on a $900 billion Covid relief deal as Americans await aid" - CNBC "How will you know it's your turn for the vaccine? It's unclear." - Portland Press Herald -- About this podcast: Eric Norcross is the creator and host of The Eric Norcross Podcast (aka Eric's CineLife Podcast) He is a filmmaker, writer, and mixed-media artist with an interest in community building, education, and creative careers. If you're interested in bringing your story to the podcast, please contact Eric via his website (link below). Please contribute to my PATREON by visiting the URL: https://www.patreon.com/ericnorcross Eric's official website: http://www.EricNorcross.com Reach out, ask questions, and let's create! https://www.ericnorcross.com/contact Copyright © 2020 Eric Norcross - All Rights Reserved --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/eric-norcross/support
Maine is the only state, apart from Nebraska, that divides its four electoral votes. In 2016, President Trump lost the state but got one electoral college vote, as he won one of the state's two congressional districts. Maine Public Radio's Chief Political Correspondent Steven Mistler joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the two campaigns, polls, and how Maine's ranked-choice voting results could impact the overall election. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Maine is the only state, apart from Nebraska, that divides its four electoral votes. In 2016, President Trump lost the state but got one electoral college vote, as he won one of the state's two congressional districts. Maine Public Radio's Chief Political Correspondent Steven Mistler joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the two campaigns, polls, and how Maine's ranked-choice voting results could impact the overall election. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Maine is the only state, apart from Nebraska, that divides its four electoral votes. In 2016, President Trump lost the state but got one electoral college vote, as he won one of the state's two congressional districts. Maine Public Radio's Chief Political Correspondent Steven Mistler joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the two campaigns, polls, and how Maine's ranked-choice voting results could impact the overall election. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Sean McGowan talks about his jazz blues guitar lessons available on TrueFire, performs, and answers questions. To learn more and watch the video from this live session, please visit truefire.com/live.About Sean:Sean McGowan is a fingerstyle jazz guitarist who combines many diverse musical influences with unconventional techniques to create a broad palette of textures within his compositions and arrangements for solo guitar. His first recording, "River Coffee" won the Best Independent Release of the Year Award (2002) from Acoustic Guitar magazine and music from the recording has been featured on BBCs Great Guitars" radio program, Maine Public Radio, and has been published in Japans Acoustic Guitar magazine and Mel Bays Master Anthology of Fingerstyle Guitar, Vol. 3 (2005). His recordings Indigo (2008) and Sphere: the Music of Thelonious Monk (2011) offer compelling portraits of classic jazz standards performed on solo electric archtop guitar. Sphere was named one of Acoustic Guitar magazines Essential Albums of 2011". As a soloist, Sean has performed at several festivals including the Novi Sad International Jazz Festival in Serbia, the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in Napa Valley, Copper Mountain Guitar Town, the Newport Guitar Festival, and the Classic American Guitar Show in New York. He has also collaborated with several dance and improv companies, as well as with jazz and acoustic musicians throughout the Rocky Mountain region.Sean is an avid arts educator and currently serves as an assistant professor of music and the Guitar Program Director at the University of Colorado Denver. He earned a DMA in Guitar Performance from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and has conducted jazz guitar workshops at Berklee College, Bowdoin College, USC, University of Maine, University of Oregon, McNally Smith College, String Letter Music School in San Anselmo, and for the Seattle Jazz Guitar Society and Cheyenne Guitar Society. He has also presented and performed at the Jazz Education Network conference in New Orleans, the International Symposium for the Performing Arts Medicine Association in Aspen, CO, and numerous College Music Society national and regional conferences.Sean is a strong advocate for injury prevention and health education for musicians, and his workshops incorporate a holistic approach to playing. He is also a contributing editor and educational advisor for Acoustic Guitar magazine. His method books for guitar include Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Essentials (String Letter), The Acoustic Jazz Guitarist (String Letter), and Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Solos (Hal Leonard), a collection of solo transcriptions from his recordings.
I discovered Rose Barboza and Jerry Edwards Black Owned Maine while searching for guests on this podcast as I wanted to create a diverse list. I didn't realize how many black owned businesses are here in Maine until I stumbled upon this database and there are a lot! Being a fairly new resident to Maine, I wanted to dig deeper to learn more about how our state is known as the "white state" and how those in the black community felt being raised in this community or being a part of this community. Rose fills me in on not just her amazing efforts towards Black Owned Maine and the future projects they're working on but also her life here in this beautiful state. I also stumbled upon this great interview Maine Public Radio put together on explaining why Maine is "so white".Please visit Black Owned Maine's website to view the wonderful businesses of Maine's black community. Feel free to follow them on Facebook and Instagram to get updates on new initiatives they're working on and learn more about how you can support them.I will be donating 25% of proceeds made from the Makers of Maine t-shirt collection to Black Owned Maine to help them continue their amazing work of updating their database and website, supporting black-owned businesses through the challenges of the pandemic, and assisting those in the black community who want to start a business by establishing a grant program and also supporting future ideas of providing marketing resources to businesses by launching a photography and videography studio. Pre-orders will be accepted up till August 21, 2020. Local Maine residents have the option to pick up their shirt at a local spot and I will coordinate a date, time and area and communicate this through social media.Also, please check out the featured musician of this episode, Suzie Assam. Suzie was born in Lewiston and always loved how universal music is. She hopes to work on new music during this time of pandemic as it has given her time to see what this new music looks like. Check out her tune Cuffing Season on Spotify and iTunes.
About the guest: Jennifer walked into her college radio station as a 17-year-old freshman and never looked back. Even though she was terrified of the microphone back then — and spoke into it as little as possible — she loved the studio, the atmosphere and, most of all, the people who work in broadcasting. She was hooked. Decades later, she's back behind the radio microphone hosting Maine Public Radio's flagship talk program, Maine Calling. She's not afraid of the mic anymore, but still loves the bright, eclectic people she gets to work with every day. Jennifer joined MPBN in June 2007 after spending more than 13 years at WCSH-TV in Portland as a general assignment reporter and weekend news anchor. She has twice won a regional Edward R. Murrow award: in 1998, for coverage of Maine National Guard and Reserve soldiers deployed in Bosnia and Hungary, and in 2003, for the documentary Citizen King, about then-governor and former Maine Watch host Angus King. For six years, Jennifer served as host, reporter and executive producer of Maine Watch with Jennifer Rooks. She has moderated more than 20 broadcast debates for Maine Public Television and has produced three television documentaries: Broken Trust: Elder Abuse in Maine and Winds of Change, both Maine Watch Special Reports, and A Matter of Duty: The Continuing War Against PTSD. Co-produced with Charlie Stuart, A Matter of Duty has been shown on PBS television stations throughout the U.S. and in multiple screenings, including at the National Sheriff's Association national conference. Jennifer grew up outside Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her BA from the University of Virginia and her master's in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley. She worked at television stations in San Francisco and Monterey, California, before coming to Maine. She and her husband Mike have two teenagers. In the episode: 1:03 – While in college, Jennifer describes how her career in broadcasting began after being “hired” by Herb Ivy as a DJ on her college's radio station and interning at CNN. 8:43 – Jennifer talks about her connection to Maine and how she got to know news directors to get her first job in Maine. 12:00 – Nancy talks about the parallels her career has with Jennifer's. 16:23 – With such a tremendous following, Jennifer shares what she does to increase brand engagement, including diversity. 19:34 – Jennifer gives a how-to tip for PR professionals pitching Maine Calling. 26:26 – Jennifer answers what makes a good call-in radio show. 30:58 – Jennifer and Nancy Bob Elliot's legacy. 36:20 – Jennifer describes how she realized that the difference between public and traditional media is service. 42:09 – Jennifer describes how her network has grown on its own. 44:06 – As one of her most useful resources, Jennifer tells how important her dictionary is. Quote “We're kind of the opposite of every other organization that I've worked at. We're not really doing a news story. We're not doing stories. We're having a conversation about something.” – Jennifer Rooks, host of Maine Calling on Maine Public Radio Links: Maine Calling: https://www.mainepublic.org/programs/maine-calling Maine Public: https://www.mainepublic.org/ PR Works! by Nancy Marshall: https://www.amazon.com/PR-Works-implement-leverage-relations/dp/1511641614 Grow Your Audience, Grow Your Brand by Nancy Marshall: https://www.amazon.com/Grow-Your-Audience-Brand-ebook/dp/B0892R9PXF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1P549BP2R3CUJ&dchild=1&keywords=grow+your+audience%2C+grow+your+brand+by+nancy+marshall&qid=1592249821&s=books&sprefix=grow+your+aud%2Cstripbooks%2C173&sr=1-1 10% Happier by Dan Harris: https://www.amazon.com/10-Happier-Self-Help-Actually-Works/dp/0062265431 Bob's Basement: https://www.newscentermaine.com/section/entertainment/television/bobs-basement talk@mainpublic.org Cindy Han: chan@mainpublic.org Jonathan Smith: jpsmith@mainepublic.org Activate the PR Maven® Flash Briefing on your Alexa Device. Join the PR Maven® Facebook group page. Looking to connect: Email: jrooks@mainepublic.org
Health care workers in New England are facing incredible challenges on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, from long hours and dangerous conditions to shifting public policies. Join us for an America Amplified live call-in special from the New England News Collaborative. We bring together voices from around the region — and we want to hear yours. New England health care workers: What has been your experience? Is there a role for regional solutions in the battle against COVID-19? You can also join the conversation by tweeting us at @NENCNewEngland, or emailing AmericaAmplified@nepr.net. GUESTS: Gene Harkless — Associate Professor of Nursing and Chair of the Department of Nursing at the University of New Hampshire. She has been a family nurse practitioner for 40 years. Michael Ulrich — Assistant Professor of Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights at the Boston University School of Public Health. Credits: Host: Laura Knoy, New Hampshire Public Radio's "The Exchange" Show Producer: Ellen Grimm Coordinating Producer: Morgan Springer Executive Producers: John Dankosky for America Amplified and Michael Brindley Executive Editor: Vanessa de la Torre Additional support: Dan Colgan, New Hampshire Public Radio, New England Public Radio, Connecticut Public, Maine Public Radio and WGBH. America Amplified and the New England News Collaborative are funded, in part, by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Music and song can be found everywhere. Ralph Stevens lives and writes on Little Cranberry Island on the coast of Maine, in the small community of Islesford, a beautiful and congenial place for the reading and writing of poetry. He is retired after a long career as an English professor, most recently on the faculty of Coppin State University in Baltimore. His two poetry collections are At Bunker Cove from Moon Pie Press and Things Haven’t Been the Same from Finishing Line Press. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee and has poems in a variety of publications along with readings on The Writer’s Almanac and Poems from Here, a production of Maine Public Radio.
Music can be heard everywhere if we would simply listen. Ralph Stevens lives and writes on Little Cranberry Island on the coast of Maine, in the small community of Islesford, a beautiful and congenial place for the reading and writing of poetry. He is retired after a long career as an English professor, most recently on the faculty of Coppin State University in Baltimore. His two poetry collections are At Bunker Cove from Moon Pie Press and Things Haven’t Been the same from Finishing Line Press. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee and has poems in a variety of publications along with readings on The Writer’s Almanac and Poems from Here, a production of Maine Public Radio.
Peter is a United Church of Christ minister in Maine, and was a spiritual moment speaker on Maine Public Radio. He was raised Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic In his first NDE, following hypothermia in a frozen climbing adventure mishap, Peter was in an illumined darkness out of body and saw all directions like a … Continue reading "NDE Peter Panagore, Spiritual Conversation" The post NDE Peter Panagore, Spiritual Conversation appeared first on Sozo Talk Radio.
Peter is a United Church of Christ minister in Maine, and was a spiritual moment speaker on Maine Public Radio. He was raised Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic In his first NDE, following hypothermia in a frozen climbing adventure mishap, Peter was in an illumined darkness out of body and saw all directions like a … Continue reading "NDE Peter Panagore, Spiritual Conversation"
With caucus and primary season around the corner, it’s only a matter of time until candidates shift gears and begin expanding their campaigns in battleground states. Come November, voters in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin will play a critical role in determining what party will take the White House. Although Pennsylvania handed President Obama victories in 2008 and 2012, voters decided to take a chance on President Trump in 2016, awarding him 20 electoral votes. This week, Politics with Amy Walter traveled to Pennsylvania to hear from politicians in the state about the lessons learned from 2016 and what’s at stake in 2020. Congressman Brendan Boyle, Congressman Dwight Evans, and Philadelphia Councilmember Kendra Brooks sat down with Amy Walter. Plus, Jerome Dillard, the State Director for Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO), highlights the implications of failing to engage disenfranchised voters. Also, the New York Times’ Margot Sanger-Katz explains the Republican-led lawsuit that attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and what that means for the 20 million Americans that would lose coverage. Finally, Steve Mistler, Chief Political Correspondent of Maine Public Radio, weighs in on Senator Susan Collins’ legacy and how it might change in light of the ongoing impeachment trial.
With caucus and primary season around the corner, it’s only a matter of time until candidates shift gears and begin expanding their campaigns in battleground states. Come November, voters in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin will play a critical role in determining what party will take the White House. Although Pennsylvania handed President Obama victories in 2008 and 2012, voters decided to take a chance on President Trump in 2016, awarding him 20 electoral votes. This week, Politics with Amy Walter traveled to Pennsylvania to hear from politicians in the state about the lessons learned from 2016 and what’s at stake in 2020. Congressman Brendan Boyle, Congressman Dwight Evans, and Philadelphia Councilmember Kendra Brooks sat down with Amy Walter. Plus, Jerome Dillard, the State Director for Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO), highlights the implications of failing to engage disenfranchised voters. Also, the New York Times’ Margot Sanger-Katz explains the Republican-led lawsuit that attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and what that means for the 20 million Americans that would lose coverage. Finally, Steve Mistler, Chief Political Correspondent of Maine Public Radio, weighs in on Senator Susan Collins’ legacy and how it might change in light of the ongoing impeachment trial.
Sean McGowan discusses his jazz guitar lessons available on TrueFire, performs, and answers questions. To learn more and watch the video from this live session, please visit truefire.com/live.About Sean McGowan: Sean McGowan is a fingerstyle jazz guitarist who combines many diverse musical influences with unconventional techniques to create a broad palette of textures within his compositions and arrangements for solo guitar. His first recording, "River Coffee" won the Best Independent Release of the Year Award (2002) from Acoustic Guitar magazine and music from the recording has been featured on BBC’s “Great Guitars" radio program, Maine Public Radio, and has been published in Japan’s Acoustic Guitar magazine and Mel Bay’s Master Anthology of Fingerstyle Guitar, Vol. 3 (2005). His recordings Indigo (2008) and Sphere: the Music of Thelonious Monk (2011) offer compelling portraits of classic jazz standards performed on solo electric archtop guitar. Sphere was named one of Acoustic Guitar magazine’s “Essential Albums of 2011". As a soloist, Sean has performed at several festivals including the Novi Sad International Jazz Festival in Serbia, the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in Napa Valley, Copper Mountain Guitar Town, the Newport Guitar Festival, and the Classic American Guitar Show in New York. He has also collaborated with several dance and improv companies, as well as with jazz and acoustic musicians throughout the Rocky Mountain region.Sean is an avid arts educator and currently serves as an assistant professor of music and the Guitar Program Director at the University of Colorado Denver. He earned a DMA in Guitar Performance from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and has conducted jazz guitar workshops at Berklee College, Bowdoin College, USC, University of Maine, University of Oregon, McNally Smith College, String Letter Music School in San Anselmo, and for the Seattle Jazz Guitar Society and Cheyenne Guitar Society. He has also presented and performed at the Jazz Education Network conference in New Orleans, the International Symposium for the Performing Arts Medicine Association in Aspen, CO, and numerous College Music Society national and regional conferences. Sean is a strong advocate for injury prevention and health education for musicians, and his workshops incorporate a holistic approach to playing. He is also a contributing editor and educational advisor for Acoustic Guitar magazine. His latest book/DVD instructional project is Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Essentials (String Letter/Hal Leonard).
The Bay Area bubble is real. Sometimes living in the bubble means have tunnel vision on how the rest of the country lives. So today, we thought we'd leave this bay and visit some others. Travel with us as we hop around and show you other "Bay Areas." Guests: Gail Delaughter, Houston Public Media transportation reporter, Catherine Cruz, Hawaii Public Radio reporter, and Don Rush, Public Radio Delmarva news director. Special thanks to Krista Alamanzan, KAZU news director, Dalia Colon, WUSF podcast producer, Jennifer Rooks, host at Maine Public Radio.
The Lewiston Blue Devils huddle before a game. (Amy Bass) An unusual asylum case in Massachusetts has a woman suing the federal government. A program in Maine is providing mental health to police. In Vermont, a group of war veterans are helping their colleagues by getting into the whiskey business. Also a new book, One Goal, tells the story of Lewiston, Maine, a divided town with an influx of refugees which finds common ground through soccer. And we’ll reflect on the Boston Marathon bombings, which happened five years ago this week. It’s NEXT. The Future Of Asylum-Seekers In a February 2017 photo, ICE officials arrest a foreign national during a targeted enforcement operation. (Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP) Recently, a Central American woman applying for Asylum in Boston showed up to an appointment and answered questions for an hour. But the official marked her as absent from the appointment. WBUR’s Shannon Dooling reports on what happened, and what it means for the future of asylum-seekers in Massachusetts. The Mental Trauma Facing Maine Police A Burlington Police Officer keeps watch outside a building. (Taylor Dobbs for VPR) Police officers have shorter lifespans than average citizens and are more prone to commit suicide. For years, a stoic police culture has made it difficult for many to admit they may struggle with mental health issues. Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever reports first responders around Maine are getting some new tools to help improve their psychological well-being. Vermont Veterans Open Distillery Zac Fike (L) and Matt Kehaya (R) work on a batch of beer at 14th Star Brewing Company. 14th Star donates proceeds from every batch to local nonprofits. Courtesy of Danger Close Craft Distilling A group of Vermont veterans is joining the craft distilling business. They’re using it as an opportunity to give back to others who have served. Rebecca Sheir tells the story of this Vermont distillery. How A Soccer Team Saved A Changing New England Town Coach Mike McGraw and the Lewiston Blue Devils during practice. (Amy Bass) In the late 1990s, Lewiston, Maine was in the midst of an economic downturn. But that all changed in 2001 when thousands of Somali refugees began arriving in the city. Over the decade, 7,000 African immigrants moved to the city of 36,000. And Lewiston was not always welcoming. In 2002 the mayor wrote a letter to the Somali community urging them to tell their friends and families to stop coming. One student wrote “Go back to Africa” on a mirror at a Lewiston high school. But attitudes towards the refugee community began to change when Coach Mike McGraw discovered that many of the young immigrants had a talent for soccer. As these students began to join the team and win more games, the city began to accept the new population. Amy Bass tells the story of this team changed the town in her new book, One Goal: A Coach, A Team, And the Game that Brought a Divided Town Together. She joins us this week to tell us how the team is on a quest for their first state championship. Click here for an excerpt from Amy’s book and more photos of the Lewiston soccer team. 122nd Boston Marathon Runners pour over the Mass Pike overpass at mile 25 in the 2014 Boston Marathon. (Jesse Costa for WBUR) This weekend, the greater Boston area will compete in the 122nd Boston Marathon. This race marks five years since two bombs exploded at the finish line, killing 3 people and injuring many more. We speak with WBUR’s Alex Ashlock, who has been covering the race for 20 years to hear what we can expect from this year’s Marathon. While the bombing will always be remembered for the tragedy on Boylston Street, it has created an unexpected legacy for one survivor and an army veteran. WBUR’s Shira Springer tells the story of how the bombing changed their lives and created innovation in trauma medicine. About NEXT NEXT is produced at Connecticut Public Radio. Host: John Dankosky Produced with help this week from Lily Tyson, Ali Oshinskie Special thanks to Carlos Mejia Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Shannon Dooling, Fred Bever, Rebecca Sheir, Alex Ashlock, Shira Springer Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “Green Mountain State” by Corinna Rose & The Rusty Horse Band, “Kala” by Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, “A Million Reasons” by Lady Gaga, “Homeless California” by Monplaisir Stream every episode of NEXT. We appreciate your feedback! Send critiques, suggestions, questions, and ideas to next@wnpr.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Next time on NEXT… we’ll discuss why so many young people are leaving New England. We'd like to hear from you. Are you planning on leaving the region? Or maybe you just got settled? Tell us your story. Send a voice recording to NEXT at WNPR dot org. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
New Bedford, Massachusetts is known for its profitable fishing port. It even draws visitors by celebrating Moby Dick, a novel inspired by whalers there. But facing a crackdown on fishing by regulators, the city is starting to look at another source of revenue – offshore wind. We take a look inside the hidden, often lucrative world of Vermont sheriffs, and mourn (or celebrate??) the end of L.L. Bean's lifetime return policy. Plus: responding to racism on campus through art, and Palestinian storytellers in Boston. A man looks at a harpoon display at the New Bedford Whaling Museum (John Bender/RIPR) Keeping Tabs on the Sheriff When Attorney General Jeff Sessions at a speech to the National Sheriffs Association said “The office of sheriff is a critical part of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement,” he prompted many shocked observers to wonder where that leaves people of color within that heritage. It's also thrown a pretty harsh spotlight on the job of sheriff. But do you even know who your sheriff is? In 2006, an anonymous whistleblower tipped the Vermont state auditor off to financial misdeeds in the Windham County Sheriff’s Department, which was led by Sheila Prue. If you live in Connecticut, that’s a trick question! County government is nonexistent in the Nutmeg State — that’s why there are no sheriffs — but it’s not very strong in other New England states either. While Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts have elected sheriffs, their elections don’t get much attention. That lead a listener to the Vermont Public Radio podcast Brave Little State to ask: if voters aren't holding these elected officials accountable, then who is? VPR investigative reporter Emily Corwin dug in and joins us to share some surprising tales of sheriffs going bad — and virtually getting away with it. So, did that dog bed you purchased from LL Bean five years ago get chewed by its occupant? Up until last week, you could just take it back and get a replacement for no charge. But the iconic Maine company is changing its famous unconditional return policy — one that has been a part of the brand since it started more than a century ago. The change comes as a response to the growing number of customers who have been taking advantage of the policy. Maine Public Radio’s Patty Wight reports. “The Last Arrow,” by Thomas Moran, is one of the works slated for sale by the Berkshire Museum. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s And there are plenty of complaints about a deal the Massachusetts attorney general struck with Berkshire Museum. The deal allows, with some conditions, the museum to sell up to 40 works of art — including two Norman Rockwell paintings — to fund renovations and boost its endowment. A group of the museum’s members said it will press forward in a lawsuit attempting to block the sale. New England Public Radio’s Adam Frenier has more. A Maritime Past and Future in New Bedford Boats docked at the Port of New Bedford. (Lynn Arditi/RIPR) New Bedford, Massachusetts was on the front page of the New York Times this week. The headline: “A Famed Fishing Port Shudders as Its Codfather Goes to Jail.” Back in October, fishing magnate Carlos Rafael, also known as “the Codfather,” was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for mislabeling his catch and money-laundering. But with Rafael behind bars, the men who worked for him are barred from catching groundfish with his boats. Some of Rafael's boats and permits have even been seized by regulators. And as the Times reports, the ripple effects can be felt across the usually bustling port of New Bedford, which has gone eerily quiet. Visitors listen to Moby Dick read aloud, during the annual Moby Dick Marathon at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. (John Bender/RIPR) Yet while the fishing sector sits in limbo, another industry is just gearing up off Massachusetts' South Shore — offshore wind. Right now, the Commonwealth is developing what could be the nation's first large-scale offshore wind project, and New Bedford wants to be a big part of it. Rhode Island Public Radio's environmental reporter Avory Brookins takes a look at that city's bet on offshore wind energy. In the mid 19th Century, New Bedford was one of the world’s whaling capitals. The whaling industry is long gone, but New Bedford is drawing in fans of the world most famous leviathan. RIPR’s John Bender has the story. The RIPR newsroom has been exploring New Bedford for their series “One Square Mile,” and there’s lot’s more at ripr.org. RIPR and the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth are holding a public forum on Wednesday, February 21 called “After the Codfather: The Future of New Bedford’s Fishing Industry.” Admission is free, registration required. Cultural Catharsis A painting of Trayvon Martin was part of a performance piece by Imo Nse Imeh at Westfield State University. (Jill Kaufman) NEPR An art professor recently spent four days painting a six-foot-tall portrait of Trayvon Martin, while spectators came and went. The performance took place at Westfield State University, near Springfield, Massachusetts, where last semester there were numerous reports of racist messages left around campus. New England Public Radio’s Jill Kaufman reports. Nadia Abuelezam performs on stage at “Palestinians, Live!” a night of storytelling in Cambridge, Mass, on January 28. Photo by Annie Sinsabaugh When we hear about Palestinians in the news, it's usually in the context of conflicts or negotiations with Israel. With their stories being so highly politicized, the personal narratives of Palestinians don't often make it to American ears. Nadia Abuelezam, a Palestinian-American living in the Boston area, wants to change that. In 2015, she launched an event series called Palestinians, Live! featuring true stories told on stage. The stories are later released on Palestinians Podcast, which Nadia also created. Reporter Annie Sinsabaugh went to a recent Palestinians, Live! event at the Oberon Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she found not only entertainment but a community. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Emily Corwin, Patty Wight, Adam Frenier, Patrick Skahill, Avory Brookins, John Bender, Jill Kaufman and Annie Sinsabaugh Music: Todd Merrell, Ben Cosgrove, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “Sama’i” and “Julnar” by Huda Asfour, “September Mountains” by “DrumTamTam” Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and diaspora stories to next@wnpr.org. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Today we are going to talk about a topic that I bet you and your high school senior have not given any thought to. And yet, it’s a topic that you and your high school senior have done nothing but think about for the past year or so, just from a different perspective. That topic is grades. Or more precisely, today’s topic is grading practices, which is not exactly the same as your kid’s grades. Probably the most you have thought about your kid’s high school’s grading practices is whether the school uses a weighted system for figuring a grade point average (GPA)--that all-important GPA that might get your kid into a great college or keep him or her out of one. There has been a lot of debate about that in the past few years, with no real resolution pro or con. And, certainly, there has been talk among your kid’s friends (and perhaps your friends, too) about which teachers are easy graders and which teachers are hard graders and whether your kid should select high school electives accordingly. Well, high school is essentially over, and your kid is going off to college. How much thought have you both given to the grading practices at the colleges on his or her list? Yes, those colleges your kid just applied to. It’s not too late to start thinking now—before your kid makes a final choice in the spring. 1. Some Background When Marie and I wrote our fantastic book How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students (available at Amazon and a perfect gift for any younger kids you still have at home), we said that kids and their parents need a lot of information about colleges before deciding whether to put a specific college on the kid’s list of college options. We also said that most of you never get most of the information you need--which is a shame, because it’s hard to make a life-changing decision without having all of the information that is available to you. The book explains the 52 questions that your kid really should get answers to before deciding whether to apply to a college--much less actually enroll there. Those questions cover a wide range of categories of information about the college: History and Mission Location Enrollment Class Size Academics Schedule Housing Security Measures Activities and Sports Admission Practices Cost In the section on Academics, we ask this, among other questions: Does the college have a traditional numerical or letter grading system for assignments, exams, and final course grades? If no, jot down the way that students are graded (e.g., with written narrative evaluations where professors comment on strengths and weaknesses). Here is what we said in the book to explain this question: We bet that grading practices are not something most students consider before choosing a college—perhaps because they assume that colleges are quite traditional when it comes to awarding final course grades. Most colleges do, in fact, use some kind of numerical scale (typically, with a 4.0 as an A) or letter scale (typically, from A through F). These traditional grading practices might seem just fine to you. However, there are some colleges that are anything but traditional when it comes to evaluating student progress. For example, take Hampshire College (an excellent and innovative private college in Amherst, Massachusetts), where students receive written narrative evaluations from professors on their assignments and as their final course grades. No numbers and no letters! Or, take Bennington College (a great private college in Bennington, Vermont), where students receive narrative evaluations at the end of each course, but may request letter grades; students interested in graduate school are encouraged to request letter grades for at least two years so that a GPA can be calculated for their graduate school applications. Colleges that use narrative evaluations instead of traditional grades praise their value in teaching their students more about their own strengths and weaknesses, in getting their students to focus on their learning instead of on their grades, and in building better and more stimulating relationships between their students and their professors. That’s probably something you never thought about before. Well, Marie, if we had written the book today, we could have added some additional innovative grading practices that a relatively small number of colleges are using, ones that might seem quite attractive to 2017-2018 current crop of applicants. The question here is not necessarily whether your kid would have applied or would not have applied to a college because of its innovative grading practices, but rather whether he or she (and you) should weigh those grading practices in the scale when you all are ready to make a final choice of a college this spring. Grades will continue to be a big part of college life for your kid--just as they were in high school. This is especially true, as Bennington College knows, if your kid intends to go on to graduate school, medical school, or law school. And, by the way, that’s true whether graduate school comes right after the undergraduate years or, in fact, many years later. Those undergraduate grades will matter. So, let’s look at a couple of new grading practices, and you think about what they might mean for your kid. 2. No More F’s Let’s start at the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI). Given that UMPI is in northern Maine near the Canadian border and that it enrolls only about 1,200 students, my guess is that your kid has not applied there and that many of you have never heard of it, though it was founded over 100 years ago and is one of the seven campuses in the public University of Maine System. UMPI was in a situation not unlike a number of other public universities: a remarkably low 11 percent graduation rate in the traditional four years and only a 30 percent graduation rate in six years and a location in a county that was losing population just when its region needed more college graduates to fill jobs that required a college degree. An article in The Hechinger Report, written in January by Robbie Feinberg, education reporter for Maine Public Radio, has a catchy headline: “In rural Maine, a university eliminates most Fs in an effort to increase graduation rates.” Mr. Feinberg writes: One of the biggest changes has been the near-elimination of the failing grade. In most classes, if students fail a test or project, they can redo it until they’ve proven they know the material. If students are still failing at the end of the semester, many won’t receive an F, but instead a grade of “not proficient” or NP. Under the system, students then sign a contract with their professor outlining the work they need to do over the next 45 days to boost that grade to a passing mark. University officials said the system doesn’t work for everyone; some students still end up with F’s. But they hope the added flexibility will help students pass classes the first time so they don’t have to spend extra time and money to retake them. . . . [UMPI] President Raymond Rice said he’s most encouraged that about 60 percent of students who received a “not proficient” grade eventually converted it to a passing mark. (quoted from the article) Not having to spend time and money to retake courses has to be a game-changer for a lot of students--certainly for that 60 percent. And, clearly, keeping F’s out of figuring into a cumulative GPA for one’s undergraduate years has got to be a game-changer for any student who cares about his or her GPA (especially anyone interested in graduate school). We actually did something similar at the high school that Marie and I co-founded in Brooklyn, where we gave a grade of NC (no credit) to kids who would otherwise have failed; so, they didn’t get credit for the course, but they didn’t have the deadly weight of an F pulling down their GPA forever, either. I think it “saved a lot of lives,” and I imagine it could be having a similar effect at UMPI. While the implementation of the new system is not going perfectly at UMPI (you can read Mr. Feinberg’s full article for the details), the policy about giving F’s only as a last resort is one that I find very persuasive. And, if I had a child getting ready to go to college (not that I would expect that child to get an F--ever), this is a policy that would still make me happy, as a parent. 3. How To Earn an A Appearing in The Hechinger Report in January (as well as in U.S. News & World Report) was a column by Jill Barshay about a new grading practice at the University of Michigan, that state’s truly excellent public flagship university. Ms. Barshay writes: At the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, about 8,000 students have earned their ordinary course grades in an unusual way. They start out the semester with a zero, but each has the opportunity to earn an A by racking up points. The professor determines how many points each assignment or test is worth, and there are various ways to get to an A. If students botch an assignment, they can try something else. Each student can track his or her point tally online and see options for earning more points. Since developing this system, named “GradeCraft,” five years ago with two colleagues, education professor Barry Fishman gleefully admits he’s awarding many more A’s. He estimates that he’s doling out A’s to 80 percent of his students now, compared with 50 percent or 60 percent beforehand. But, he claims, his students are working a lot harder. “Colleagues say I’m not rigorous enough,” said Fishman. “I think rigor should be about how challenging the material is, not how hard it is to achieve a certain outcome.” In surveys conducted by GradeCraft’s inventors, students reported that they worked harder and felt more in control of their class performance. . . . Fishman argues that conventional grading systems can undermine learning. That’s because if you fail the midterm, and it’s worth 30 percent of the final grade, you might realize that you’ll never be able to claw your way back up to an A, and stop trying. “You moderate your behavior and try less hard to maintain a B average. You see it all the time,” said Fishman. The opportunity to earn an A, even late in the semester, keeps students engaged, Fishman argues. And it encourages students to take risks, knowing that they can repair the damage later if they fail at first. In one undergraduate class, Fishman offers a menu of 1.4 million points. Students need to reach 900,000 to get an A. “You could never earn a good grade just by doing dumb stuff,” he said. In another graduate seminar, Fishman assigns only one paper. But students can revise and resubmit it over and over again to earn an A. (quoted from the article) For the gaming-like history of GradeCraft’s development and for some perspectives by professors who don’t like it, read Ms. Barshay’s full column. Nonetheless, I have to say that this grading practice seems pretty appealing to me: the harder you work, the better grade you are going to get. Perseverance is rewarded. Clearly, learning takes place. Is this system appealing to your kid? If your kid applied to the University of Michigan, he or she should know that about 100 professors in 28 programs and departments there have tried GradeCraft and have used it more than once. Would that make the University of Michigan a more attractive option than another great public flagship university? It might. 4. The Moral of the Story The moral of the story today is that grading practices can be very different--way more different than you and your high school senior probably thought. And it’s not too late to find out whether the colleges your kid applied to have done anything innovative on this topic--before you all make a final decision later this spring about where to enroll. What have you got to lose? Find our books on Amazon! How To Find the Right College: A Workbook for Parents of High School Students (available as a Kindle ebook and in paperback) How To Explore Your College Options: A Workbook for High School Students (available in paperback) Ask your questions or share your feedback by... Leaving a comment on the show notes for this episode at http://usacollegechat.org/episode151 Calling us at (516) 900-6922 to record a question on our USACollegeChat voicemail if you want us to answer your question live on our podcast Connect with us through... Subscribing to our podcast on Google Play Music, iTunes, Stitcher, or TuneIn Liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter Reviewing parent materials we have available at www.policystudies.org Inquiring about our consulting services if you need individualized help Reading Regina's blog, Parent Chat with Regina
The world of renewable energy doesn't seem like one that would be filled with drama. But that's just what we had this week, when a New Hampshire governing body decided to deny a permit for a massive transmission project. We talk to our panel of energy reporters about what it will take to get green power to New England. Plus, Maine’s lobster population has been booming, and new research points to some reasons why. And we sit down with the man behind Take Magazine – an ambitious, but ultimately unsustainable magazine that attempted to tell a story about New England’s arts and culture. “Black Madonna.” Public artwork created by Cedric “Vise” Douglas and Julz Roth for the Beyond Walls Mural Festival in Lynn, Mass. Featured in the final issue of Take Magazine. Photo courtesy of Beyond Walls and Christopher Gaines of the Littlest Astronaut Northern Pass Wins in Mass, Loses at Home Massachusetts has been looking to increase the amount of renewable energy it gets to serve its growing population. As we've reported, there are many suitors to try and serve that need, from small-scale solar farms to big transmission projects. After a lot of lobbying dollars spent, the Commonwealth picked one big power line to cover a sizable portion of its energy needs for the next 20 years, to the surprise of many observers. A sign protesting Northern Pass stood in the parking lot Wednesday outside the building where the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee met to discuss whether to greenlight the project. (Annie Ropeik/NHPR) That power line is known as Northern Pass – a controversial project which would transmit Canadian hydro-electric power by cutting through nearly 200 miles, traversing New Hampshire from north to south. The drama came Thursday, when the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee voted unanimously to deny a permit to Eversource to build Northern Pass, citing concerns that the power line would harm the state’s economy. Eversource has promised to appeal the decision in court. So what does this decision mean for Northern Pass, and for other projects that hope to bring renewable energy to the New England grid? We speak with New Hampshire Public Radio energy reporter Annie Ropeik, Vermont Public Radio’s John Dillon and Connecticut Public Radio’s Patrick Skahill. Hydro-Quebec’s Daniel-Johnson Dam seen from a helicopter. (Hannah McCarthy/NHPR) There’s another story behind this one: about the massive Canadian hydro-electric dams that would provide inexpensive, reliable power to Northern Pass and other proposed transmission lines from Quebec to New England. To hear that fascinating tale, we highly recommend the series “Powerline” from the NHPR podcast Outside/In. Or for a condensed treatment, check out Episode 72 of the NEXT podcast. Lobster Tails A female lobster bearing eggs. When Maine lobster harvesters find a lobster like this, they put a notch in its tail and throw it back. That way, other fishermen will know not to harvest a fertile female. (Gulf of Maine Research Institute) It's either boom or bust for New England's lobster industry, depending on where you're looking. The southern lobster fishery — in Long Island Sound and off the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts — is in trouble. Climate Change has contributed to die-offs, and the lobster population has largely moved North. That's great news for Maine fishermen, who've seen record lobster landings this century. New research concludes that the conservation techniques pioneered in Maine have helped drive that boom. And as Maine Public Radio's Fred Bever reports, researchers say those same techniques could have slowed the collapse of the Southern New England lobster fishery. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates interstate fishing, has started an effort to better gauge the East Coast lobster population. The commission says their assessment of lobsters will be complete by 2020. The goal is to evaluate the health of the lobster population, and to improve management of the species. We called Megan Ware, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, to learn more. Reflections on “New England’s New Culture” The last three issues of Take. What are some of the first things you think when you hear the words “New England?” Lighthouses? Pilgrims? Paul Revere? Autumn leaves? Lobster? That list – filled with history and nature – helps form our perceptions of the place; even though New England is also filled with world class museums, galleries and performing arts. Michael Kusek is the publisher of Take, based in Holyoke, Mass. (Courtesy Michael Kusek) That's the perception that a magazine called Take fought against when it launched in 2015. It's tagline: “New England's New Culture.” Operating out of Holyoke, Massachusetts with a staff of ten, Take puts out beautiful print issues bimonthly. The magazine is filled with profiles of artists all over our region, and there's also a website highlighting things to do. But last week, Take published their final issue. Our guest, publisher Michael Kusek, says he learned a lot about the arts in New England – and the challenges of spreading the word. Visit our Facebook page to view a gallery of photographs from Take‘s reporting around the region. While you're there, leave a note about something going on in the arts in your corner of New England, and we'll be sure to share with our followers. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Annie Ropeik, John Dillon, Patrick Skahill and Fred Bever Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and fan art to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A woman who's widely referred to as the “original Dreamer” weighs in on the current moment in immigration. A young man shares a tale of rising above poverty, homelessness, and undocumented status. Plus, does Boston deserve its racist reputation, and what's being done to move beyond it? We discuss takeaways from the Boston Globe's series on racism with columnist Adrian Walker. We get a critical look at offshore wind from across the pond, and rethink a potato-focused school break. Tereza Lee, center, protests in New York City on Wednesday. Lee – whose parents brought her to the U.S. as a child without documents – reached out to Sen. Richard Durbin about her family’s status as a teenager. Durbin would go on to introduce the DREAM Act in Congress. (Courtesy Tereza Lee) They Had a Dream This week, the fate of young immigrants across New England has been at the center of a Washington political debate over DACA — or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. And, they've been a chip in a bigger political fight over keeping the government open. At stake is whether these so-called “Dreamers” – who were brought to the country illegally by their parents years ago – will be allowed to stay, or be forced to return to countries many of them don’t consider home. The movement behind the DREAM Act began nearly 20 years ago when an undocumented teenager in Chicago wrote to her senator. WBUR’s Shannon Dooling sat down with Tereza Lee, the woman known as the original “Dreamer.” Saul Grullon, a native of the Dominican Republic, was abused by his parents because of his sexuality. (Beth Reynolds|Joyce Showyra/ NEPR) While Tereza Lee grew up with the fear of being separated from her family, Dominican-born Saul Grullon sought refuge from his family in the immigration system. Grullon come out to his family as gay when he was a teenager living in New Jersey, and he encountered such hostility that it felt dangerous to stay at home. Grullon was undocumented, but he was able to apply for a temporary visa through VAWA — the Violence Against Women Act. He told his moving story for New England Public Radio's “Words in Transit” project. Is Boston Racist? About a year ago, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh took a staunchly pro-immigrant stand in the face of President Trump's executive order pledging to strip funding from so-called “sanctuary cities.” Walsh said that people fearing deportation could live at city hall, if they wanted. Other cities in the greater Boston metropolitan area also promised to do what they could to protect immigrants. But there's another group whose members don't always feel welcome in Boston: African Americans. Saturday Night Live cast member Michael Che brought up this sentiment before last year's Superbowl — when the Patriots played against the Atlanta Falcons. Sport and race have long been a sore spot in the city, but the history goes much deeper. Protests and riots around court-ordered school desegregation in the 1970s were a particularly ugly time for African Americans in Boston — one that's left lasting scars. “I remember riding the buses to protect the kids going up to South Boston High School. And the bricks through the window. Signs hanging out those buildings, ‘Nigger Go Home.’ Pictures of monkeys. The words. The spit. People just felt it was all right to attack children.” – bus safety monitor Jean McGuire, a speaking with WBUR in 2014. Bill Russell experienced discrimination as the only black member of the Boston Celtics during the 1956-1957 season, his rookie year. The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team is known for investigations into issues like political corruption and sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Last fall the investigative unit took on what they call their most difficult question yet: Does Boston deserve its reputation as a racist city –and a place that's unfriendly to blacks in particular? Their reporting series “Boston. Racism. Image. Reality” was published in print and online in December. Our guest Adrian Walker is a columnist for the Metro section of the Boston Globe. Walker is part of the team behind the Spotlight series, where he wrote about professional sports and fan culture. Winds of Change Fisherman Steve Barratt is aboard his boat Razorbill in the Ramsgate harbor in southeast England. Barratt says he’s lost valuable fishing ground to a wind farm in the Thames Estuary. (Chris Bentley/WBUR) We've reported on plans to build wind farms in the waters off Massachusetts’ South Shore and in the Atlantic south of Long Island, and the opposition by some fishermen to those plans. But right now, aside from a small array of turbines off the coast of Rhode Island, the worries are theoretical. To get a sense of how big wind farms might affect fishing in New England’s future, WBUR reporter Chris Bentley visited fishermen working near giant wind farms in the United Kingdom. If jobs in the new energy economy are seen as part of a growth industry, many in traditional farming communities have seen their way of life shrinking. Carson (left) and Kyle Flewelling, pictured in 2014, worked 12-hour days on their family farm in Easton during harvest break, spading up about 700 acres of russets for the fry and chip markets. (Jennifer Mitchell/ Maine Public In Maine's northern Aroostook County the acreage for potato farming has shrunk over the last 50 years, and technology has reduced the demand for labor. That's a big deal for high school students there, who have traditionally taken a three-week break from classes each fall to harvest potatoes. With far fewer teenagers now working in the fields, the school board in the town of Presque Isle is looking at a new approach that could end the tradition of the October break, and bring the harvest into the classroom. Maine Public Radio’s Robbie Feinberg reports. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Shannon Dooling, Saul Grullon, John Voci, Tema Silk, Chris Bentley, and Robbie Feinberg Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “Adapt and Prosper” by Akrobatic Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and potato harvest selfies to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What happens when a company leaves a company town? We talk to an ethnographer who charts the story of a New Hampshire paper mill that closed, leaving hard feelings and few jobs behind. We also track water quality in two New England Bays, and examine the source of some of our water pollution problems — the lightly regulated residential septic system. Finally, we visit a Boston laboratory for creating new beats. Dryers on the Number 3 paper machine at the now-demolished paper mill in Groveton, Nh. From a 1955 Vanity Fair sales catalog. (Courtesy GREAT) State of the Bays Bangs Island Mussels worker Jon Gorman sets juvenile mussells onto rope that will be their home for the next year as they grow to market size. (Fred Bever/ Maine Public) When it comes to water quality, there's a lot that scientists have to monitor. Pollution, invasive species, and climate change are just a few of their concerns. And these problems are often linked together, so it can be hard to pinpoint the cause of unhealthy waterways. We go first to Maine's Casco Bay, where a new threat to New England’s shellfish industry seems to be establishing itself more firmly. Regulators are trying to stay ahead of potentially deadly blooms of toxic algae — blooms that may be driven by climate change. An unprecedented bloom in Casco Bay recently forced regulators to close off a large area to shellfish harvesting. Maine Public Radio's Fred Bever reports. New Hampshire’s Great Bay. (Annie Ropeik/NHPR) “Did you ever know anybody who looked really good, like, physically you just look at him or her and say, ‘Wow, they’re in real shape,’ and then you find out they’re struggling with a tough health problem? That’s our bay. Look how beautiful it is, right? Doesn’t it look great? Under the surface, there’s some issues.” – Kalle Matso, Coastal Science Program Manager, University of New Hampshire New Hampshire’s Great Bay and its estuary have suffered from nitrogen loading and other problems for years. And the latest data doesn’t show much improvement. But scientists say there’s still hope for the watershed. As New Hampshire Public Radio’s Annie Ropeik reports, they’re trying to hone in on things people can control. Septic system installation underway for a home on steep slopes. (Soil Science/Flickr) But New England is an especially difficult place to control the flow of nitrogen. That’s because half of homes here rely on septic systems — the highest proportion in the country. For decades, most conventional septic systems have done well removing pollutants and pathogens. But they’re not very good at removing nitrogen, which is in human waste. And too much nitrogen can wreak havoc on coastal ecosystems. As New England Public Radio’s Jill Kaufman reports, recent research indicates even the best septic equipment won’t do the job, if it’s ignored. Post-Industrial In a recent episode, we shared a series of stories from NHPR about the surge in off-road vehicle recreation in New Hampshire's woodsy North Country. State and local tourism officials there have made efforts to draw ATV riders to the area in hopes of boosting the economy — after the closure of paper mills that provided a livelihood for so many. Meanwhile, communities in northern Vermont and Maine are also trying to figure out an economic future without the paper industry. A new book, You Had a Job for Life: Story of a Company Town, chronicles the history of a mill that sustained the town of Groveton, New Hampshire through the 20th Century, and closed for good in 2007. The memories of the mill's workers and managers drive the narrative. Author Jamie Sayen is a writer and environmentalist who calls the North Country home. We’re also joined by Joan Breault, who worked at the Groveton mill for 43 years. Sharing Skis and Beats Rory Gawler stands in a storage room of a Lebanon, Nh. house he bought in a foreclosure sale. Without electricity, he uses a flashlight to illuminate the hundreds of skis he found inside. (Britta Greene/NHPR) This weekend's big snowstorm is good news for New England skiers. In New Hampshire, one man recently stumbled across an appropriately timed, ski-season mystery in the remains of an old, falling down house. NHPR's Britta Greene went to investigate. (Plus, the Valley News covered the story’s ending.) We finish off the episode with some sounds from Boston, where hip-hop producers are getting out of their bedroom studios, where they've got all the equipment to create their own beats — .but none of the community they need to make them better. From WBUR, Amelia Mason reports. Producers sit at Wonder Bar during October’s Stew Beat Showcase, a semi-monthly beats battle in Boston. (Courtesy Bryan Trench) About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Fred Bever, Annie Ropeik, Jill Kaufman, Britta Greene, Amelia Mason, and Evan Sobol Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon. Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and fresh beats to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Immigrants from Central America will soon find out if their Temporary Protected Status will end. It's allowed them to live here legally for decades. This episode, we take a look back at a big year in immigration policy, and look ahead. We also consider what some states are doing about widespread waste of prescription drugs. Also, we'll meet a man who's got a place to call home for the first time in decades – thanks to an effort to eliminate chronic homelessness. And, Oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your tiny…little…branches. Francisco Rodriguez in ICE custody at the Suffolk County House of Corrections (Jesse Costa/WBUR) Immigration, Deportation As we look back on 2017, the issue of immigration has become one of the most contentious in our region. New policies by the Trump administration have New Englanders from all over the world wondering about their status, and whether they'll be able to stay. WBUR’s Shannon Dooling joins us to talk about her reporting, including the story of Francisco Rodriguez. He’s a native of El Salvador who entered the country illegally in 2006 – but he’s been living in Chelsea, Massachusetts with federal authorization for several years. This year he was put in detention as the government tried to deport him. Rodriguez’s lawyers say his removal is now stayed while an appeal to re-open his asylum case plays out. Natives of Honduras with temporary protected status will find out soon about whether they'll be allowed to stay in the U.S. – or face possible deportation. Hundreds of Honduran immigrants in Connecticut and Massachusetts are waiting for word. Meanwhile, as WNPR's Diane Orson reports, violent protests continue in Honduras following a contested presidential election, and the state department has advised Americans not to travel there. Unused medical supplies sit in storage at a Partners for World Health facility in Portland, Maine. (Tristan Spinski, special to ProPublica ) Drug costs are an issue for millions of Americans – both in their personal lives, and in the amount of money government spends on drugs for elderly Americans through Medicare. But, as ProPublica's Marshall Allen found out, there's a big problem with drug waste in America's nursing homes. Now – prompted by his reporting – some states, including New Hampshire and Vermont, are taking steps to salvage medications that are literally being flushed down the toilet. Ending Homelessness Advocates for the homeless across New England have made it a goal to end chronic homelessness for good. It's a tall order, especially in a big city like Boston – where officials have said they want to end it by this time next year. Every night, about 1500 people sleep in Boston’s emergency homeless shelters. Many others sleep on the streets. About 30 percent of them are considered chronically homeless. The city is trying to tackle the problem one person at a time. WBUR’s Lynn Jolicoeur introduces us to one man, Lenny Higgenbottom, who was recently housed through those efforts. Higginbottom unpacks in his new apartment. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR) Oh Christmas Tree The pine tree is an icon of New England. It's on our flag, after all. And this time of year, they're big business. But, as we'll hear – pine trees aren't all alike. Patrick Skahill takes us on a search for the increasingly uncommon “pitch pine.” Dana Graves, co-owner of G&S Christmas Tree Farm, supplies Sprague’s Nursery in Bangor with a range of tree sizes, but he says it’s rare these days for people ask for a tree that reaches the ceiling. Photo by Jennifer Mitchell/Maine Public A much more common pine this time of year can be found at the roadside Christmas tree stand – all perfectly sized to scrape your living room ceiling. Jennifer Mitchell reports from Maine Public Radio, growers are seeing a new trend: the tiny tree. A musical group playing traditional Puerto Rican bomba music performs at a parranda in Hartford, Conn. In Puerto Rico, Christmas is a really big deal. But, for the thousands who've been forced to leave the island after Hurricane Maria, that means celebrating Christmas in an unfamiliar place. WNPR’s Ryan Caron King has this story of how the Puerto Rican community in Hartford, Connecticut welcomed new arrivals with a holiday tradition to remind them of home. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Shannon Dooling, Diane Orson, Marshall Allen, Lynn Jolicoeur, Patrick Skahill, Jennifer Mitchell, Ryan Caron King Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and holiday wishes to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week, we get an update the flow of migrants leaving the US to go to Quebec, and meet Puerto Ricans deciding whether to stay on the island or come back to New England. We’ll talk about housing for a rapidly aging population in Vermont, and learn how a the settlement dollars from a Volkswagen lawsuit could help spur electric vehicle use in Maine. Finally, we get a taste of what’s new about New England food. Flight Fearing the Trump administration’s stricter immigration policies, thousands have been fleeing the United States for Canada. One policy change is the end of a temporary residency program for 59,000 Haitians allowed to legally enter the United States following an earthquake in 2010. The Haitians will have to leave the country by July 2019, or face deportation. That program has also ended for two thousand Nicaraguans. It's unclear if other groups including 300,000 Salvadorans will be allowed to remain. A man from Congo speaks with Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers after illegally entering Canada. The man from Congo was then frisked before being processed in the white trailer. Photo by Lorne Matalon for VPR The net result is a continued flow of people crossing the border into Canada by foot. They take advantage of a Canadian law that says those who cross by foot won’t be turned back until their case is heard. Reporter Lorne Matalon takes us back to the site of earlier reporting: the illegal boarder crossing at Roxham Road north of Champlain, New York. Puerto Ricans have been facing similar questions about whether to relocate following the devastation of Hurricane Maria. Of course, Puerto Ricans who choose to leave the island to come to New England aren't immigrants, they're US citizens. WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports on the lack of power and water across much of the island is causing a growing number of people to make hard choices. A Few Years Down the Road… Jan Belville decided to sell her large house in Brandon, Vt. to move into a senior affordable apartment. Bellville was on a a waiting list for almost five years. Photo by Howard Weiss-Tisman for VPR In the 18 years after World War II, birth rates across America hit unprecedented levels. Demographers named that sizable generation the Baby Boom. Today’s baby boomers make up about 25 percent of the United States population. As boomers head into retirement they’re rewriting the expectations we have about where and how senior citizens want to live. As we've reported previously, New England's population is older than most of the country. Given that Vermont is expected to have the oldest population in the nation by 2030, many baby boomers there are facing tough decisions about housing. Vermont Public Radio’s Howard Weiss-Tisman reports. For more, check out “Aging Well,” a special VPR series exploring how the Baby Boom generation is viewing retirement and changing the future makeup of Vermont. ReVision Energy’s Barry Woods charges up his company car in Brunswick, Maine. Photo by Fred Bever for Maine Public Electric vehicles make up a fraction of the cars sold in New England. But new state policies – and a cash infusion from the settlement of Volkswagen’s pollution scandal – could speed the build-out of electric vehicle charging stations, and jump-start the region’s EV market. Maine Public Radio's Fred Bever reports. The Best Food in New England “Local” has become the most important word in the world of New England food. “Local” grass-fed beef, locally-made sheep's milk cheese, or restaurants that proudly list the names of local farmers that grow their food are all a growing part of this movement. Amy Traverso is senior food editor for Yankee Magazine and NewEngland.com, and she's been watching these trends. She's an expert in New England food, and an advocate for it. She says chefs and food producers are challenging the notion that New England's traditional foods are stodgy and boring. Think dishes like lobster on black rice with brown butter aioli, or baked beans with pomegranate molasses. Traverso is also in charge of giving out Yankee Magazine's annual Editor's Choice Food Awards – now five years in the running. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Lorne Matalon, Jeff Cohen, Patrick Skahill, Howard Weiss-Tisman, Fred Bever Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and artisanal chocolate bars to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this Thanksgiving week, we’re presenting a few favorite segments from our archives. We dig into our energy series “The Big Switch” with stories about solar power on homes and farms, and profile a new large-scale passive housing movement. And singer-songwriter Dar Williams tells us what she’s learned about making a vibrant community while writing a new book. Plus, the craft beer industry is exploding in New England, but another time-honored trade is in danger of disappearing. A pedestrian street in the Old Port in Portland, Maine, a neighborhood popular with tourists. Musician and author Dar Williams says towns thrive when they achieve a balance between places of interest to visitors and those of interest to residents. Photo by PhilipC via Flickr Building More, to Burn Less New England is at a time of big change in the way we get our energy. Aggressive goals to cut carbon emissions have meant a move toward more renewable sources of power. But the shift from burning fossil fuels to harvesting sun and wind power comes with challenges in a region where it's not always easy to find space for big energy projects. The New England News Collaborative is covering these changes in a project we call The Big Switch. Randolph-based Catamount Solar is installing an 8.7 kilowatt system in a homeowner’s yard in East Montpelier, Vermont. Kestrel Marcel is connecting the optimizers, which are a converter technology that helps maximize the energy harvested from the panels. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR Farmer Kevin Sullivan rents a portion of his Suffield, Connecticut farmland to a solar company. “The money that comes off that acreage exceeds anything else I could do out there,” he says. Photo by Patrick Skahill for WNPR Vermont has been leading the way on solar energy for years. It's got a small population, but big goals for renewable energy. That's meant more competition in the solar installation field — with big national companies coming in to fight local companies for customers. As VPR's Kathleen Masterson reports, that competition comes at a tricky time. While Vermont has been pushing more residential solar, other states see the promise of solar panels helping to preserve dwindling farmland. As WNPR's Patrick Skahill reports, solar energy is providing many farmers – particularly in southern New England – with new opportunities, and questions. Bayside Anchor is an affordable passive housing development in Portland, Maine. Photo by Fred Bever for Maine Public And there's innovation on the other side of the power equation, too. A new type of energy-efficient construction is drawing attention in the U.S. So-called “passive housing” residences are built to achieve ultra-low energy use. In fact, passive housing is so efficient that developers can eliminate central heating systems altogether. Imported from Germany, it’s been a boutique building style until recently, with eco-minded home owners making costly upfront investments to downsize their carbon footprints. But now, New England is joining a surge in large-scale passive housing development. Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever reports. Fred Gordon opens a panel in the wall of his unit at the Distillery North Apartments in Boston to show the heat recovery ventilator. It provides fresh air, transferring 95 percent of the heat collected from the apartment and recirculating it with cold air from outside. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR. Building a Better Place to Call Home Have you ever revisited a town you hadn't seen in years and thought “This place has really changed!”? Suddenly, there’s a new row of restaurants; or a boarded-up mill building has come back to life. Maybe you’ve witnessed the opposite: a hollowed-out shell of a once-busy main street. As a touring musician, singer-songwriter Dar Williams has a front seat to the changes happening in American towns large and small. Her new book is What I Found in a Thousand Towns: A Traveling Musician’s Guide to Rebuilding America’s Communities – One Coffee Shop, Dog Run, & Open-Mike Night at a Time. In her writing, Williams theorizes about why some towns thrive, and others can't seem to get out of their post-industrial slump. The book is peppered with references to New England towns, and Williams has personal history here. She lived and worked in Boston, and Western Massachusetts, and spent her undergrad years at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in the 1980s. All About Craft Selection of beers on tap at Grey Sail Brewing, Westerly, RI. Photo by Tom Verde for NENC. The craft beer industry in New England has plenty to raise a glass to. Craft beer is growing faster here than anywhere in the country. But is growing too fast? Is it possible to have too much craft beer? Tom Verde went to find out. In the mid-1800s, New England was a global center for the clockmaking industry. Today, the region is filled with antique, often centuries-old clocks — in church steeples, libraries, courthouses, and homes. That industry, of course, is long gone. And slowly, the people who preserve its artifacts are disappearing, too. Dan Richards reports. Master clockmaker James Roberts examines a churchtower clock in Redding, Mass. The timepiece in the center connects to four transparent glass dials, one on each wall. View of the clocktower room from above. Photo by Dan Richards for NEXT. David Roberts with a clock face and dial that he and his brother James restored. Photo by Dan Richards for NEXT. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Kathleen Masterson, Patrick Skahill, Fred Bever, Tom Verde, and Dan Richards Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and raves about your favorite brewery to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week, we're talking ballot questions. Why are more of them showing up in voting booths in states like Maine and Massachusetts, and how much power do elected officials have to tinker with citizen-passed laws? Plus, a Puerto Rican family is reunited in Holyoke, Mass., and a Vermont veteran with PTSD finds a way to heal, through farming. Listen to the end, and we’ll take you to the most peaceful place in the universe. Marijuana plants are harvested and hung in a processing facility in Franklin, Mass. Currently only medical cannabis sales are legal in Massachusetts. A referendum passed in 2016 set the date for legal recreational sales to begin at January 1, 2018. But a law passed this summer by the state legislature pushed the date to July 1, 2018. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR Power to the People? Mainer Kathleen Phelps speaks in favor of expanding Medicaid at a news conference in Portland. Me. on Oct. 13, 2016. Photo by Patti Wight for Maine Public Maine voters earlier this month approved a ballot measure that would expand the Medicaid program, making it available to more than 70,000 Mainers. But Governor Paul LePage — who used his veto power to block past legislative attempts to expand Medicaid — has said he won't implement Medicaid expansion until the statehouse appropriates funds to pay for the state's share of the program. Last year, Maine and Massachusetts voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana through a referendum — but in both states, lawmakers have altered the legislation, raising taxes and pushing back the start date for legal weed sales. Looking forward to 2018, Boston public radio station WBUR recently polled Massachusetts residents on three questions proposed for next year’s election. Respondents showed overwhelming support for initiatives to institute paid family leave, raise taxes on millionaires, and lower the sales tax. All this left us thinking: how powerful are ballot questions when the will of the people is later overhauled by their legislators? And why are they showing up more frequently in states like Maine and Massachusetts in recent years? Joining us to help answer those questions are Steve Mistler, chief political corespondent for Maine Public Radio, and Colin A. Young, Massachusetts statehouse reporter for the Statehouse News Service. Trying to Find Stability Kristin, an active drug user, finds a syringe and a mirror from the tent she once lived in that other drug users took over. She says methamphetamine users use the mirror as an aid to inject themselves in their neck. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR According to Massachusetts Department of Health data, homeless individuals who use heroin or fentanyl experience an overdose-related death rate 30 times higher than people with stable housing. The finding is no surprise to drug users who live on the streets or in the woods, as WBUR's Martha Bebinger discovered on a visit to an urban tent community in Greater Boston. Solimari Alicea hands baby Yedriel to German Santini to hold. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR WBUR reporter Simón Rios has been charting the influx of Puerto Ricans into Massachusetts since Hurricane Maria left much of the island without power, water, or infrastructure. He went to Holyoke, and introduces us to two young parents who are trying to get their feet on the ground. Next we travel a bit further west on the Mass. Pike to the bucolic Berkshires. Those hills are alive with art — museums, galleries, theater and dance companies, and the summer home of the Boston Pops, Tanglewood. “La Fete,” by Raoul Dufy, is one of the works slated for sale by the Berkshire Museum. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s But the arts community has been in turmoil over a plan by the Berkshire Museum to sell off some of its artwork — including two Norman Rockwell paintings — to fund an expansion. The plan angered many in the art world, and got the attention of the state's Attorney General, who's working to stop the sale. Our guest Adam Frenier, Berkshire County reporter for New England Public Radio, has been following the story closely. Finally at Peace Pigs grub for food on a veteran-owned farm in Norwich, Vt. Photo by Peter Hirschfeld for VPR Nearly 4,000 Vermont veterans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11, and many are still dealing with the invisible wounds of the nation's longest-running war. Some of them, however, have begun to find healing through farming. Vermont Public Radio’s Peter Hirschfeld brings us the story of Brett, an army vet who says learning to raise livestock saved his life. Read and listen to more stories of veterans-turned-farmers in Vermont. Life on a farm may sound peaceful enough to you. But New Hampshire Public Radio's Sean Hurley says he's found the most peaceful place in the universe. It's a spot he calls Moose Painting Pond. Sean Hurley looks out over “Moose Painting Pond.” Photo by Sean Hurley for NHPR Do you have a question about New England you’d like NEXT to investigate? Tell us about it here. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Martha Bebinger, Simón Rios, Peter Hirschfeld, Sean Hurley Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “Hotline Bling” by Drake, “Unsquare Dance” by David Brubeck, “Shameless” by Ani DiFranco Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, and sound recordings of the most peaceful place in your personal universe to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We’ve got lots for you this week. Fishermen clash with offshore wind developers, once-depleted bluefin tuna experience a resurgence, and 3D printing helps bring manufacturing back to Massachusetts. Meanwhile, off-road vehicles bring money and grumbles to White Mountain towns. Plus, the fascinating story of when “Live Free or Die” bumped heads with the First Amendment — and why it could prove relevant in an upcoming Supreme Court case. Last, an appreciation of the sticky sweet snack of many a New England childhood. ATVs have become a frequent sight in New Hampshire’s Coos county. Photo by Chris Jensen for NHPR Up and Down the Coast The bluefin tuna can reach lengths of almost 10 feet. They can swim from the Bahamas to Norway in 54 days. Photo credit: NOAA Fishermen say it’s been decades since they’ve been able to catch so many Atlantic bluefin tuna so fast. Once severely depleted, populations of the prized sushi fish appear to be rebuilding. Now the industry and some scientists say the international commission that regulates the fishery can allow a much bigger catch. But some conservation groups disagree. From Portland, Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever reports. Crew members sort through scallops and discard bycatch on a fishing boat in the Atlantic 14 miles from Long Island’s Montauk Point. Photo by Jon Kalish for NENC On the easternmost tip of Long Island, Montauk is the largest commercial fishing port in New York State. The nation’s first offshore wind farm is only a few miles away, off of Block Island, and many more such wind farms are in the works along the eastern seaboard. These plans have Montauk fisherman worried about the impact on their livelihoods. Independent producer Jon Kalish reports. Mike Twombly uses a sophisticated tool to precisely measure the diameter of a part that has been recently fabricated at Custom Machine Group in Woburn, Mass. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR Alexander Gomenik, Professor of Engineering at Indiana University plays a plastic fiddle produced from a 3D printer at the Digital Factory Conference at the MIT Media Lab . (Photo by Bruce Gellerman for WBUR) You don’t often see the label “Made in Massachusetts,” but manufacturing plays an outsized role in the economy of the Bay State. WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman takes us to factories on the front line of a new industrial revolution. It’s one that promises to transform how things are made, and the roles of workers. Read and listen to more from WBUR’s Future of Work series. Living Free Three year-old Everly Lavertu enjoys riding ATV trails with her parents. But leading health and safety groups say young children should not be riding in ATVs. Photo by Casey McDermott for NHPR These days in New Hampshire's North Country, it's not unusual to see caravans of all-terrain vehicles — or ATVs — all over. This region of the state has long been defined by the loss of its paper mill industry and high unemployment rate. But the surge in ATVs may be changing the North Country's image. While some see promise in this growing group of tourists, others worry that the region might be losing something else along the way. Others raise safety concerns. Reporters Casey McDermott and Todd Bookman looked into the ATV phenomenon in a three-part series for New Hampshire Public Radio. Casey McDermott joins us to talk about what they learned. Below: take a virtual ride on an ATV trail in New Hampshire’s Jericho Mountain State Park. The adventurous off-road spirit is certainly in step with New Hampshire's celebrated motto: “Live Free or Die.” Image via Plateshack.com The slogan, taken from a 1809 toast given by Granite State Revolutionary War general John Stark, has been a part of the New Hampshire license plate since 1971. But not long after it became standard, a man made the case that the requirement to display the motto on his car violated his freedoms. And his case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Next month, the court will hear arguments in a controversial free speech case out of Colorado, where a baker refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The baker's attorneys say they're resting their arguments on a precedent set during the decades-old legal battle over “Live Free or Die.” NHPR's Lauren Chooljian tells the story of one determined New Hampshire couple, and how their battle with state's famous motto continues to have an impact. Creepy and Sweet Left: A daguerreotype portrait of brain-injury survivor Phineas P. Gage, holding the tamping iron which injured him. Right: Gage’s skull on display at Harvard Medical School. Photos courtst of Jack and Beverly Wilgus/Wikimedia Commons A grisly construction accident in New England in 1848 left railroad worker Phineas Gage with severe brain damage — but gave scientists valuable clues about how the brain functions. Gage survived the metal spike that went clear through his head, and has since become an icon of both science and pop culture. His skull is on display at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. WSHU’s Davis Dunavin brings us the story from his new podcast Off the Path from New York to Boston. Festival founder Mimi Graney sells copies of her book “What the Fluff: The Sticky Sweet Story of an American Icon” Autumn in New England is festival season. You can find fairs celebrating chrysanthemums, pumpkins, cranberries, or oysters. But the “What the Fluff” Festival in Somerville, Massachusetts is unique. Freelance reporter Carol Vassar paid a visit this year, and brings us an appreciation of a signature New England confection: Marshmallow Fluff. Do you have a question about New England you’d like NEXT to investigate? Tell us about it here. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Fred Bever, John Kalish, Bruce Gellerman, Casey McDermott, Todd Bookman, Lauren Chooljian, David Dunavin, Carol Vassar Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon. Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, and photos of your own medical anomalies to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Utility companies face allegations that they drove up the cost of electricity in New England, and they’re pushing back. A rural doctor is told by the state she has to quit – in part because of her prescribing practices. Her patients ask, “who will help me with my pain?” We have the story of a wildfire that ravaged Maine 70 years ago. And we find out what the deal is with wild turkeys that are bugging residents around Boston. Dr. Anna Konopka of New London used only paper records and did not accept take insurance, but patients raved about her care. She closed her practice this month to settle allegations from the New Hampshire Board of Medicine. Photo by Britta Greene for NHPR Gaslighted A new academic report, released in conjunction with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, says that New England electricity consumers paid billions of dollars more than necessary over a three-year period. The reason? Large utility companies created artificial gas shortages, according to the report. One of the big utilities named called the report a fabrication, but it's drawn concern from state officials. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says she is “reviewing” the report, and public utility regulators in Connecticut have opened an investigation. Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever has the story. Mellanie Rodriguez, Francisco Rodriguez’s 10-year-old daughter, goes shopping for school supplies with her grandmother, Jesus Rodriguez. Photo by Hadley Green for WBUR We've been following the story of a Chelsea, Massachusetts, man who remains behind bars after being arrested by federal immigration officials during a scheduled office visit. Francisco Rodriguez is awaiting potential deportation back to El Salvador, the country he fled more than ten years ago. But as WBUR’s Shannon Dooling reports, life carries on for his family. There are homework assignments, meals to cook and loads of laundry to be done. Greg Gibson, of Gloucester, Mass, with a photo of his son’s killer, Wayne Lo, on a computer screen. Gibson has kept up a correspondence with Lo for years, and the two men met in person for the first time this week. Photo by Anthony Brooks for WBUR It’s been a little more than two weeks since a gunman opened fire on crowd of concert-goers in Las Vegas, leaving 58 people dead and 489 injured. While investigators search for a motive, the family members of those who were murdered are just beginning a long and painful period of grief. WBUR’s Anthony Brooks has the story of two New England fathers who experienced this kind of grief firsthand, and who turned their losses into action. Not Your Typical Doctors Anna Konopka, M.D. Photo by Britta Greene for NENC Dr. Anna Konopka of New London, New Hampshire ended her decades -long practice this month. She's nearly 85, but her retirement is not voluntary. She says she was forced to shut her practice down by a system that no longer values her brand of patient-centered medicine. However, the New Hampshire Board of Medicine has a different opinion. The board challenged her medical decision making and other aspects of her work. While the details of the allegations against Konopka are confidential, it’s likely that her practice of prescribing opioid painkillers to many of her patients is under scrutiny. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Britta Greene reports. An empty marijuana jar at the Canna Care Docs clinic in Burlington. The company opened its first location in Vermont last month, and offers patients a new avenue to medical marijuana. Photo by Emily Corwin for VPR Two weeks ago, a new health clinic opened its doors in Burlington to do in Vermont what it has already done in several other states: bring thousands of new patients into the state's medical cannabis program. Canna Care Docs bills itself as a “medical marijuana evaluation and education center,” and in places like Maine and Massachusetts, it has created an efficient new avenue for patients to gain legal access to medical marijuana. But some in Vermont worry that the Canna Care model sidesteps the important doctor-patient relationship. Vermont Public Radio’s Peter Hirschfeld has more. Wild Fires, Wild Turkeys Fast-moving wildfires in northern California have destroyed thousands of homes and taken more than forty lives. Seventy years ago, this same time of year, wildfires burned over hundreds of miles in Maine. These fires wiped out towns and forever changed the landscape. New England Public Radio’s Jill Kaufman reports. On Columbus Day, a Cranston, Rhode Island orthodontist stopped in to check on his office, only to find the double pane glass of his waiting room window shattered. And then he found the culprit– a fully-grown wild turkey – still alive. While smashing through a window is rare, human encounters with wild turkeys are becoming increasingly common in the Boston metro and other cities and suburbs around the country. Some residents complain that the animals are attacking humans and cars. Others are bemused or fascinated by the birds, like the Boston man who tweeted this cell phone video of a group of turkeys circling a dead cat, causing a stir online earlier this year. We talk with David Scarpitti, the wild turkey and upload game biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife about why we're seeing this influx of wild turkeys in urban and suburban areas – and what makes some of them so aggressive. Do you have a question about New England you’d like NEXT to investigate? Tell us about it here. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Fred Bever, Shannon Dooling, Anthony Brooks, Britta Greene, Peter Hirschfeld, and Jill Kaufman Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “Gold Dayz” by Ultraista Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, and turkey tales to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
New England communities prepare for an influx of hurricane refugees from Puerto Rico, and worry about family back home. We’ll learn what Germany can teach us about welcoming immigrants, and we’ll tour an old Hartford factory that’s preparing for a new life as a food and jobs hub for a struggling neighborhood. Plus, the craft beer industry is exploding in New England, but another time-honored trade is in danger of disappearing. A scene from the Swift Factory, which manufactured gold leaf in Hartford from 1895 to 2005. The nonprofit that owns the building hopes to house food operations, a health center, and more. Photo by Ryan Caron King for NEXT. In the News: Hurricane Survivors, Healthcare Laws, Racism There are over 600,000 Puerto Ricans living in New England, and many are struggling to get ahold of loved ones there after the devastation left by Hurricane Maria. WNPR’s Ryan Caron King spoke with one Hartford, Connecticut resident. In the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts, 80 percent of public school students are of Puerto Rican descent. As people try to flee the island, the district is expecting an influx of new students, as Jill Kaufman reports. We'd love to hear from you if you're still trying to reach loved ones or get help to Puerto Rico. Leave a note on our Facebook page or tag us on Twitter. Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins in Lewiston, Maine in August. Photo by Robert F. Bukaty for Maine Public Maine Senator Susan Collins announced earlier this week that she would vote against the Graham-Cassidy healthcare bill, killing the latest Republican attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. It's not the first time she has broken with leaders in the GOP, and it's a reminder that the independently-minded “Yankee Republican” isn't extinct. But who is Collins, and how is she regarded back home? Our guest Steve Mistler is the Chief Political Correspondent for Maine Public Radio, and a close Collins-watcher. Residents of Claremont, Nh. gathered earlier this month for a vigil following news of an alleged lynching-style attack of a young biracial boy in town. Photo by Britta Greene for NHPR Claremont, New Hampshire is still reeling from an incident involving a young biracial boy and a group of teenagers. The victim's family says it's an open-and-shut case of racism: an attempted lynching. Parents of a teenager involved in the incident say that's not what happened. They say the kids were playing with a rope and climbing trees when things went wrong. As Britta Greene reports, The incident has divided the community. Turning Over a New Leaf Many New England cities used to be manufacturing hubs. Workers lived near where they worked, and supported the other businesses that sprung up around them. Today, old factories are puzzles to solve. Some retain a bit of small manufacturing — others are converted into high-end lofts, artists' studios, and even world-class art museums, like MassMoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. The building that housed the Swift Factory is tucked into a residential section of Hartford's Northeast neighborhood. Gold leaf. Photo via Pixabay Gold leaf, a thin, paper-like gold product, was manufactured there for over 100 years. Leaf produced at Swift adorned the dome atop the Connecticut capitol building, and decorated the lettering on the sides of local fire trucks. The company was owned by a white family, the Swifts. And the neighborhood, which had mostly white immigrant residents early in the 1900s, gradually became African-American and West Indian. It still is today. The Swift Factory closed in 2005. A nonprofit called Community Solutions took ownership in 2010, and surveyed the neighborhood to figure out what to do with the site. Sometimes, a factory renovation can be an early sign of gentrification. But the plans for this particular building are a response to the needs and desires of the people already living here, representatives say. On a factory tour this summer, we learned about what’s to come. We also got a sense of what factory life was like from a woman who experienced it firsthand. How Does Germany Handle Refugees? Instructor Irene Sperfeld writes out German vocabulary during a course for language learners at Evangelische Hochschule Dresden. In Germany, language classes for newcomers are paid for by the state. Photo by Cassandra Bassler for NENC Germany's leader Angela Merkel has been spending tax dollars to house and educate more than 1 million asylum-seekers from places like Syria and Iraq. And that's made a lot of Germans unhappy: a far-right, anti-immigrant party fared better than expected in this past week's election. Cassandra Basler from member station WSHU has been covering immigration to New England for our Facing Change project, and recently traveled to Germany to look at the challenges facing immigrants and the places that host them. Of Beer and Clocks Selection of beers on tap at Grey Sail Brewing, Westerly, RI. Photo by Tom Verde for NENC. It's Octoberfest time, and the craft beer industry in New England has plenty to raise a glass to. Craft beer is growing faster here than anywhere in the country. But is growing too fast? Is it possible to have too much craft beer? Tom Verde went to find out. In the mid-1800s, New England was a global center for the clockmaking industry. Today, the region is filled with antique, often centuries-old clocks — in church steeples, libraries, courthouses, and homes. Master clockmaker James Roberts examines a churchtower clock in Redding, Mass. The timepiece in the center connects to four transparent glass dials, one on each wall. View of the clocktower room from above. Photo by Dan Richards for NEXT. David Roberts with a clock face and dial that he and his brother James restored. Photo by Dan Richards for NEXT. That industry, of course, is long gone. And slowly, the people who preserve its artifacts are disappearing, too. Dan Richards has the story. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Ryan Caron King, Jill Kaufman, Britta Greene, Cassandra Basler, Tom Verde, and Dan Richards Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “Unsquare Dance” by Dave Brubeck, “Beer Barrel Polka” by Orchestra Will Glahé Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and scraps of precious metals to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week, immigrants facing domestic violence take a chance applying for a special visa. Plus, we take a nervous look at Vermont’s outdated flood maps, and a new study that finds New England is losing forestland fast. Also, how does geology influence human behavior? We go WAY back into the history of our region to find out. And it’s time once again for The Big E – the massive agricultural fair that ties together the New England states. We’ll give you a taste. The Pawtuckaway Mountains in Southeastern New Hampshire are the remnant of an extinct volcano. “Blobs” of granite, formed from magma, created the rock formations that characterize much of New Hampshire’s topography. Image via USGS, 1957. Choosing Between Safety and Deportation Immigrants living in New England illegally have reason to be on edge. President Trump’s enhanced enforcement priorities are leading to increased arrests. And reports of federal immigration agents showing up at schools and courts are heightening fears among people in the country without authorization. But what happens when that fear is used as a weapon? This episode, reporter Shannon Dooling tells us how immigration status is used to torment and intimidate — and why more people may be looking for a way out. Some immigrants living here without authorization who’ve been victims of crime in the U.S. may be eligible for a U visa. The application process and lengthy wait time used to be a deterrent, but that appears to be changing under the Trump administration. Here, immigration lawyer Susan Roses, left, reviews documents and with Antonia concerning her U-visa filing. Photo by Jesse Costa via WBUR. And as Hurricanes rip through Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Texas, and Florida, the impacts are felt in New England, too. Not just in the high winds and surf we saw from Hurricane Jose along the coastline, but in the way we think about risks from those storms. Right now, the National Flood Insurance Program is $25 billion in debt, and Congress is trying to figure out how to make it work. But even before the funding crisis, the national program was not addressing the flood risks in many states, including Vermont. Vermont Public Radio’s Howard Weiss-Tisman reports that some of the ideas under discussion could have real impacts here. Department of Environmental Conservation floodplain manager Ned Swanberg points to areas in a map of Jamaica that are prone to flooding. Many of the FEMA flood maps in Vermont are outdated and don’t accurately convey the true threat of catastrophic floods. Credit Howard Weiss-Tisman. Also, one of the ways to prevent flooding is by planting trees – a study in the UK last year showed that planting trees could reduce the height of flooding in by up to 20 percent. But another study, just out from Harvard, shows that New England is losing trees at a rapid rate. The authors say our region is losing forest at a rate of 65 acres a day, and could lose more than a million acres of forest cover over the next half-century. Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever reports. Bedrock and Politics in New Hampshire and Vermont Listeners to Brave Little State – the people-powered podcast from Vermont Public Radio – have a knack for curiosity. Visitors to VPR's website vote on their favorite listener-submitted questions about Vermont – sending reporters scampering across the Green Mountain State in search of answers. When we heard the question they took on for this month's episode, we knew we had to discuss it on NEXT. Matt “Beagle” Bourgault, of Hinesburg, Vermont, asked: “What does the geology have to do with the character of Vermont? How do the underlying, rocks, soils, topography affect how Vermont is different from other New England states and from New York?” Our guest Angela Evancie is the host of Brave Little State and managing editor for podcasts at Vermont Public Radio. Also joining us is Sam Evans-Brown, host of Outside/In, a podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio about the outside world and how we use it. Sam's also a self-professed “secret geology nerd.” (The secret’s out now, Sam.) This bedrock geologic map shows the folded bedrock that creates Vermont’s long north-south valleys, as well as some blobs of bedrock in the Northeast Kingdom.Courtesy of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation / Agency of Natural Resources. Do you have a question you’d like NEXT to investigate? Submit it here. Pleasure Horses, Lobster Rolls, and State Pride at The Big E Rider Jillian Silva introduces her horse, Indy, to the camera after winning a park horse competition. Credit: Ryan King/ WNPR. The Eastern States Exposition – better known as The Big E – is a massive fair that runs for two weeks in the fall in West Springfield, Massachusetts. This is The Big E's 101st year. The exposition was the brainchild of Joshua L. Brooks, a printer from Springfield, who also operated a farm. At the time, even as industry was booming in New England, farming was in decline – local farmers couldn't compete with the farms out in the fertile land of the Midwest. Pig racing at The Big E. Credit: Ryan King/ WNPR. Brooks’s idea was to start an event that would showcase new farming methods and technology, and establish competitive awards that would motivate farmers to produce more efficiently. Brooks got a group of businessmen together, they purchased some land in Springfield. And they convinced the National Dairy Association, which was headquartered in Chicago, to have their exhibition here instead of the Midwest. The dairy show was held in September 1916, and by the next year, Brooks had the agricultural showcase that he envisioned. A woman selling lobster rolls in the Maine building says Maine lobster rolls are better than the Connecticut kind. Host John Dankosky disagrees. Credit: Ryan King/WNPR. Today, The Big E features many attractions familiar to country fairs. There are still livestock competitions, and of course, lots of greasy fair food. But it's also a uniquely pan-New England event. On the grounds, six permanent buildings showcase the goods, cuisines, attractions and quirks of each state in our region. As a show about New England, the state buildings were what drew us to the fair last year, and they did not disappoint. There was so much to see and do at The Big E, we couldn’t possibly take it all in. For a taste, check out this video by the wonderful Ryan Caron King. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Shannon Dooling, Howard Weiss-Tisman, Fred Bever, Angela Evancie, Sam Evans-Brown Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “Shameless” by Ani DiFranco Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and ideas for your state’s new motto to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dams clog rivers and streams all over New England. Environmentalists want to take many of them down to improve habitat for fish, but some entrepreneurs want to put them back to work doing their original jobs: making power. Plus, with the Trump Administration’s voter fraud commission meeting in New Hampshire this week, we revisit our conversation about the wacky political world of the Granite State. And, we take trips to two places that are trying to attract tourists: the factory site of a controversial gun magnate, and a mythical wonderland that takes shape just over the border in Québec. Built about 150 years ago, Mill Pond Dam in Colchester, Vt., is currently breached, but still creating a small swamp upstream. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR What Do You Do With an Old Dam? The rivers and streams of New England are littered with thousands of dams. Many of them were used to produce the energy that sparked industry, but they’re now doing little more than than clogging waterways. Conservationists looking to restore the health of rivers are often met with political and emotional resistance when they try to remove large dams. So some are turning their attention to smaller, privately owned ones. Vermont Public Radio’s Kathleen Masterson took a closer look. Nick Cabral is a co-founder of Goose River Hydro in Belfast, Maine But not everyone’s ready to tear down old New England dams. In central Maine, a couple of young entrepreneurs sees potential in old dams in the form of renewable energy and profit. Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever has more. Vote First or Die Voters cast ballots in Windham, New Hampshire. Photo by Allegra Boverman for NHPR. Even by New Hampshire's high standards, this was a pretty big week in politics. President Trump's controversial voter fraud commission met in Manchester, where one of the commission's members, long-time New Hampshire secretary of state Bill Gardner, faced criticism from all four members of the state's congressional delegation. Gardner used the occasion of the meeting to rebuke Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State, for his op-ed on Brietbart.com, suggesting widespread voter fraud in the 2016 New Hampshire election. It's a claim that FactCheck.org called “bogus.” Meanwhile, a state judge ruled against a provision in a new voter law that would have subjected voters to a possible fine or jail time if they failed to submit residency paperwork in a timely fashion. The judge wrote that the provision was a “very serious deterrent” to the right to vote. That New Hampshire's elections have come under scrutiny is something that grates at state residents. The Granite State takes pride in the way it conducts its elections, with no institution more sacred than its first-in-the-nation primary. Scott Conroy is a long-time political reporter, who grew up in neighboring Massachusetts, and who became enamored with New Hampshire's political culture while covering presidential candidates criss-crossing the state. His book is Vote First or Die: The New Hampshire Primary: Americas Discerning, Magnificent, and Absurd Road to the White House. NEXT caught up with Conroy earlier this year. Building a National Park Based on Hartford History Sparks Pride, and Discomfort Unlike New Hampshire, Connecticut has long suffered from a kind of civic inferiority complex. The state is stuck between Boston and New York, but far more congested than scenic New England destinations to the north. Student reporters Nicole Ellis (left) and Madyson Frame pose at Samuel Colt’s statue in Hartford’s Colt Park, with historian Bill Hosley. Photo by Sam Hockaday And then there are the money problems. It's one of the richest states in the nation, but the state budget is billions in the hole. And Hartford, the state’s capital, struggles with a perception that it has too much crime and not enough to do. But something big is on the horizon. A new national park, set to open in the next few years, will tell the story of one of the city's most important industrial leaders. Coltsville National Historical Park will be built on land that once belonged to firearms manufacturer Samuel Colt, and will include parts of the historic Colt factory complex. Colt had an outsized influence on Hartford and was a major player in the Industrial Revolution. But is his a history worth honoring? Madyson Frame, a recent graduate of Hartford's Journalism and Media Academy, reports. Lighting Up the Forest Flips the Switch on a Small Town A stroll through Foresta Lumina includes some sparkly, stunningly lit sections of forest. Photo by Chris Jensen While Hartford dreams about creating a tourist attraction from the ground up, Coaticook, Québec, which sits right on the Vermont border, pulled it off. Local officials took an unusual idea, made a $1 million gamble, and hit a tourism geyser: a high-tech enchanted woodland called Foresta Lumina. Reporter Chris Jensen, with the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism, went to see for himself. Below: a video from the Creators Project goes behind the scenes at Foresta Lumina. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Contributors to this episode: Kathleen Masterson, Fred Bevers, Madyson Frame, Nicole Ellis, Tikeyah Whittle, Sam Hockaday, Jose Vargas, and Chris Jensen Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “Nature Kid” by Podington Bear, “Cm” by Podington Bear Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and tourism ideas to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week, we revisit New England’s most devastating weather event, the hurricane of 1938 — and find out what we’ve learned about protecting against storms. We’ll also learn about the new deal struck by Northeastern states to combat climate change, and about a big battery that could be the future for energy storage. Plus, we hear the music of the White Mountains and make some noises only a moose could love. A farmhouse in Willimantic, Conn. among acres of blowdown after the hurricane of 1938. Photo courtesy of the US Forest Service Energize NextEra site manager Ben Pierce and project manger Jeff Plew at the company’s new “grid-scale” battery array on Cousins Island in Maine’s Casco Bay. Photo by Fred Bever for Maine Public We've reported on the need to find storage for the extra energy that is sometimes produced by wind or solar plants to conserve it for other times when the sun isn’t out and the wind’s not blowing. Giant “grid scale” batteries are one way to store that energy, and they’re getting cheaper and more sophisticated. Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever has more. For more stories about the growing role of renewable energy in our region, check out the New England News Collaborative series, “The Big Switch.” The RGGI program follows a cap-and-trade model. Companies bid for trade-able credits that allow them to release a limited amount of carbon into the atmosphere. Photo by nathanmac87 via Flickr Earlier this month, The nine states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) announced a plan to cut power plant emissions by an additional 30 percent between 2020 and 2030. The move is being hailed by environmental groups as one of the biggest efforts taken by states since President Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. However, the negotiations did include a push and pull between some New England States that wanted deeper emissions cuts, and Mid-Atlantic states that run on a different energy mix. Our guest Katie Dykes is chair of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority in Connecticut, and chair of the Board of Directors of the Regional Geenhouse Gas Initiative. Hurricanes at Home Workers with the CCC wet down hurricane slash in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. With so much lumber on the ground, fires were a major concern. Photo by the United States Forest Service Hurricane Harvey marks America's biggest rain event and one of the most destructive natural disasters in history. Here in New England — while Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy caused major damage — the worst storm to hit our region came without warning on September 21, 1938. This hurricane hit Long Island first, and continued up the Connecticut Valley, plowing through Western Massachusetts and Vermont in a matter of hours. The storm took 600 lives, and destroyed a thousand square miles of forestland. That environmental damage is the focus of the book Thirty Eight: the Hurricane That Transformed New England — out in paperback on September 21. We’re joined by author Stephen Long. Aerial view if the New Bedford Hurricane Barrier, New Bedford, Mass. Photo courtesy of the US Army Corps of Engineers After getting slammed by hurricanes several years in a row, New Bedford, Massachusetts built a massive barrier across its valuable harbor in the 1960s. But as the climate changes, city leaders know the wall can only hold back the sea for so long. As part of the series “Climate Change in Massachusetts,” WBUR’s Lisa Mullins reports. The Hills are Alive… Steve Wilkes recording on the summit of Mt. Tecumseh in the White Mountain National Forest. Photo by Sean Hurley for NHPR Steve Wilkes is a drumming professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He's also a former member of Blue Man Group and has toured the world with The Empire Brass Quintet. But for his latest gig, Wilkes won't be making music. Instead, he's recording the sounds of the forest and compiling the first ever audio map of the White Mountains. New Hampshire Public Radio North Country reporter Sean Hurley joined Wilkes on a recent sound-gathering trip. You can listen to all of Wilkes’ recordings and track his progress at heartheforest.org. Competitors imitate moose mating calls at the North Country Moose Festival. Photo by Chris Jensen for NHPR Not all of the sounds of the forest are soothing, as reporter Chris Jensen learned when he visited the North Country Moose Festival, held last weekend in the adjoining towns of Colebrook, New Hampshire and nearby Canaan, Vermont. He sends an audio postcard from the festival’s moose calling competition. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Fred Bever, Lisa Mullins, Lynn Jolicoeur, Sean Hurley, Chris Jensen Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and recordings of your sexiest moose calls to next@wnpr.org. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The events in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this month have echoes in New England. This week, we hear local reactions to seeing a Keene, New Hampshire local featured in a documentary about white supremacists at Charlottesville, and we recon with a quieter kind of racism in Boston in the wake of the “Free Speech” rally and counter-protest last Saturday. Plus, Granite Staters get the chance to “ask a Muslim anything.” Later in the show, we visit a Maine school on the cutting edge of composting, and a yacht race that is a reminder of another time. Counter protesters amassed outside of the barriers at the Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common on August 19. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR Grappling With Race and Inclusion in the Granite State It's been two weeks since a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to violent clashes between neo-Nazis and counter-protesters. One anti-fascist demonstrator was killed and many were injured when a car, driven by one of the alt-right marchers, plowed into a group of people. The events of the weekend were captured in a documentary by VICE News and HBO called “Charlottesville, Race and Terror.” The main subject of that report is Christopher Cantwell, 36, from Keene, New Hampshire, who advocates online for what he calls a white “ethno-state,” and promises violence. White nationalist Christopher Cantwell speaks with VICE News correspondent Elle Reeve. Cantwell’s tone changed somewhat in a video he shot himself, following news that authorities were seeking him in connection with violence at the rally. He has since surrendered to police, facing two felony counts of illegal use of tear gas, and one count of malicious bodily injury by means of a caustic substance. We’re joined by New Hampshire Public Radio reporter Britta Greene, who has been following Cantwell's story, and getting reaction from the Keene community. Robert Azzi. Photo by Peter Biello for NHPR Where Christopher Cantwell spreads a message of hate, Exeter resident Robert Azzi is working to spread understanding. The Lebanese-American Muslim photojournalist is traveling around New Hampshire hosting a series of conversations he calls “Ask a Muslim Anything.” WBUR’s Anthony Brooks reports. Dialogue between people of different races — or faiths — has been difficult in the weeks following Charlottesville. And one of the trickiest conversations has been about physical images of our racist past. While New England doesn't have many debates about Confederate statues, the history of white settlers and their relationship with indigenous people is also fraught. This week, Yale University announced that it would remove a stone carving of a Puritan aiming a musket at Native American. As New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jason Moon reports, a mural in a Durham, New Hampshire post office has also sparked a controversy. A mural including 16 images representing town history, including a Native American carrying a flaming torch and looking out at a colonial cabin, was commissioned by the Women’s Club of Durham in 1959. Photo by Jason Moon for NHPR Moving the Needle on Systemic Racism in Boston Kevin Peterson is founder of the Boston-based New Democracy Coalition and a senior fellow at the Center for Collaborative Leadership at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. The scene at a so-called “Free Speech” rally in Boston last Saturday offered a stark contrast to the events in Charlottesville the weekend before. A few dozen attendees of the conservative rally were met on the Boston Common by an estimated 40,000 counter-demonstrators. Boston police didn't allow the protesters or the media to get near the rally, so their message couldn't be heard. Many in Boston, including our guest Kevin Peterson, applauded the counter-protesters — a majority white crowd — for standing up to bigotry and hatred. But in a column for WBUR's Cognoscenti, Peterson asks Bostonians to now do something more difficult: work to counter systemic, historic, everyday racism in their city. First Class Compost, J Class Yachts The Maine Compost School teaches the right way to compost with a series of test piles. Photo by Nick Woodward for Maine Public Radio A few times a year, people from all over the US — and well beyond — trek to Maine to learn the science of all things rotten. The Maine Compost School has been teaching people how to turn organic trash into treasure for 20 years, making it the longest-running program of its kind in the U.S. Maine Public Radio’s Jennifer Mitchell takes us there. A J Class boat sailing out of Newport Harbor, with the Pell Bridge in the background. A J Class yacht training on the waters off Newport Harbor. Photo by Pearl Mack for RIPR Newport Rhode Island is a world capital for sailing. This week, the city is host to a first in the sailing world: the J Class World Championship. J-Class yachts are rare, and they're huge. Picture a sailboat about as long as a basketball court racing around Newport harbor. Rhode Island Public Radio's John Bender went to take a look. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Britta Greene, Jason Moon, Jennifer Mitchell, and John Bender Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and photos of your compost pile to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A solar array in Coventry, Vermont. Photo by Angela Evancie for VPR This week on NEXT: A new draft federal climate report forecasts warmer temperatures, higher seas, and more precipitation for the Northeast than predicted just three years ago. We speak with a University of New Hampshire climatologist. And one town is host to a surprising amount of resources New Englanders use, and that’s taking a toll on local residents. We find out how Massachusetts's big renewable energy procurement is shaping up, and learn about local efforts to save seeds from disappearance. Plus, we visit a West Indian food fest in Hartford, Connecticut, and an influential artists’ colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. And finally, Jill Kaufman fills in for John Dankosky on this episode–it’s NEXT! You can stream the entire episode by clicking play on the embedded media player above or listen to the embedded SoundCloud files below for individual reports. Unambiguous Several industrial sites are located on the Chelsea Creek in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Photo by Robin Lubbock for WBUR A “global, long-term, and unambiguous warming trend has continued,” according to a draft of a congressionally-mandated report published every four years. And many lines of evidence “demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases are primarily responsible” for those climate changes in the last almost 70 years. Back in March, when at least one draft of this report had already surfaced, Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, told CNBC he does not think carbon dioxide is a primary control knob for climate: “Measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something that's very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact. So no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see… but we don't know that yet. We need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis.” To learn more about the report, and climate changes that are happening in New England, we're joined by Dr. Elizabeth Burakowski, Research Assistant Professor at the University of New Hampshire's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space. Low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected by the consequences of climate change: think New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. These areas suffer from poor air quality, increasing temperatures, and extreme weather. In many of those same communities, residents already live among health hazards like fuel storage units and the toxic remains that come with them. In the city of Chelsea, Massachusetts, residents bear these burdens while much of New England benefits. WBUR’s Shannon Dooling reports. Extension Cord Central Maine Power’s New England Clean Energy Connect proposal (left) and Emera Maine’s Atlantic Link proposal represent two bids to bring hydro-electric power from Quebec dams to Massachusetts. Massachusetts is making huge efforts to get renewable energy to its consumers. State policy is changing the energy landscape in New England, and maybe the physical landscape, too. Fred Bever covers energy for Maine Public Radio, and he's been looking at how Massachusetts's energy efforts affect the whole region. Biologists worldwide are saving seeds from crops and other plants important to the ecosystem. In New England, 22 percent of the region’s native plants are considered “rare.” Some are on the federal list of endangered species. Many Islands and One Colony Los Calientes, or The Hot Ones, a Connecticut-based salsa band, performs at the Taste of the Caribbean and Jerk Festival in Hartford, Connecticut. on August 5, 2017. Photo by Andrea Muraskin for NEXT Jamaicans celebrated the 55th anniversary of their independence from Great Britain on August 5. Hartford, Connecticut enjoys a whole week of celebrations every summer, with participants from across the West Indian diaspora. NEXT producer Andrea Muraskin went down to the city's waterfront for the kickoff event, the 12thAnnual Taste of the Caribbean and Jerk Festival, and shares an audio postcard. Last Sunday, in Peterborough, New Hampshire, the renowned MacDowell artists’ colony opened its gates to the public. The annual event is a big deal for hundreds of outsiders who come here to wander the fields and woods, and meet the 30 or so poets, composers, painters, dancers, architects, and journalists: artists-in-residence tucked away in simple, sufficient studios for a few weeks, in near obscurity. Guest host Jill Kaufman paid a visit and sat down with renowned novelist Michael Chabon, chair of the MacDowell Colony board. “Tombstones” in a studio at the MacDowell Colony bear the names of artists who have stayed there. Photo by Jill Kaufman for NEXT. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Our host this week is Jill Kaufman of New England Public Radio. Our regular host is John Dankosky. Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Jill Kaufman, Shannon Dooling, Fred Bever Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and jerk recipes to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
New England has been waiting for years for real, high speed rail to get travelers more quickly from New York to Boston, but the path of that new line caused big headaches in some small towns. Federal railroad officials have now backed off part of a new high speed rail plan — listen for our update. And it may be easier to keep a railroad from intruding on your property than a more dogged adversary: beavers. Plus, we visit an ultra-low energy use apartment building that’s so well insulated you can turn off your heat in February — in Maine. A beaver lodge on a pond in a housing development in New Hampshire. Photo by Logan Shannon for NHPR Train Delays The John Sill House in Old Lyme was built in the early 1800s. Advocates rallied against plans for a rail bypass that would go through the historic section of the town. One of the early plans included a bridge that would fly over the house. Photo by Ryan Caron King for NENC The Federal Railroad Administration says it's moving forward with a plan to bring high speed rail to the Northeast. That would shorten travel from Boston to New York City by 45 minutes. But to reach those time savings, the FRA proposed building a controversial new track that would have cut across historic landmarks and protected lands between New Haven, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island. Last week, the FRA released a decision that removed that stretch from the plans. WSHU’s Cassandra Basler joins us to talk about the decision, and what it means for the future of high speed rail in New England. To learn more about the public pushback against the FRA plan in Connecticut and Rhode Island, check out Episode 41. The FRA plan forestalls any decision on a revised rail route from New Haven to Providence, and it calls for further study. Image courtesy FRA Building More, to Burn Less New England is at a time of big change in the way we get our energy. Aggressive goals to cut carbon emissions have meant a move toward more renewable sources of power. But the shift from burning fossil fuels to harvesting sun and wind power comes with challenges in a region where it's not always easy to find space for big energy projects. The New England News Collaborative is covering these changes in a project we call The Big Switch. Randolph-based Catamount Solar is installing an 8.7 kilowatt system in a homeowner’s yard in East Montpelier, Vermont. Kestrel Marcel is connecting the optimizers, which are a converter technology that helps maximize the energy harvested from the panels. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR Farmer Kevin Sullivan rents a portion of his Suffield, Connecticut farmland to a solar company. “The money that comes off that acreage exceeds anything else I could do out there,” he says. Photo by Patrick Skahill for WNPR Vermont has been leading the way on solar energy for years. It's got a small population, but big goals for renewable energy. That's meant more competition in the solar installation field — with big national companies coming in to fight local companies for customers. As VPR's Kathleen Masterson reports, that competition comes at a tricky time. While Vermont has been pushing more residential solar, other states see the promise of solar panels helping to preserve dwindling farmland. As WNPR's Patrick Skahill reports, solar energy is providing many farmers, particularly in the southern part of our region — with new opportunities, and questions. Bayside Anchor is an affordable passive housing development in Portland, Maine. Photo by Fred Bever for Maine Public And there's innovation on the other side of the power equation, too. A new type of energy-efficient construction is drawing attention in the U.S. It's called “passive housing” — residences built to achieve ultra-low energy use. It's so efficient that developers can eliminate central heating systems altogether. Imported from Germany, it’s been a boutique building style until recently, with eco-minded home owners making costly upfront investments to downsize their carbon footprints. But now, New England is joining a surge in large-scale passive housing development. Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever reports. Fred Gordon opens a panel in the wall of his unit at the Distillery North Apartments in Boston to show the heat recovery ventilator. It provides fresh air, transferring 95 percent of the heat collected from the apartment and recirculating it with cold air from outside. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR. Gnawing Pains Are you smarter than a beaver? Photo by Steve via Wikimedia Commons In a recent episode, we met a team of researchers who are harvesting some trees in the Vermont forest in effort to restore biodiversity. But what if you could get animals to do the job for you? When it comes to wetlands, a new study in Scotland shows beavers are habitat restoration pros, due to their dam-building instinct. Since their introduction a decade ago, one small beaver family turned 30 acres of pasture into a network of canals and ponds, increasing plant species by nearly 50 percent. Yet that same industriousness can cause floods that spell disaster for homeowners here in New England, where beaver were reintroduced about 100 years ago. Some trap the big rodents. Others try to outwit them. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Sam Evans-Brown reports. Get the full story, along with photos and videos from Outside/In, the podcast from NHPR about the outside world and how we use it. Do you have a question about New England you’d like NEXT to investigate? Tell us about it here. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Cassandra Basler, Ryan Caron King, Fred Bever, Patrick Skahill, Kathleen Masterson, Sam Evans-Brown Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, and beaver management tips to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This hour, we parse what's clear, what’s changed, and what hasn’t about U.S. immigration policy and the powers of ICE, the federal immigration police. We hear what the vetting process was like for one refugee in Maine, and follow NPR’s Code Switch podcast as they trace Puerto Rican identity in a Massachusetts town. Plus, we take a look into the often-overlooked history of slavery and emancipation in New England. President Trump’s executive orders on immigration have brought renewed focus on the role of individual ICE agents. Photo by Groupuscule via Wikimedia Commons Who’s In, Who’s Out President Donald Trump's first executive order on immigration included a temporary ban on travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. It was challenged by many states, and was suspended after a legal battle. Trump’s new order, signed Monday, is meant to achieve the same goals while passing legal muster. Lawyers in New England and elsewhere in the country have promised to fight this order in court, too. Reporter Shannon Dooling covers immigration for WBUR and the New England News Collaborative and joins us to help understand the new rules. Trump has talked repeatedly about the need for “extreme vetting” of refugees and other immigrants coming from majority-Muslim countries. But what does that vetting process look like now? Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever has the account of one refugee who came to Maine from Uganda last September. A market at the Kyangwali refugee settlement in Uganda, where Maine resident and Congolese refugee, Charles spent almost half his life. The number of refugees, asylum seekers and other foreign-born people who settled in Maine last year was the largest in recent years. Photo by N. Omata via Flickr The travel bans are a part of the administration's overall immigration crackdown. In one executive order, entitled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” the president wrote, “We cannot faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States if we exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement” — a reference to Obama administration guidance to prioritize serious criminals for deportation. Depending on how you read the guidance from Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, you could say that instead of broadening the priorities for deportation, the executive order essentially stripped away priorities altogether, making almost any non-citizen vulnerable for deportation. White House press secretary Sean Spicer has said that the president wants to “take the shackles off” immigration enforcement agents. But as Shannon Dooling reports, individual ICE agents have always had a certain amount of discretion. The question now is how that discretion will play out under the new administration. So Far, and Yet So Close to Home The Holyoke Public Library collected family stories from Puerto Rican residents at an event last September. Photo by Katherine Davis-Young for NEPR Last week marked the 100th anniversary of the Jones Act, which granted U.S. citizenship to people born in Puerto Rico. Today, there are more Puerto Ricans living on the mainland than on the island, which is in the midst of an economic crisis. In the 1960s and ’70s, a large group of Puerto Ricans moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts, where they found work in factories and nearby tobacco fiends. Holyoke is now home to the highest per capita concentration of Puerto Ricans in the United States. Reporter Shereen Marisol Meraji paid a visit to Holyoke for the NPR’s Code Switch podcast to explore what the Jones Act has meant for Puerto Ricans living in the 50 states. Silvana Laramee works with her students at Alfred Lima Elementary School in Providence. Most of the city’s ELL student population is Latino, but in the last few years, the district has welcomed more than 200 refugee students from all over the world. Photo by Ryan Caron King for NENC In Rhode Island, the population is about 14 percent Latino. And that population is growing, with Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Guatemalans, and Colombians the largest Hispanic groups there. But the number of teachers certified to teach English language learners hasn't kept pace with the demand. Rhode Island Public Radio’s Ambar Espinoza reports. Seeking Freedom Ona Judge, a runaway slave of President George Washington, lived most of her on New Hampshire's Seacoast after gaining her freedom. Seen here, a reward advertisement for her return. Photo via Wikimedia Commons. Ona Judge, a runaway slave who evaded George Washington himself, lived most of her years on New Hampshire's seacoast after gaining her freedom. New Hampshire Public Radio reporter Hanna McCarthy spoke with Erica Dunbar, author of the new book Never Caught: The Washington’s Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, along with others who are working to keep Judge's history — and the history of the black community in Portsmouth – alive. The first law in New Hampshire to be interpreted as outlawing slavery was passed in 1857, nine years after Judge’s death. Slavery was recognized by law across New England in the colonial period. After the Revolutionary War, emancipation was a gradual process. Image courtesy of Yale University Press. Our guest Manisha Sinha, author of The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition, writes that enslaved people played a much larger role in that process than they’re usually given credit for; in many cases, suing for their freedom. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Shannon Dooling, Fred Bever, Shereen Marisol Merjai, Ambar Espinoza, and Hannah McCarthy Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “Tus Ojos” by Héctor Lavoe, “Soul Alphabet” by Colleen Web help this week from Alexandra Oshinskie Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and historical documents to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week: more stores from our series Facing Change, about shifting demographics in New England, and the impact of immigration. A reporter crosses the border to find those leaving the U.S. to seek asylum in Quebec, and we go to prep school to meet a pair of teenage refugees. We meet people trying to build political power in the region’s growing Muslim community, and visit a Spanish-language bookstore that’s open for just five more weeks. A Canadian police officer offers a hand to a migrant crossing the U.S.-Canada border near Champlain, New York. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR Heading North At the Royal Canadian Mounted Police communications center in Montreal, technicians monitor live-camera screens of popular illegal border crossings. If people cross into Canada, command control can alert patrolling police. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are reporting surges in illegal crossings in Canada in recent months. Officials say Quebec has seen the highest influx of people seeking asylum, with many crossing in remote, snowy areas west of Lake Champlain. One illegal border crossing area has become so popular among immigrants seeking asylum that all taxis in Champlain, New York, know it by name: Roxham Road. Vermont Public Radio reporter Kathleen Masterson visited Roxham Road, and found migrants knowingly crossing into police arrest on the Canadian side. Back in Episode 21 we shared the story of the town of Rutland, Vermont, where, at the end of last year, residents were busily preparing for 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Ghena and Ayman Alsalloumi stand on the St. Johnsbury campus on a snowy January day. Their family is from Homs, Syria — a city torn apart by civil war. Photo by Ryan Caron King for NENC President Trump's immigration orders have thrown plans like that into doubt. But WSHU’s Cassandra Basler found one Vermont prep school that's trying their own approach to bring in those fleeing from the war: offering scholarships to refugees already living in the U.S. Cassandra followed teenagers Ayman and Ghena Alsalloumi from the Connecticut shoreline to the snowy north. Below, watch a video of Ayman and Ghena at St. Johnsbury Academy. A Time to Run for Office Somali refugee Deeqo Jibril is running for Boston City Council. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR As more Muslim immigrants come to New England, they're pushing for a seat at the political table. As WBUR's Shannon Dooling found, a nonprofit based in Cambridge, Massachusetts is trying to jump-start the effort, encouraging Muslims across the country to run for political office. The group, called Jetpac, trains potential candidates regardless of party affiliation with the goal of increasing civic engagement within Muslim communities. On right, Portland city counselor Pious Ali, one of the first African-born Muslims to hold public office in Maine. Photo by Ryan Caron King for NENC In Portland, Maine, there's a Muslim politician who's already gained substantial political clout. A newly-elected city counselor, he’s working to get out the vote. Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever introduces us to Pious Ali. Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong. Photo by Tom Hines, courtesy of Ocean Vuong. “I always had the sense that I was a perpetual trespasser, a guest. And in a way, we were.” – Ocean Vuong More than a million Vietnamese came to the U.S. as refugees in the years after their civil war ended. More than 65 thousand Vietnamese make New England home. Now another massive wave — dislocated Syrians — are seeking safety. It is unclear just how many will be allowed into the U.S. under the Trump administration. These two very different cultures share a common experience. New England Public Radio’s Jill Kaufman shares a profile of Ocean Vuong, a Vietnamese poet from Hartford, Connecticut who is reaching out to the new refugees. Fabric and Paper American Roots top stitcher Duaa Khalifa. Photo by Patty Wight for Maine Public In Portland Wednesday, Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree held a roundtable with business leaders to highlight the role of immigration in Maine's economy. For the venue, Pingree chose a small made-in-the-U.S. clothing company called American Roots, which employs mostly immigrants. Maine Public Radio's Patty Wight visited in October 2016, when the company was about a year old. Artist Pablo Helguera said that despite continuing growth in the U.S. Latino population, access to books in Spanish is disappearing. That’s the impetus behind a traveling bookstore/art installation that’s making it’s temporary home in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. WBUR’s Simón Rios paid a visit. Project Urbano Director Stella Aguirre McGregor standing in the middle of the current exhibition Librería Donceles, a participatory art project consisting of a traveling bookstore of more than 10,000 used books in Spanish. Photo by Jesse Costa for WBUR About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Kathleen Masterson, Cassandra Basler, Shannon Dooling, Fred Bever, Jill Kaufman, Patty Wight and Simón Rios Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. Find all of the stories from the New England News Collaborative’s Facing Change series. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and tell us how demographics are changing in your community at next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week, we look at how the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — the Northeast’s plan to cut carbon emissions — has been working, and what the shifting political environment might mean. We dig into a new study about plans to expand natural gas capacity in New England. On a farm in Vermont, we find out what's really worrying the young people working the land. We also track predators, fly through the air, and dash through the snow pulled by a horse, minus the sleigh. Sliding Otters and Flying Skiers Student Xochitl Ortiz Ross observes a mark on the ice, where an otter has traveled across by sliding on its belly. Photo by Jennifer Mitchell for Maine Public Radio This month, students from College of the Atlantic in Maine are trekking across ice covered lakes and bushwhacking over frozen marshes on behalf of Acadia National Park. As Maine Public Radio's Jennifer Mitchell reports, they’re checking the pulse of the park, by tracking it’s most fearsome predator: the river otter. Stephen Ressel, biology professor at College of the Atlantic, leads the research project. Photo by Jennifer Mitchell for Maine Public Radio The state of Connecticut is not known for big mountains. But if you travel to the far northwest corner, the Berkshires rise to nearly 2400 feet in the tiny town of Salisbury. It's there that you find a little piece of Nordic sporting history. For 91 years, Salisbury has been hosting “Jumpfest,” a celebration of ski jumping. During the main event, skiers in brightly colored suits fly off a snow-covered ramp, on top of a 220-foot hill. Judges in the tower watch as a jumper passes by. The competitors are judged on their distance and style. Photo by Ryan Caron King for NEXT Skijoring, 1930. Location unknown. Photo from Nationaal Archief via Flickr Spectators ring cowbells and drink hot toddies, but this isn't just for fun. The competition is a qualifier for the junior nationals, and most of the jumpers on the big hill are between 12 and 16. NEXT producer Andrea Muraskin and photographer Ryan Caron King pay a visit. Scroll to the top of this page for a slideshow of Ryan’s photos from the event. Now, from ski jumping, to skijoring. Never heard of it? Skijorers are pulled across the snow by a horse, a dog or a snowmobile. Skijoring had its moment of glory back in 1928, as a demonstration sport at the Winter Olympics. But enthusiasts are trying to bring it back, as New Hampshire Public Radio’s Emily Corwin reports. Affordable Care Taylor Hutchinson and Jake Mendell started Footprint Farm in Starksboro about three years ago. They sell vegetables, eggs, and meat through their CSA. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR Making a living as a farmer is full of challenges. It’s often grueling work that relies on unpredictable factors such as weather and global market prices. But one aspect that’s often ignored is the cost of health care. Vermont Public Radio reporter Kathleen Masterson spoke with University of Vermont researcher Soshanah Inwood, who is studying how health care policy affects farmers trying to grow their businesses. And she caught up with some young farmers who say they’d struggle to run their farm without Affordable Care Act subsidies. Jake Mendell of Footprint Farm says he chose farming because he’s passionate about it, but it’s challenging to make a viable living with current food prices. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR If the Affordable Care Act is repealed without a replacement, hospitals in Rhode Island and around New England could take a hit. Rhode Island Public Radio's Kristin Gourlay tells us that includes money to help cover care for low income patients. And it threatens a new way of paying for patient care. Power Up Environmentalists are eyeing the new Trump administration with skepticism. The president's choice to be head of the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, has been battling that agency for years, suing the EPA 14 times, and working against efforts to cut carbon emissions. Republican Maine Senator Susan Collins said she wouldn't support the nomination: “His actions leave me with considerable doubts about whether his vision for the EPA is consistent with the agency's critical mission to protect human health and the environment,” Collins told Maine Public Radio. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative limits emissions from power plants, like this one in Bridgeport, Conn. Some advocates want to expand the program to cover emissions from cars. Photo by Iracaz for Good Free Photos. New England states are some of those taking the lead on cutting greenhouse gasses. Since 2009, all six New England states, plus Delaware, New York, and Maryland, have worked together in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. RGGI is a cap-and-trade system for energy producers in the nine states. Conceived during the Bush administration, RGGI’s emissions targets are above what the EPA requires. The collaboration has been working, says our guest, environmental reporter Benjamin Storrow. But the new administration may create difficulties for expanding the region’s pollution restrictions further. Storrow has reported on this question for Climatewire from E&E News. A graph from the Synapse Energy Economics report “New England’s Shrinking Need for Natural Gas.” Courtesy of Synapse Energy Economics. One key to New England's success in cutting greenhouse gas emissions is the move away from coal plants to renewables, and cleaner-burning fuels. That's meant a shift to natural gas as the region's dominant energy source. Electric utilities have been making the case for years that even as we rely more on wind and solar power, there's a growing need for natural gas infrastructure . But a new report from Synapse Energy Economics takes the opposing view. It says the need for gas is actually shrinking — because of laws mandating more renewables — and because of the high cost of building pipelines like the proposed Access Northeast Plan. Our guest Pat Knight is a senior associate with Synapse Energy Economics, and one of the authors of the study. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Kathleen Masterson, Kristin Gourlay, Jennifer Mitchell, Emily Corwin, Ryan Caron King Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and pictures of your favorite New England winter sports to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week, we take a rare look a gigantic battery that's helping to balance our region's energy grid. Plus, we get perspective from Maine’s top energy official, who is stepping down. We also take trips to a tiny island where opioid addicts go to seek treatment, and to the city that inspires the country’s most famous horror writer. And we learn what charitable donations — or lack thereof — say about New Englanders. The road into the entry portal of the hydro-electric power plant in Northfield Mountain. At 33-feet in diameter, the tunnel is nearly a mile long and leads 750 feet deep into the heart of the mountain. (Credit: Jesse Costa/WBUR) Finding the Right Energy Mix Today’s batteries come in all shapes and sizes. The largest in New England — and once the world — was built 45 years ago and is still working. But it’s hidden, on top and deep inside a mountain in north-central Massachusetts. WBUR’s Bruce Gellerman reports from Northfield Mountain. Inside the Northfield Mountain pumped storage hydroelectric station. (Credit: Jesse Costa / WBUR) The upper reservoir is the battery that powers the Northfield Mountain pumped hydro-electric plant. It holds more than five billion gallons of water. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) In Maine, Republican Governor Paul LePage's energy director is stepping down from his job at the capitol. “Augusta is really broken,” Patrick Woodcock, who held his position since 2013, told the Portland Press Herald. “Energy policy is really complicated and there's an over-reliance on special interests,” he said. Patrick Woodcock, director of the Governor’s Energy Office in Maine, is stepping down this week. (Credit: Mal Leary/ Maine Public Radio) Woodcock says he wants to keep working in energy, in Maine, outside of state government. As our region aggressively moves toward more renewable sources of power, he says we need to stay focused on bringing down costs for consumers and businesses. We recorded our conversation with Woodcock on Tuesday. Since, we’ve learned that President-elect Donald Trump has picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the EPA. Pruitt has been a close ally of fossil-fuel companies, questions the human impact on climate change, and has been sharply critical of EPA regulations. We asked Woodcock – as someone who served in the administration of Paul LePage, a governor who has been likened both politically, and in temperament to Donald Trump – what he thinks the impact of Trump's national energy policy might be on Maine and New England. You won't hear Woodcock's response to this appointment – because, at the time, we had fewer specifics. But he did have some interesting thoughts on the issue. Treatment Island Brett, a program participant at Penikese, learns how to chop wood. (Credit: Karen Brown/NEPR) About a dozen miles off the coast of cape cod sits a rustic island named Penikese, near the end of the Elizabeth Island Chain. A hundred years ago, Penikese was home to a leper colony. Later it housed a school for troubled boys, and a bird sanctuary. This past fall, Penikese opened to its newest incarnation: a treatment program for young men suffering from addiction. The program’s participants live simply: using kerosene lamps and cooking on a wood-burning stove, and minimal access to the internet. New England Public Radio’s Karen Brown takes us there. New Englanders Give Less to Charity, Stephen King Excepted Bangor, Maine is one of the most famous towns in the world, though some may not realize it. Fans of renowned horror author Stephen King know Bangor well, but by another name: Derry. The fictional town is a thinly disguised version of Bangor, where the author has lived for decades. Derry appears in many of King's stories and provides the major setting for the novel “It.” Maine Public Radio's Jennifer Mitchell took a tour of the real Derry with a tour company exclusively devoted to showcasing Stephen King's Bangor. A family poses in front of Stephen and Tabitha King’s home in Bangor Maine during a King-themed tour. (Credit: Jennifer Mitchell/Maine Public Radio) Alongside his wife Tabitha, Stephen King has given millions to public projects in Bangor, according to the city’s Community and Economic Development Department. The Kings have quietly funded upgrades to libraries, fire departments, baseball diamonds and more around Maine. But New Englanders in general look less than generous compared with people in other parts of the country. We give an average of less than three percent of our household incomes to charity, compared to the national average of 4.7 percent. Of course within New England, some states give more than others. With the holiday season upon us, Connecticut-based columnist Susan Campbell took a hard look at household charitable giving in a recent article for the New England News Collaborative. We sat down with Susan and Jim Klocke, CEO of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network. Create column charts About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Bruce Gellerman, Karen Brown, Jennifer Mitchell, Susan Campbell Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, “The Mountain” by the Heartless Bastards Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and pictures of your corner of New England to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Reliably “blue” New England turned several shades of red on Election Day, November 8. President-elect Donald Trump picked up an electoral college vote in northern Maine, and essentially tied Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire (the race has been too close to call for days). Republicans won the governors’ races in New Hampshire and Vermont. Jenny Cheung of Braintree, Mass. was volunteering for Donald Trump in Nashua, New Hampshire and election day. Cheung told reporter Shannon Dooling she was volunteering in New Hampshire because it’s a swing state. (Credit: Shannon Dooling/WBUR) Republicans also took some hard defeats. New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte lost her seat to Democrat Maggie Hassan. Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts worked hard on two ballot initiatives, neither of which went his way. Meanwhile, we saw long lines at polling places and very high turnout. We turn to turn to a few of our reporters who covered the issues, and talked to voters. Later in the show, a dying tree gets a second life in Vermont, and the Delta Blues thrives in Portland, Maine. The Purple Zone I felt like some people were gonna call me an idiot if I voted for one person, other people were gonna call me an idiot for voting another person. If I voted third party I was an idiot ’cause I was throwing away my vote. If I didn’t vote at all I was un-American. It was a tough election this year. – Kristen Snyder, Nashua, New Hampshire We start up north, with the two states making the biggest national headlines and seeing enormous spending on TV ads: New Hampshire and Maine. Fred Bever reports for Maine Public Radio, and Emily Corwin is from New Hampshire Public Radio. Marijuana legalization advocates at the Yes on One Election Night event in Portland, Maine. (Credit: Rebecca Conley/ Maine Public Radio) First time voters at the polls in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Credit: Shannon Dooling/ WBUR) No on 2 Voters in New Haven’s Ward 7 wait outside to cast their ballot on Election Day. (Credit: New Haven Independent) Election Day in New England was not without hiccups. In New Haven, Connecticut, WSHU reporter Cassandra Basler met voters who had been waiting for hours — in the wrong line. And WBUR’s Shannon Dooling spoke with election monitors who told her ballots cast in the state’s new early voting system caused a holdup on Tuesday. Massachusetts Ballot Question 2, which would have allowed for 12 new charter schools to open each year, was the most expensive in the state's history, with about $40 million spent by both sides. Voters in both urban and rural areas rejected the measure, with 62 percent of statewide vote against. If you haven't been paying close attention, you might wonder why such a hard battle was fought over charters, in a state with such a strong reputation for public education. For analysis, we turn to Max Larkin, who has been covering the debate over Question 2 for WBUR's Edify. Mass. Governor Charlie Baker said he would “feel sick” if voters in suburban areas voted against Question 2 and voters in urban areas voted in favor. The results were quite different. (Credit: WBUR) Putting Down (and Tearing Up) Roots An hour into the process of felling a 109-foot slippery elm in Vermont. (Credit: Kathleen Masterson/VPR) One of the largest remaining elm trees in New England has died. But the wood from the 109-foot-tall slippery elm tree is heading on to a new life — as custom furniture. A percentage of the sales proceeds will support research to breed elms that are resistant to Dutch elm’s disease. The fungal disease, carried by an invasive insect, killed millions of stately elm trees across the country beginning in the early part of the last century. Vermont Public Radio’s Kathleen Masterson reports. View more photos from Kathleen’s story. Samuel James is a musician and storyteller with roots in traditional acoustic blues. But he's making his mark writing new songs, as well as covering those from the past. James tours nationally and internationally. He was born and raised in Maine, and calls Portland home. Samuel James is the producer of the web series Kitty Critic, which features Portland-area musicians playing in their fans’ homes… for their fans’ cats. His upcoming album, Already Home Recordings Volume 2 will be released next week. The profile featured here was produced by Shane Perry at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Emily Corwin, Fred Bever, Cassandra Basler, Shannon Dooling, Max Larkin, Kathleen Masterson, Shane Perry Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon, Samuel James Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and post-electoral ruminations to next@wnpr.org. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Credit: Rachael Bender via Flickr This week, disagreements over land and money pit neighbor against neighbor. In Vermont, the question is whether to build more wind turbines to help meet the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals. In Rhode Island, the fight is over which kinds of farmers get government help buying land. And with referendums that would legalize marijuana for recreational use on the ballot in Massachusetts and Maine, what’s the potential for a new black market in neighboring states? Plus, we get inside the head of the kind of embezzler who makes big news in a small state, and we visit an outhouse re-purposed as a ballot box. This Land Is Whose Land? Residents of Windham, Vermont WIndham, look over a map of the new layout for a proposed wind development. (Credit: Howard Weiss-Tissman/ VPR) Voters in the Vermont towns of Grafton and Windham will vote soon on a proposal by a Spanish renewable energy company to build that state's biggest wind farm. Vermont has aggressive clean energy goals — and plans like this are a way the state hopes to meet them. But the project has become politicized — the vote comes in the middle of a race for governor. It's also raised questions about just how far a big company can go to garner support for a controversial project. We’re joined by Howard Weiss-Tisman, Southern Vermont correspondent for Vermont Public Radio. You can find his recent report on the wind turbine controversy here. For more, a New York Times story zeroes in on the payments energy developer Iberdrola is offering residents of the two towns where the turbines would be built. Tess Brown-Lavoie co-founded Sidewalk Ends Farm five years ago in Providence on a small vacant lot that belongs to an absentee landlord. She supports the state’s program to help new farmers access land. (Credit: Ambar Espinoza/ RIPR) In Southern New England land is scarce. That makes farming really expensive. In fact, Rhode Island is the most expensive place to grow food in the country. To compensate, the state government has set up a program to acquire open space, and help new farmers buy land. But that attention paid to these new farmers — part of a “local food” movement that promotes small and organic farming — can cause a rift between them and larger family farms. Rhode Island Public Radio's Ambar Espinoza reports on this land acquisition plan, and the questions it raises about the government's role in setting the price of an acre of farmland. You can read Ambar’s story here. For more on the challenges of farming in New England – particularly dairy farming, check out our interview with the producer of the film “Forgotten Farms” in last week’s episode. Pot on the Ballot: Bootleggers and College Kids Stephens Hall on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono. Administrators there say they would increase prevention efforts on campus if marijuana is legalized in Maine. To receive federal money, public universities must prohibit marijuana and other drugs on campus. (Credit: Yassie via Wikimeda Commons) When voters in Massachusetts and Maine head to the polls this November, they'll be faced with ballot questions about whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Big money has flowed into the campaigns on both sides, sparking arguments about bringing an end to the failed “war on drugs,” over the science of how dangerous the drug is, and how legal pot might affect the ongoing opioid epidemic. But, as Fred Bever from Maine Public Radio reports, Western states that have already legalized face challenges that some Maine voters are worried about. The concern is over smugglers who set up shop in a “legal” state – and export it to states where it's illegal, untaxed, and even more profitable. As voters, college students in Maine might play a big role in whether the ballot question gets passed. Marijuana use on campuses is at its highest level since 1980, but as Maine Public Radio's Robbie Feinberg reports, students might not see any big changes even if the drug becomes legal. Both of those stories are part of Maine Public Radio’s reporting series “High Stakes.” Medical marijuana is legal in Massachusetts. But advocates for full legalization say the state’s seven dispensaries aren’t accessible for many. (Credit: Dank Depot via Flickr) As Massachusetts considers the question of legal recreational marijuana, it's doing so with a much different tax model than other states. The Massachusetts plan starts with only a 3.75 percent excise tax, about half of what Colorado imposes. Opponents say the low tax won’t cover the added medical costs of legalization. The topic was part of a debate presented by WBUR's Radio Boston, The John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and The Boston Globe. Small State Crooks and Scatological Democracy Is your town’s historical society at risk for embezzlement? You might be surprised. Do a little digging, and you'll find no shortage of embezzlement stories around New England. There was a tax collector in Anson, Maine for 42 years, who manipulated adding machine tapes to skim the top off excise tax payments when residents registered their cars, stealing over $500,000. A priest in Manchester, New Hampshire who spent diocese money on gifts and travel for a musician he was having an affair with. Also in New Hampshire, employees in three separate towns have been caught siphoning funds from the local historical society. When a listener of Brave Little State, the people-powered podcast by Vermont Public Radio asked the question: “What’s with the high occurrence of embezzlement cases in Vermont?”, reporter Angela Evancie started her investigation. The answer, to say the least, is complicated. Angela joins us to talk about it. Click here for her original story, along with a readable version. The rare “two-seater” outhouse with a mannequin representing Hillary Clinton. (Credit: Sean Hurley/ NHPR) Chris Owens always wanted an outhouse at his farm stand in Ashland, New Hampshire. Then during the construction phase, he had a Eureka moment. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Sean Hurley brings us the story. There’s more from Sean here. Chris Owens poses with a Donald Trump mannequin outside of his outhouse. (Credit: Sean Hurley/ NHPR) About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Howard Weiss-Tisman, Ambar Espinoza, Fred Bever, Robbie Feinberg, Angela Evancie, and Sean Hurley Music: Todd Merrell, “New England” by Goodnight Blue Moon Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and embezzlement tales to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This hour, we talk with NHPR reporters Jack Rodolico and Natasha Haverty about what life is like for people like Gene Parker — who had trouble finding shelter after getting out of prison — and others living on the “edge” of homelessness in New Hampshire. We also hear WBUR’s Meghna Chakrabarti as she explores the history of a Western Massachusetts company town still recovering after decades of PCB pollution in its river, just as that company makes plans to move to Boston. And with a growing bald eagle population and fewer available fish, Maine Public Radio’s Fred Bever tells us how America’s mascot is threatening sea bird populations in Maine. Meanwhile, VPR reporter Kathleen Masterson learns how to train a hawk to hunt for her supper. Homelessness in New Hampshire Gene Parker (left) with his friend “Red” Glodgett. (Liza Urena/Submitted photo) Gene Parker had been living on the streets of Concord, New Hampshire for five years. In January, he was hit by a car and later died. For New Hampshire Public Radio reporters Jack Rodolico and Natasha Haverty, Gene's story led to a lot of questions about homelessness in that state, and they tried to find answers. They discovered friends who looked out for Parker, a social worker who struggled to find him housing, and the reasons that was nearly impossible. Liza Urena points to one of the places her friend Gene Parker slept. She brought him meals and gave him rides almost every day, and helped him find safe spots to sleep. (Jack Rodolico/NHPR) Digging into homelessness in their state, Rodolico and Haverty also took a trip to a small town motel, where they met people with incomes, but still without permanent homes. We hear stories from their excellent series, “No Place To Go, Homelessness In New Hampshire,” and discuss possible solutions. “We look out for each other,” Ovi Charast (right) says. That night before he and three friends had slept on the floor of one room at the PK Motel. (Jack Rodolico/NHPR) Something Wasn’t Quite Right With the Water This past January, a corporate announcement rocked two New England States: General Electric announced it was pulling up stakes at its corporate headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut, and moving to Boston. In Boston, civic leaders cheered. In Connecticut, they pointed fingers. At WBUR's daily show, Radio Boston, they wondered about GE's history in Massachusetts. General Electric had a large plant in Pittsfield that polluted the Housatonic River, seen here, with PCBs. (Joe Difazio/ WBUR) Pittsfield, in far Western Massachusetts, was the ultimate company town, with life revolving around GE’s transformer plant. GE employed around 13,000 people during the plant’s heyday. But by the early 1990s, most of the jobs had left, and the town had to confront another problem – the decades of contamination to the Housatonic River, which winds through the Berkshires, into Connecticut, and finally into Long Island Sound. The contamination came from PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls. The government declared them a probable human carcinogen in 1979, and the chemicals were banned. But in Pittsfield and downstream, the damange had already been done. In our next episode, we'll look at where the cleanup efforts stand. But listen to this episode to hear Radio Boston's Meghna Chakrabarti tell us a lesser-known story: about the people who worked at the GE plant in Pittsfield, and their complicated feelings about General Electric. You can find the original story and more photos on WBUR’s website here. When Eagles Come Home to Roost Watch this rare video of a Bald Eagle raiding our @exploreorg Osprey nest: https://t.co/cadkFVLEnB pic.twitter.com/7uROA6R9kV — Audubon Society (@audubonsociety) August 2, 2016 The bald eagle has made a remarkable resurgence in New England. The birds were driven nearly to extinction due to the pesticide DDT. In the 1970s, DDT was banned. Today, bald eagles are thriving on the Maine coast. But the osprey, cormorants and puffins they prey on? Not so much. Maine Public Broadcasting’s Fred Bever reports. You can find photos and a text version of Fred’s story here. “Your Hawk Was Really an Early Gun” Master falconer Rob Waite (Kathleen Masterson/VPR) Imagine if that marauding eagle could be coaxed to land on your arm, and employed as a weapon to kill prey you can't even see. That sport — or art — is called falconry: using eagles, hawks, or falcons to hunt for game. It's been around for thousands of years. It originated in China, and is practiced widely across New England. Vermont Public Radio reporter Kathleen Masterson went to learn more at the Green Mountain Falconry School in Manchester, Vermont. Director Rob Waite took her on a walk through the woods with two of Harris's hawks, named Monty and Wallace. A Harris’s hawk outfitted with “jessies,” which allow falconers to locate the birds during a hunt. (Kathleen Masterson/VPR) About NEXT NEXT is produced at WNPR. Host: John Dankosky Producer: Andrea Muraskin Executive Producer: Catie Talarski Digital Content Manager/Editor: Heather Brandon Contributors to this episode: Jack Rodolico, Natasha Haverty, Meghna Chakrabarti, Fred Bever, Kathleen Masterson, Chion Wolf, Irwin Gratz, and Sarah Ashworth. Music: Todd Merrell, and Wes Hutchinson’s “One Down Dog” Get all the NEXT episodes. We appreciate your feedback! Send praise, critique, suggestions, questions, story leads, and pictures of your corner of New England to next@wnpr.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Three topics: our guest's experiences while in China, as well as his making a living in the old traditional book industry, and now in the new ebook industry. Patrick Quinlan (best selling author) is our featured guest. Patrick Quinlan is the author of seven novels, including six thrillers written under his own name. These books include the crime novels Smoked, The Takedown (renamed The Falling Man for ebook publication), The Drop Off, and The Hit. Smoked made numerous bestseller lists in various parts of the world and was translated into four languages. He is the co-author, with legendary film actor Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Nighthawks, The Hitcher), of Rutger's memoir All Those Moments. Available in English and Dutch, All Those Moments was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Patrick is also the author of Thee Optimist, a blog about bad behavior, unintended consequences, and the absurdity of the human condition. He has been featured or reviewed in major media throughout the world, including the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the London Times, the Daily Mail, Entertainment Weekly, Maine Public Radio, BBC Radio News, and many others. He divides his time between Maine and Florida. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the September 10, 2014 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 57 minutes] This interview was recorded using Skype on August 27, 2014. Stephen Euin Cobb has interviewed over 300 people for his work as an author, futurist, magazine writer and award-winning podcaster. For the last nine years he has produced a weekly podcast, The Future And You, which explores (through interviews, panel discussions and commentary) all the ways the future will be different from today. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he has also been a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. Stephen is the author an ebook about the future entitled: Indistinguishable from Magic: Predictions of Revolutionary Future Science.
Topics: controversies and possibilities concerning: mind-uploading, robotics, human-like androids, sexrobots, the sexdolls of today (which are not robotic) human level artificial intelligence, as well as far greater than human level artificial intelligence. We also talk about Patrick's new novel, Sexbot (a novel about uploading ones mind into a human-like robotic android). Patrick Quinlan (best selling author) is our featured guest. Patrick Quinlan is the author of seven novels, including six thrillers written under his own name. These books include the crime novels Smoked, The Takedown (renamed The Falling Man for ebook publication), The Drop Off, and The Hit. Smoked made numerous bestseller lists in various parts of the world and was translated into four languages. He is the co-author, with legendary film actor Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Nighthawks, The Hitcher), of Rutger's memoir All Those Moments. Available in English and Dutch, All Those Moments was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Patrick is also the author of Thee Optimist, a blog about bad behavior, unintended consequences, and the absurdity of the human condition. He has been featured or reviewed in major media throughout the world, including the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the London Times, the Daily Mail, Entertainment Weekly, Maine Public Radio, BBC Radio News, and many others. He divides his time between Maine and Florida. Hosted by Stephen Euin Cobb, this is the September 3, 2014 episode of The Future And You. [Running time: 58 minutes] This interview was recorded using Skype on August 27, 2014. Stephen Euin Cobb is an author, futurist, magazine writer and host of the award-winning podcast The Future And You. A contributing editor for Space and Time Magazine; he has also been a regular contributor for Robot, H+, Grim Couture and Port Iris magazines; and he spent three years as a columnist and contributing editor for Jim Baen's Universe Magazine. He is an artist, essayist, game designer, transhumanist, and is on the Advisory Board of The Lifeboat Foundation. Stephen is the author an ebook about the future entitled: Indistinguishable from Magic: Predictions of Revolutionary Future Science.
In this week's 24 minute long edition of the weekend roundtable, I talk about, and play an excerpt of, our band of grassroots activists hectoring Big Green, Big Government and Big Trade outside the governor's mansion in Augusta, Maine. The latest skirmish in our fight to keep the western third of 940 acre wild Sears island from being turned into railyard and container port, and the estuary's nursery shoals from being blasted and dredged to let container ships come close to the island. Learn the important difference between the old "New England Sierra Club chapter" that protected Sears Island through state and federal courts in the 1980s and early 90s, and the present day "Maine Sierra Club Chapter" that received an award for signing off on the dismemberment plan So we go to Augusta on a hot May 22nd to challenge the Governor's Sears Island "environmental award" ceremony! Nature was on our side: way too hot to close the mansion's windows. Attendees at the Governor's Sears Island whackers award ceremony could hear our power bullhorned taunts and imprecations, and could see the coffined Rachel Carson speaking from the grave and the ghost, too of Sierra club founder John Muir, who gave Sierra Club a Rubber Duck award for "quack environmentalism". The Kennebec Journal WBZ TV and Maine Public Radio came across from the ceremony and got the straight scoop from us.
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