Audio Archives
Description
Community Voices for Change is a talk show highlighting the work of individuals and organizations working to enhance the greater good of communities. Producer and Host Richard Rudolph begins each show with music from Sam Cooke’s Ain’t That Good News Album -“A Change is Gonna Come”. The show is also based on the writings of Howard Zinn and other writers who believe if we can get organized “Small acts” multiplied by hundreds, thousands of people we can transform our communities, the state and even possibly the world. Our sound engineer is Dennis Kirkpatrick.
Please scroll down below to see program descriptions and to gain access to the most recent shows (last five weeks) that have been archived.
4/21/25. Our guest today is Bradley Davis who is a member of the steering committee of the new Portland Tenant Union which was recently formed. He won a rent control complaint against his landlord last year. The goal of the PTU is to represent all renters in the city and monitor violations of the rent control ordinance which was passed several years ago. The broader goal is to try and push the city to be more preventative and punitive in their enforcement of this law because these violations have had monumental financial impacts on tenants. In the first few years rent control was in effect, hundreds of complaints were filed and dozens of violations were reported but no land lords were fined.
4/14/25. Our guest today is Flynn Ross who is the Director of Teacher Education program at the University of Southern Maine. She talked about the problems that teachers are facing today and the need to recruit new teachers which is difficult because of the low starting wages that new teachers in the state receive. She also talked about her role as the Principal Investigator on the state-wide Maine Teacher Residency project to support teaching candidates who are employed full-time in Maine schools while completing their teacher certification. We also talked about the program developed at the high school level that enable students to receive college credit for course work taken which gives them a head start at USM who are planning to become teachers.
4/7/25. Our guest today is Kate Sykes who was elected to the Portland City Council in November 2023. She represents District 5. The show focused on the ongoing housing crisis which has been decades in the making driven by rising cost, stagnant wages and a lack of public investment and what she hopes can be done about it. She talked about the vote that the Portland City Council took two weeks ago on March 17 to establish a new Mayoral Task Force to study and recommend a public-led social housing program which she sees as a decisive and historic step toward’s funding Portland’s future. She talked about how social housing can be paid for and how the development will make money while maintaining permanent affordability and where the startup cost will come from.
3/31/25. Our guest today is Jeremy Brecher who is the author of the Green New Deal from Below which was recently published by the University of Illinois Press.. Jeremy talked about what inspired him to write this new book about the original Green New Deal resolution that was submitted by Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez which called for a ten year mobilization to achieve 100% power generation from renewable resources, a national smart grid and energy efficiency upgrades for every residential and industrial building, decarbonizing manufacturing, agriculture, transportation and other infrastructure improvements. He pointed out that the green new deal has been largely blocked at the national level, bit it is thriving in communities, cities and states.
3/24/25. Our guest today is Bill Newman who is a criminal defense and civil rights attorney and is the co-host of Talk the Talk on WHMP 101.5 FM. He also writes a monthly column for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The show today focused on his most recent column entitled “Battling Trump’s War on Truth.” Bill talked about the benefits of DEI, why it is needed and why it has come under attack. He also talked about how laws can be used to stop Trump efforts to get rid of DEI practices and what ordinary citizens can do to help.
3/17/25. Our guest today is Ethan Strimling, a former mayor of Portland. He talked about why Maine’s budget should reduce inequality and not make it worst. He pointed out that income inequality is similar to what is faced elsewhere in America. The top 20% earn just over 50% of the income, with the top 5% receiving earnings about 23%. In Maine its 48.7% for the top fifth and 21% for those within the top 5% percent. Given this reality, Strimling talked about what Maine legislators should do. They should fund programs that help people to drive economic programs that create well paying jobs, provide direct assistance for people who are in need, making it easier and affordable for people to get health care and to ensure that families are supported by taking steps to address Maine’s childcare crisis.
3/10/25. Our Guest today is Representative Gary Friedman who was elected to the Maine State Legislature last fall. He is a member of the taxation committee and repress ts Bar Harbor, Cranberry Isles, Lamoine and Mount Desert. Gary founded Gary Freedman and Associates in 1992 and has helped dozens of Maine non profits raise over $100 million over the last 38 years. He also serves on the steering committee of Maine Climate Action Now and as chair, Emeritus of Climate to Thrive, the grassroots intiative to make Mount Desert energy independent by 2030. Gary currently serves on the Legislature’s budget committee and talked about the need for additional revenue to get the supplemental budget passed.
3/3/25. Our guest included Dr Aaron Handlon who is an Associate Professor at Colby College, Myles Harrison who is a student at the University of Maine in Orono, Joe Leonard, City Council member from Bangor and Peter Cole who is the president of the Maine Rail Group. Each of these speakers talked about why LD487 should be passed in the Maine State Legislature. It would require the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority to apply for a FRA I.D. Corridor Grant. For each selected Corridor, FRA initially awards the grantee $500,000 for eligible activities related to the initiation of a grantee’s Corridor development efforts including the development of a scope, schedule, and cost estimate for preparing a service development plan (SDP) for a Corridor.
2/24/25. Our guest was Senator Teresa Pierce who is the majority leader in the Maine Sate Senate. She represents Senate District 25 which includes Cumberland, Falmouth, Gray, North Yarmouth and part of Long Island and Yarmouth. We talked about her background, why she chose to serve in the Senate and how she was chosen to serve as the majority leader in the current Maine Legislative session. She also talked about bills that she is specifically sponsoring this year including LD34: An act to raise the minimum salary for teachers and that she has agreed to serve on Joint Legislative Committee on Transportation.
2/17/25. Our guest was George Lakey ,a retired professor at Swartmore College and a longtime activist, sociologist and writer. He is the author of several books including his latest which is a memoir: Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice published by Seven Stories Presss. He recently caught my attention. I received an email from him regarding Trump – he is not a king and he will lose when we fight back. We talked about why this point is stunningly important. Trump can lose when we fight back. He is not invincible and he is not all powerful.
2/10/25. Our guests today was Kim Kelly who is an independent labor reporter and a Teen Vogue Columnist who has omntrpodiced a mew generatopm tp ;apr policy and people. She is also the author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold Story of American Labor which was published by Simon & Schuster in late 2023-24. The book is a fascinating account of different workers who have fought for better wages as well as for basic respect and dignity on the job. Her focus was on autoworker,s miners, teamster, farm workers, disabled workers, sex workers and prisoners.
2/3/25. Our guest was Sarah Alexander who is the Executive Director of MOFGA. She talked about the work that MOFGA does for organic farmers in Maine as well as organic gardeners. So also talked about the new challenges that organic farmers are facing now Republicans control both the House and Senate as well as the presidency and what happening with farmers who have spread municipal slugs over their fields and what the Maine government has done to rectify the damage that was done by encouraging famers to spread sludge on heir fields as fertilizer.
1/27/25. Our guest was Jackie Sartoris who is the current Cumberland County District Attorney. Jackie was elected to this position in 2022 and her present term will end in 2026. She recently received great news regarding her office receiving nearly $2.5 million dollars 3 year federal grant award for the Cumberland County Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. This award will make Cumberland Country a leader in pursuing and securing justice for sexual assault survivors. It will eliminate the current backlog of over 500 cases of untested kits that are sitting on shelves at various law enforcement offices in Cumberland County.
1/20/25. Our guest today was James Myall, who is a policy analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy. He spoke about a recent article that he has written regarding how immigrants contribute to the Maine’s economy. New immigrants actually help create more jobs by increasing the amount of activity in the economy. He also talked about how the existing immigration system can be improved such as opening more authorized pathways to entry, and removing barriers which stop new arrivals from working and contributing immediately. Restricting or reversing immigration won’t make us stronger. It will only divide our communities, undermine our prosperity and lose America’s greatest strength.
1/13/25. Our guest today was Silky Shah, the executive director of Detention Watch Network who is also the author of a new book entitled Unbuild Walls published by the Haymarket Foundation. Her book is an eye opener regarding the relationship between the criminal justice system and the immigration enforcement system. In the past 30 years the U.S. government has created a crisis at the southern border and the border crisis is a right wing project that over time has been accepted by the Democratic Party and mainstream media. A a result the border now operates as a negative fantasy space for the political right that the Democrats have ceded to them for decades.
1/6/25 . Our guest was Cole Cochrane who is he cofounder of Maine Youth Action and Jackson Chadwick who is the Advocacy and Organizing Director at the Maine Youth for Climate Justice. They talked about the recent merger of the two organizations going forward and what they believe can be accomplished over the coming years. They also talked about the current issues and demands of the combined organization such as a green new deal that prioritizes climate, social, racial, and economic justice which would includes enforcement mechanisms,, and paves the way to a sustainable society and a just tradition to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
12/30/24. Our guest was Jessica Lockhart who is the current program director at WMPG, the University of Southern Maine Radio station who planned to retire at the end of this month. She is also a lecturer in media studies at the University of Southern Maine and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow in Dance Criticism. The show focused on how she first got involved with public radio, what she has been able to accomplish over the years and her plans going forward into the future. Over the years she produce the Homeless Marathon Broadcast and have trained hundreds of volunteers who produce radio shows each week.
12/23/24. Our guest was Gia Drew who is the executive director of Equality Maine. The show focused on what may happen given that Donald Trump will serve as the 47th president of the United States. Gia talked about his concerns based on what will happen when Donald Trump takes office . He talked about existing laws in Maine which will provide protection for health care practitioners who provide gender-affirming health care and reproductive health services in the state. Gia also talked bout some of the most outrageous proposals that were considered by the Maine Legislature during the past legislative session such as an Act to Eliminate Critical Race Theory, Social and Emotional Learning and Diversity. Equity and Inclusion in school curricula.
12/16/24. Our guest was Allen Woods who is the author and free lance writer and editor who writes op-eds for the Greenfield Recorder, Northampton Gazette and other local papers in Massachusetts. He is also the author of the Sword and Scabbard: Thieves and Thugs and the Bloody Massacre in Boston which was published in 2015. The show focused on a recent op-ed that he has written regarding unbiased news. He believes it will always exist since it is written by necessary biased human beings or groups or programmed AI bots. He believes we should understand our own biases and those of the sources we choose. His best advise is to rely on sources that admit their biases rather than hiding it and analyzing are own personal biases and venturing outside our comfort zone and being humble by realizing that some of what we believe now is wrong.
12/9/24. Our guest were Amy Valentine who is the executive director of the Gorham Arts Alliance and Ericka Grover who is the Correction Education Programs Coordinator at then Maine Correctional Center in Windham, Maine. The show focused on the Ceramic art Program at the Maine Correctional Center and other educational opportunities at the Center such as self-awareness sessions, decision making, examining individual reoffending risks and triggers, substance abuse treatment, behavioral treatment and finial management. There is also an opportunity to participate in obtaining GEDs, taking college classes and learning a trade.
12/2/24. Our guest was Nacole Palmer who is the executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. The show focused on her agency’s effort to get a red flag law on the Maine ballot next year. The Maine State Legislature considered adopting such a law last Spring, but it was never voted on by the full House or Senate. The law would enable law enforcement to ask for a court order that temporarily removes guns from an individual who is at serious risk of harming themselves or others with a firearm and prohibits the person from buying new guns. She pointed out that 21 states have adopted red flag or extreme risk protection orders including Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
11/25/24. Our guest was Craig Freshly who is a professional meeting facilitator, public speaker, trainer and author of several books including Together We Decide: an Essential Guide for Good Croup Decisions published in 2022. The show focused on what is needed for groups to make good decisions and how to talk to each other across the political divide. Craig also talked about the make shift coffee houses which were held in Brunswick and elsewhere in the state regarding this matter.
11/18/24.. Our guest was Andy O’Brien who is the communication director for the Maine AFL-CIO. The show focused on a recent piece that Andy has written and was published at the AFL-CIO blog entitled – “A History of Anti-Catholicism and Xenophobia in Maine.” He pointed out there isn’t any thing new about anti-immigrant rhetoric which is meant to stoke anger, fear and resentment. Wealthy corporations and their hand picked politicians have used racism and xenophobia to divide the working class for hundreds of years. It’s a tactic that has been used repeatedly over the centuries.
11/11/24. Our guest was Dr. Quixada Moore-Vissing, the founder and Principal of Public Engagement Partners. The show focused on a just released report entitled Strengthening Maine’s Civic Life: Trust, Belonging, and the Future. She talked about some of the key findings: Maine ranks first in the nation in attending public meetings and participating in groups, but a plurality of residents experience barriers to civic participation including lack of information about civic engagement opportunities and a feeling that their participation will not make a difference to public outcomes. 70% of Maikners are hopeful about the future but there are reasons to be concerned that this is a fragile, rather than a stable or working consensus. Most Mainers are pessimistic about the future of Maine’s children, with majorities believing tha they will have to leave home in order to find economic opportunity and security.
11/4/24. Our guests were Bambi Jones and David Traci Moskovitz who are the first Mainers to win the New England Leopold Conservation Award since it was established in 2003. The show focused on what that they have done on their farm and their work creating Hidden Valley Nature Center in Jefferson, Maine. Established in 2009 as a nonprofit educational organization, Hidden Valley Nature Center has over 1,000 acres of protected land with campsites and miles of trails. Nature and forestry programs have been offered to thousands of participants over the center’s 15 years in operation. They sold the center to the Midcoast Conservancy 2016,, The Center’s management is focused on enhancing the value of timber, wildlife habit, water quality and recreation.
10/28/24. Our guest was Steven Miller who is one of the Isleboro Island Trust Founders who has served as the executive director since 1985. The show focused on off shore wind technology and why his organization is opposed to siting an offshore wind port on Sears Island. He talked about the negative impacts it would have and stated it should instead be built on Mack Point which seems to be the best option given price and environmental impact.
10/21/24. Our guest was Kevin Young who is an associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. The show focused on his new book entitled Abolishing Fossil fuels: Lessons from movements that WON. The movement to end slavery, the battle for worker rights in the 1930’s, the black freedom struggles of the 1960’s and the fight for clean air in the 1970’s provide invaluable lessons which show how we can win a global green transition that is both rapid and equitable by building a multiracial, working-class climate movement.
10/14/24. Our guest was Andrea Freeman who is a pioneer in the field of food politics and is the second century chair at the South Western Law school in Los Angeles. She has recently written a brilliant new book entitled Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School lunch. The book traces the long standing alliance between government and food industries that have produced gaping racial health disparities by the marketing of unhealthy goods that target marginalized communities, causing diabetes, high blood pressure and premature death.
10/7/24. Our guest Ethan Strimling, a former Mayor of Portland, Maine, talked about an option piece which was recently published in the Maine Beacon entitled “Maine Voters are on the Left -Dem lawmakers should govern for them”. Ethan talked about the poll that showed that 99% who identified as Democrats said they are center or left of center with 70% saying they are fully left. The same poll showed that 9% identified as socialists including 19% of registered Democrats. Given this information, Strimling believes Democratic leaders should start governing from that understanding instead of trying to placate a tiny conservative minority moving to the right, they should be listening to the majority of us.
9/30/24. Our guest was Tom Schaller is a professor of political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is the co-author of five different books including his most recent one entitled White Rural Rage, The Threat to American Democracy. The book explores why rural Whites have failed to reap the benefits from their outsize political power and that they are the most likely group to abandon democratic norms and traditions. He points out that despite legitimate grievances rural whites are increasingly inclined to hold racist and xenophobic beliefs in conspiracy theories and accept violence as a legitimate course of political action.
9/23/24. Our guest was Arthur Phillips who is an economic policy analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy. Last year, he created a blog entitled Farmers deserve the same rights as all workers. More recently he compiled a Farmer Workers Rights – An Explanation. The show focused on Maine farworkes, who they and what rights are denied and what can be done about it.
9/16/2024. Our guest was Rob Okum who is the editor of a book entitled VoiceMale: The Untold Story of the Pro-feminist Men’s Movement which was published in 2014. More recently Rob has written a column entitled “The Fifty-Year old New Masculinity” in the Northampton Gazette. The show focused on the state of the fifty year old movement and what needs to be done going forward. Rob pointed out that masculinity based on domination and emotional rigidity has failed men and that men have been working for five decades to replace those traits with compassion and vulnerability and they aren’t going back.
9/9/2024. Our guests was Todd Morse who is running as a District One candidate to serve on Portland, Maine City Council. Todd talked about what he hopes can be accomplished if elected. He talk about the need for affordable housing and social housing. He also talked about the need to redesign the Franklin arterial which would make the street safer, more accessible and more convenient to cross. It also would free city-owned land for affordable or public housing in the heart of the city and would enable the city to sell a portion of the property to fund new housing and avoid relying on property taxes. He also mentioned that the city should fund 15 minute transit service. This could be accomplished by designing certain areas as Transit Districts to capture tax revenue and use it to improve transit in those areas of the city.
9/2/2024. Our guest was Mathew Emmick, the director of the Dr. Charles A. Scoundras Labor Center at the University of Southern Maine. He talked the importance of Labor Day and how it relates to the goals of the labor center. He also talked about what the center has been able to accomplish in its first year and the work that it is doing with the Labor Climate Action Council to sponsor a meeting taking place on September 28 entitled Just Transition: Building Worker and Community Power to Tackle the Climate Crisis.
8/26/2024. Our guest was Austin Fredrick, the author of Barons: Money, Power and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry which was published earlier this year by Island Press. Barons is a wake up call about the food in our grocery stores. While we like to believe that most of our food is grown on family farms with pastured livestock and tidy croplands doting the countryside that isn’t the case at all. His book reveals the barons behind the brands, the families who have amassed fortunes in agriculture and food production by controlling markets and sweetheart public policy. Austin also talked about what can be done to reduce their power such as banning anti-competitive practices such as slotting fees and eliminating the massive subsidies for a handful of commodity crops in the farm bill.
8/19/2024. Our guest was Myles Smith who is a co-founder of Mainers for Smarter Transportation which is a coalition of individuals and groups that formed to advocate for an alternative to highway expansion in Greater Portland. He talked about why the organization is opposed to the Gorham Connector. He focused on its high costs, negative environmental impacts and how it will increase traffic and reduce quality of life. Overall, he believes the proposal is illogical and short sighted and is counter to the direction Maine should be going.
8/12/2024. Our guest were Peter Cole, the new president of the Maine Rail Group, Douglas Rooks who is an author and journalist and Jack Duffin who works at the Conway Scenic Railroad in New Hampshire. The show focused on the ongoing effort to restore and expand passenger rail in Maine and how it is vital to folks living in central and northern Maine. They also talked about what can be done to save the Mountain Division line and the “Lower Road”. Maine Department of Transportation plans to tear up the tracks on these state owned rail lines to make way for bicycle/ walking paths.
8/5/2024. Our guest was David Montero, the author of a new book entitled The Stolen Wealth of Slavery: A case for Reparations. Montero provides concrete evidence that much of the earth generat3d by slaves in America ended up in the hands of merchants and banks in New York City. For the most part they were opposed to abolition and inste4ad supported the colonization movement. To date only Morgan Chase is the only American company that has offered any type of restitution for profiting from slavery
July 29,2024. Our guest was Grayson Lookner who is running for a third term in the Maine State Legislature representing District 113 . He is also running for and at large seat in the Portland City Council. He talked about the housing crisis in Maine and how social housing could help solve this problem. He also talked about criminal justice reform and what can be done to reduce the effects of climate change.
July 22, 2024. Our guest was John Huer, a retired university professor and author of Dead End, The Psychology and Survival of the American Creed which was published in 1977. He talked about a recent op-ed piece that he wrote about how we are witnessing an astonishing historical event no human being has ever seen before a nation voluntarily abandoning its democracy to welcome autocracy and very possibly fascism and why it is happening.
July 15, 2024. Our guest today was Hamilton Nolan the author of The Hammer: Power, Inequality, and the STRUGGLE For the Soul of Labor recently published by Hatchet Books, New York. He talked about the myriad problems that workers face in this country such as poverty level wages, plant union busting and the obscene levels of income inequality. He also talked about the failure of some of the largest unions for not doing more such as organizing and fighting for workers.
July 8, 2024. Our guests today were David Vine, professor of Anthropology at the American University and Isa Arroyo who is a Northern Mariana Islander cultural anthropolgist and indigenous rights activist from Saipan. They are co-authors of a recently published article entitled “The Military Industry Complex is Killing US All.” They talked about the fact that not much has changed since President Eisenhower warned Americans about it in his fawell address. The total annual military budget is far greater than most people realize. 1.5 trillion a year is spent. This is monstrously out of portion to the few military threats facing the U.S. and primarily benefits military contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing and General Dynamics.
July 1, 2024. Our guest today was Wes Pelletier who is running for the Portland City Council 2nd district seat. The show focused on what can be done regarding the lack of affordable housing in the city such as enforcing and strengthening rent control, building social housing, restricting short term rental to owner occupied and give renters the right of first refusal to buy apartments put up for sale. He also talked about what can be done in the transportation sector to encourage people to rely less on having a car to get to work or to go shopping for essentials. The issue of tax fairness was also addressed as well as what can be done to make Portland more livable.
June 24, 2024. Our guest today was Marita Canedo, Program Director, Migrant Justice which is a grassroots organization in Vermont involved in the Milk with Dignity Program. This program brings together farm workers, farmers, buyers and consumers to secure dignified working conditions in the dairy supply chains. The program enlists the resources of the food industry leaders, such as Ben & Jerry’s that have made legally-binding commitments to protect workers’ human rights Those participating buyers provide a premium to participating farms that agree to work towards compliance with the labor standards in the Milk with Dignity Code of Conduct. The premium supports farms’ compliance with the code and rewards farms that comply.
June 17, 2024. Our guest today was Kathy Kilrain del Rio who is the advocacy and program director at Maine Equal Justice. The show focused on the organization’s efforts to get legislation passed which would provide rent relief to thousands of Mainers in response to an increase in evictions and soaring housing costs. Maine continues to experience a severe housing crisis. Rents are too high and cities and towns can’t solve growing housing problems on their own, while the state has a surplus, and expertise that could help. Rent relief under LD1710 would help people who need it the most, who are not being helped buy other federal or state programs, and can quickly reduce evictions while more homes are built and protect tenants from discrimination based on their source of income.
June 10, 2024. Our guest today was Senator Ben Chapman who is now running for a seat in the Maine House of Representatives. The show focused on why he is running and what he hopes to accomplish if elected to this office. He talked about the current housing crisis and the need for social housing and efforts to combat climate change in the state such as restoring passenger rail from Portland to Bangor, Maine.
June 3, 2024. 11:30-Noon, Our guest today was Kate Sykes who was elected to the Portland City Council last November representing District 5. The show focused on some of the issues that the city council has addressed since last year’s election. She talked about the homeless problem in the city and the role that the city, state and federal government must play to address the root causes of homelessness – unaffordable housing, wages that haven’t kept pace with the cost of living, privatized healthcare, and structural racism that perpetuates economic justice along racial lines.
May 27, 2024. 11:30-Noon. Sarah Alexander, the executive director of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association talked about the ongoing efforts regrding PFAS which are toxic forever chemicals which have been found in municipal sludge which has been spread on farms in Maine and elsewhere over the last three decades. On May 14, MOFGA filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. EPA for failure to regulate the application of sludge contaminated with PFAS chemicals under the Clean Water Act passed in 1987.
May 2o, 2024. 11:30 -Noon. Gia Drew, the executive director of Equality Maine talked about the recent surge of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric around the country. Law makers have advanced a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures. These bills target transgender and nonbinary people and seek to regulate nearly every aspect of their lives – from access to health care and bathrooms to the ability to play sports and change their legal documents to reflect their gender identity. Other policies seek to censor LGBTGQ+ topics in the classroom, out LGBTQ+ students to their parents, rollback protections against anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and conversion therapy, and rigidly define sex as male and female in legal codes. Gia also talked about what’ s happening in Maine and what can be done to offset the surge of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in the state.
May 13, 2024. 11:30-Noon. Our guest today was Thomas Harnett who is a former Mayor of Gardiner, Maine who has also served in the Maine Legislature from 2018-2023. He has also recently served as a Legal Policy Advisor to Rachel Talbot Ross, the Maine Speaker of the House. The show focused on Governor Janet Mills veto of several different farm bills which would have made farm workers eligible to earn the minimum wage which is currently $14.15 per hour in Maine. Thomas talked about the impact that the Governor’s vetoes have had on farm laborers in the state and how farm workers are treated in the other New England States.
May 6, 2024. 11:30-Noon. Our guests today were two women: Linda Small and Mackenzie Kelley who were previously incarcerated in the Maine Prison System. Linda is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a brand new reentry support organization specializing in a gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach for women, serving in Maine prisons and beyond. MacKenzie Kelly who is also a formerly incarcerated woman works at the Maine Prisoner Re-entry Center as a reentry specialist, peer support and recovery coach. She is the program director for Reentry Sisters. Both Linda and Mackenzie talked about the need for the new Reentry Sisters organization and what they believe can be achieved going forward.
April 29, 2024. 11:30-Noon. Our guest was Wren Patton who is a member of the national DSA organization which has recently established an eco-socialist working group. Its mission is to ensure that the transition to socialism in the U.S. is based on sound ecological principles, preserving the viability of the natural and human environments for future generations and other forms of life, while keeping in mind the historical and present inequities imposed by prior forms of society. Wren also talked about how the DSA’s Green New Deal differs from other environmental campaigns that have been waged in the past as well as groups which are currently involved today.
April 22, 2024. 11:30-N00n. Our guest was Kathy Leighton who is the executive director of the Restorative JusticeProject base in Belfast Maine. The show focused on the agency’s effort to promote justice that is community based, repairs harms, and creates safety and creates well-being for all. The show also focused on the agency’s latest effort to establish a restorative justice program for drug offenders. Natasha Irving the D.A. for Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo counties believes this new program has the potential to keep more of its graduates out of prison and in the community, which is one of the court’s overreaching goals.
April 15, 2024. 11:30 -Noon. Our guest was James Myall who is a policy analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy. He talked about an opinion piece which he has recently written entitled “Asylum seekers benefit Maine’s economy – lawmakers need to support them”. He mentioned that a new major study conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reveals that the cost to all levels of government providing support for asylum seekers and refugees during the period of 2005-2019 was offset by the estimated tax revenue from these individuals. He also mentioned there is evidence of benefits from immigration as well in the short run.
April 8, 2024. 11:30-Noon. Our guest was Scott Buddy, who is the Director of Policy for the Maine Labor Climate Council. He talked about LD2266, a bill that would grant a permit under the Natural Resources Protection Act for an offshore wind port that would remove a coastal sandbar off of Sears Island. He talked about the advantages of floating offshore wind turbines and mentioned that there are advantages for sighting the facility on Sara Island compared to Mack Point. Regardless of which site is selected he assured listeners that Maine workers would benefit.
April 1, 2024. 11:30-Noon. Our guest was Wendy Allen who served as the Young Adult Diversion Program lead and Advocate Design lead for the Restorative Justice Institute of Maine. She talked about the Young Adult Diversion Program which prover community based court diversion grounded in restorative practices in Cumberland and Androsoggin counties. Unfortunately, the program has been canceled because of the lack of funds.
March 25, 2024,. 11:-30 – Noon. Our guest was Daniel Czitron who is a professor emeritus of history on the Ford Foundation at Mount Holyoke College. The show focused on a column that he has written which was published in the Northampton Gazette entitled “Beyond the the Mideast Binary.” We talked about how the American news media outlets and political figures have framed the ongoing conflict largely aa narrow binary choice. Either one stands with Israel or supports the resistance, no mater the excesses and brutality on either side. He argues that we need to educate ourselves beyond tje simple binary of Israel v. Hamas.
March 18, 2024. 11:30 – Noon. Our guest was Kevin Van Meter who is a teaching fellow at the Charles A. condras Center for Labor and Community Education at the University of Southern Maine. The show focused on why unions matter today and what he hopes to accomplish at the new center. The discussion focused on a number of issues including what can be done to address the grotesque inequality in wealth which exist and the anti-labor bias of the political system in the U.S.
March 11, 2024. 11:30-Noon. Our guest was Sam Lovejoy an anti-nuclear activist who cut down a 500 ft weather tower in Montague, Mass in February 22, 1974. Northeast Utilities was planning to build a nuclear power plant. Sam action was an act of civil disobedience which led to the massive anti-nuclear movement in the 197o’s. Sam voluntarily turned himself in, was arrested and handed out a four page document explaining why it was necessary to engage in a public act of disobedience. A trial was held in the following year and the judge ultimately ended the trial on a technicality.
March 4, 2024. 11:30 -Noon. Our guest was Josie Phillips who is the state priorities Partnership Fellow at the Maine Center for Economic Policy. She conducts research into Maine’s tax and budget system and economy. We talked about her ideas regarding on how to secure housing for Mainers with low income and what’s wrong with Governor Janet Mills proposed supplementary budget.
February 26, 2024. 11:30 – Noon. Our guest was Craig Saddlemire who is a cooperative development organizer based in Lewiston, Maine. He talked about Raise-Op which is a housing cooperative in Lewiston, Maine and how it could be a model to help solve the growing housing problem in Maine. He described the mission and principles that support the mission and compared the cooperative model to shade space models and condominiums.
February 19, 2024. 11:30 – Noon. Our guest was Heather Spaulding, the Deputy Director of the Maine organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. The show focused on the advocacy work of the organization during the 131 Maine State Legislature. She talked about the current farm bill that expired this past September and the priorities in the farm bill for organic agriculture. She also talked about several bills that have been carried over to the 2nd session of the legislature including a bill that would provide farm workers the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining.
February 12, 2024. 11:30 – Noon. Our guest was Liz Trice who is a member of Maine Cooperative Development Partners which is planning to build cooperative housing in Portland, Maine. She talked about the advantages of cooperative housing and the Lambert Woods South Cooperative project which is located in Portland’s North Deering Neighborhood and how listeners can get more information about the process. She encouraged folks who are interested in cooperative housing to contact her directly.
February 5. 11:30 – Noon. Our guest was Corrine Watson who is the CEO and founder of Tiny Homes of Maine. She talked about the role that she played in convincing the Maine State Legislature to pass LD1981 which ensures that tiny homes can be built and sold in Maine reversing a previous mandate issued from the Secretary of State in June 2019 which banned issuing titles and registrations for tiny homes. She also talked about who is buying or building tiny homes in Maine and what are the advantages of buying or renting a tiny home.
January 29, 2024. 11:30 – Noon. Our guest was Tim Mikulka who is a member of the Third Act. He talked about the ongoing effort to stop the construction of new natural gas drilling sites in Louisiana and the export of methane gas to countries in Europe and Asia. Several members from the Third Act planned to participate in the demonstration that was to be held on February 5-6 at the U.S. Department of Energy’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
January 22, 2024. 11:30 – 12 noon. Our guest was Andy O’Brien who is the communication director for the Maine AFL-CIO. The show focused on what is happening in Maine regarding the labor movement. The show focused on how the labor movement s different in Maine compared to other parts of the country. It appears that young people are the driving the movement for organizing unions. While union membership rates have fallen with the closure of big unionized companies such as the paper mills the union movement in Maine is still beating.
January 15, 2024. 11:30 – Noon. Our guest was Michael Hillard, Professor of Economics and Labor History who has recently retired from the University of Southern Maine. The show focused on what has been happening to the labor movement over the past several decades. He taught about what led to the decline win the labor movement since the 1970’s and what is going soon nationally today. He also talked about the current status of the union movement and how growing economic inequality has led to greater interest unions.
January 8, 2024. 11:30 – 12 Noon. Our guest today was Sam Boss.. He is the Maine AFL-CIO new Apprenticeship, Workforce & Equity Director. He talked about what he hopes to accomplish as the director of his new program and the Union Academy Pre-Apprenticeship Program scheduled for January 15- February 16, 2024. The UCA is designed to prepare BIPOC individuals, immigrants, women, and other working class Mainers to graduate into a registered apprenticeship program as union carpenters, electricians, elevator constructors, iron workers, insulators, millwrights,plumers and pipe fitters and more, He also talked about how the Maine AFL-CIO staff and community partners provide follow-up support to help graduates identify and apply for apprenticeships that align with their interests.
January 1, 2024. 11:30 -12 noon. Our guest was Nacole Palmer who is the executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. The show focused on what she hopes can be accomplished during the upcoming Maine Legislative session. She talked about the gun safety rally that will be held on January 3rd at the Maine State House and the various bills that her group is working on such as Background Checks, 72 hour waiting period, Red Flag Protection orders and assault weapon bans. She also talked about the educational work of the organization. It prove an opportunity for citizens to give back unwanted guns on an annual give back day. It also provides free gun locks, and operates a pediatricians program to teach pediatric healthcare providers on how to best discuss gun safety storage with parents and guardians. It also provides info about how to safely store a gun and offers a community speakers program.
October 2, 2023. 11:30 – 12 noon. Our guest will be Bruce Gagnon, Co-founder and Coordinator of Global Network Against Weapons and nuclear power in space.
September 26,2023. 11:30 – 12 noon. Our guest was John Sheirer, who writes a monthly column on current events for the Daily Hampshire Gazette and is an author of a number of books including his last novel “Stumbling Through Adulthood : Linked Stories” published by Janice Beale Books. The show focused on his latest opinion piece entitled “Time for a functional Republican Party”, his latest novel and what he is currently writing.
September 19, 2023. 11:30 – 12 noon. Our guest was Representative Christopher Kessler who represents District 121 in the Maine State Legislature. He will talk about how he first got involved in tenant organizing and the bills that he has introduce which been passed over the past few years. He will also talk about his ideas regarding what can be done to solve the current lack of affordable housing in the state.
September 12, 2023, 11:30 – 12 noon Our guest was Kate Sykes who is a clean election candidate running for Portland’s District 5 seat. She talked about why she has thrown her hat in the ring so to speak and what she hopes can be done to resolve a number of issues facing folks living in the city including the homeless problem and the lack of affordable housing in the city.
September 5, 2023 11:30 -12 noon. Our guest was Carrie N. Baker who is a professor in the program for tje study of women and gender at Smith College. She talked about an op-ed that she recently wrote entitled ” Why we need leaders to stand up to anti-abortion extremists” which focused on the long standing problem of anti-abortion violence and intimidation against reproductive health advocates.
August 29, 2023. 11:30 -12 noon. Our guest Sarah Alexander who is the Executive Director of the Maine Organic Farmer and Gardeners Association talked about the legislative issues that MOFGA supported in the Maine State Legislature this year. She also briefly described some the new attractions at the upcoming Common Ground Fair which will be held on September 23-25 in Unity, Maine
August 22. 2023. Our guest was Ira Helfand who is the past president of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. He is also a member of the international steering group for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. The show focused on why it is past time to pursue a verifiable agreement among nuclear armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.
Augus 15, 2023. 11:30 – 12 noon. Our guest was Matt Eric who is the director of the new Charles A. Contras Labor Center which has just been established at the University of Southern Maine. The show focused on what the new community labor education center hopes to do to help build the labor movement for the working class here in Maine.
August 9, 2023. Our guest was Al Cleveland who is the campaign manager for Our Power, the citizen initiative to establish a consumer owned utility company in Maine. He talked about the effort underway and what listeners can do to help insure that the ballot intiative will be successful this coming November.
August 2, 2023. 11:30 -12 noon. Our guest was Andy O’Brien, Communication Director at the Maine AFL-CIO. The show will focus on several recent labor issues that have been addressed by the Maine Legislative and the Governor. We talked about LD 398 which would have made farm laborers in the state eligible to be covered under the state’s minimum wage law; Maine Offshore Wind Bill which passed after labor deal and the recent effort of coffee employees who went on strike after forming a union.
July 25, 2023. Our guest was Ethan Stripling, a former mayor of Portland, Maine who also served as a Democratic Senator in the Maine State Legislative for several terms. The show focused on Portland City’s ballot initiative process- what it is and why some folks would like to weaken it or get rid of it altogether. Last year, Portland voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed change in the city’s rent control ordinance that would have eliminated the 5% cap on rent increases landords are allowed to take when an apartment turns over. The Mayor recently led an effort which would have given the city council the ability to repeal a voter approved law just 18 months after it was passed. Fortunately the City Council voted 6-3 against the proposed changes to the city’s ballot initiative rules.
July 18, 2023. Our guest was Cole Cochrane who is the co-founder of Maine Youth Action and serves as its policy director. He talked about the organization’s mission and it goals. The mission is to fight for bold, equitable and intersectional climate policy in Maine at both the state and municipal level through youth voice, power and action. The organization recognizes the need for fundamental reform of our economic system and champions the Green New Deal and all that enables it. It addresses the reality that humans are not creating climate change or environmental issues: corporations are. The organization also recognizes the climate crisis is intrinsically linked to every other issue and that we we must work with other movements.
July 11, 2023. Our guest was Chloe Maxmin, the author of Dirt Road Rival and is a former member of the Maine State Legislature. She is now involved in creating a new organization called Dirt Road Organizing. She talked about how this new organization is different from other organizations that are training new leaders in Rural America. It will provide concrete tools and strategies at the state and local levels to support organizers, state legislators, and aspiring leaders who are working towards an equitable and just democracy in rural America. Our fights, she maintains, include free and fair voting, accessible and affordable healthcare, the right to choose what happens to our bodies, racial justice and transportation access.
June 27, 2023. Our guest was Representative Cheryl Goleck who is serving her first term in the Maine State Legislature. She is a member of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee and the newly formed Joint Select Committee on Housing. She talked about why she decided to run for a legislative seat and what she hopes to accomplish going forward. She talked about how being born into generational poverty and enduring years as a homeless teen and living in poverty for more than half of her life before finding her way to success has led her to serve in the Legislature. She has introduced a number of bills during the 131st Legislative session including LD 1720 – An Act to Establish the Maine Rental Assistance and Guarantee Program and LD 150 – a Resolve, Directing the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services to Study Placing Child Care Facilities in Secondary Schools.
The show will focus on recent efforts to ban books from school libraries in Maine as well as across the country. She will talk about why these attacks are not only an a assault on individuals, but also an assault on public education which is the cornerstone of our democracy and what individuals and parents can do to support schools and school librarians who may come under attack.
January 17. Our guest was Lauren McCauley who is the editor in chief of the Maine Beacon which is a daily electronic newspaper published by the Maine Peoples Alliance. Lauren talked about the importance of movement journalism, how it is different and some of the problems and difficulties that are encountered in Maine and elsewhere in the U.S. She also talked about the benefits and down sides of this type of work and why college / university students should consider this type of work.
January 11. Our guest was Dr. Sonja Birthisel who is a lecturer at the University of Maine’s Ecology and Environmental Sciences Department. She is also the director of the Wilson Center, a progressive multi-faith organization on the UMaine campus and was recently elected to serve on the Orono Town Council. She described how she has become a climate activist and first got involved in a protest effort to shut down the Merrimack coal-fire power station in New Hampshire and has been recently elected to serve on a 12 member coordinating council – ISO- New England which provides recommendations regarding future financial commitments to energy generators three years in advance to ensure the grid has extra energy during peak demand to avoid outages.
January 4. Our guest was Bruce Sleeper, who is the new president of TrainRiders Northeast. He has served as the organization’s legal counsel since its very beginnings in the late 1980’s. He recently testified before the Rail Use Advisory Committee which was established by the Maine State Legislature to consider what should be done with the state owned St. Lawrence Rail Line. He talked about why we should be opposed to any effort to remove rail, ballast,signals and other infrastructure on this line as well as the “Lower Road” from Brunswick to Augusta for a proposed walking/ bicycle path.
December 28. Our guest was Ethan Stripling, the former mayor of Portland who has also served in the Maine State Senate. The show focused on Ethan ‘s thoughts regarding the recent municipal election results that have been achieved and what he believes our city leaders need to do in the coming new year. He stated the Mayor and City Council need to robustly enforce and fund what was passed. His list included meaningful civilian oversight of the police department, stronger rent control and tenant protections and municipal clean elections and the independent ethics panel to ensure our leaders are operating on the up and up and to give the public confidence that backroom deal are not occurring.