Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center

On this episode, we interview the authors of a 2018 MPR article entitled, “Our Path: Empower Maine Women Network and Leadership.” [00:00:00] Eric Miller: Welcome to Maine Policy Matters, a podcast from the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine. I’m Eric Miller, research Associate at the Center. Today, we’ll be following up on a […]

This episode of Maine Policy Matters explores an article by Lloyd C. Irland, “From Wilderness to Timberland to Vacationland to Ecosystem: Maine’s Forests, 1820–2020,” that examines the different ways people have viewed Maine forests over the last 200 years. [00:00:00] Eric Miller: For the first time in a hundred years or more, Maine’s total forest […]

This episode of Maine Policy Matter covers an article by James Myall, a policy analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy. James Myall’s article, “Race and Public Policy in Maine: Past, Present, and Future” explores the impact of historic policy decisions on people of color in Maine. [00:00:00] Eric Miller: Trying to understand the history of race […]

This episode of Maine Policy Matters explores the findings of a report on the use of road salt in Maine, “Road Salt and Maine: An Assessment of Practices, Impacts, and Safety,” which was published by the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center. They report presents the results from a research project by a team from the […]

This episode of Maine Policy Matters covers an article by James and Ann Acheson entitled “What Does the Future Hold for Maine’s Lobster Industry?” which explores problems the industry faces including shell disease, climate change, increased regulations to protect right whales, and economic uncertainty. The article also focuses on several approaches that could help protect the lobster […]

This episode explores how Maine can use Rhode Island as a model to guide offshore wind development in federal waters. This episode is based on an article by Mary Morrissey, “Maine and Offshore Wind Development: Using the Coastal Zone Management Act and Marine Spatial Planning to Influence Projects in Federal Waters,” published in Volume 31, […]

This episode of Maine Policy Matters explores Frank O’Hara’s commentary from Maine Policy Review’s special issue on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the article, O’Hara uses historical accounts from a 5-year-old survivor of the London Plague of 1665, Daniel Defoe, to compare the experiences of that plague and the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. […]

This episode of Maine Policy Matters explores the key to helping retirement-age business owners who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The episode offers data and strategies from Rob Brown, the director of Business Ownership Solutions at the Cooperative Development Institute based in Northampton, Massachusetts. Business Ownership Solutions works throughout the Northeast states with […]

This episode covers an article in Maine Policy Review by JG Malacarne, Jason Lilley, and Nancy McBrady, entitled “The Response of the Maine Food System to the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic,” which argues that reflecting on how the Maine food system weathered shocks early in the pandemic can help us prepare for future crises. […]

This episode is an interview with Liam Riordan, Adelaide and Alan Bird Professor of History at the University of Maine, where he has been on the faculty since 1997. Riordan was the past director of the University of Maine McGillicuddy Humanities Center and is a past board member of the Maine Humanities Council. To celebrate […]