S3E4 Antiracist Public Policy in Maine: Reflecting on a Troubling Past for a Better Future

A Lewiston Public Works truck lays down salt and sand as it makes its way up Pine Street in Lewiston during a past storm. (Sun Journal file photo)

S3E3 Winter Roads, Salt, and the Slippery Slope

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 […]

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In this Maine Public, May 21, 2012 file photo, Scott Beede returns an undersized lobster while checking traps in Mount Desert, Maine. Ocean temperatures are warmer-than-usual again in the Gulf of Maine, creating worries among lobstermen that there could be a repeat of last summer's early harvest that created a glut on the market and havoc within the industry.

S3E2 Maine’s Lobster Industry: What Does the Future Hold?

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 […]

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Maine Policy Review cover depicting an the word COVID with the "o" as a surprised face

Maine Policy Review, Volume 31, Numbers 1-2, Available

Maine Policy Review, Vol. 31, Nos. 1-2, is now available on MPR’s Digital Commons site. Print copies will be mailed to subscribers in late February. A brief look at the content of this issue is available on MPR’s website. Vol. 31, Nos. 1-2, starts off with the Margaret Chase Smith essay by Anna Kellar, which […]

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Cradle of Conservation

by Richard Judd Conservation history brings to mind epic battles over national parks, free-flowing rivers, and immense wilderness areas in the West. We should not overlook similar accomplishments in the East, however, where citizens and public officials pioneered the conservation movement well before John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and Theodore Roosevelt coined the term. Maine stands […]

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"Chart of Mortality of the Great Plague in London from 1665-6" used in Frank O'Hara's Maine Policy Review article showing the spike in cases between June and December of 1665 with cases spiking to 8,000 in September 1665 to represent the Maine Policy Matters podcast episode on comparing COVID-19 to the Great London Plague of 1665.

S2E8 Comparing COVID-19 to the Great London Plague of 1665

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. […]

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Employee Ownership Logo to represent the Maine Policy Matters podcast episode on sustainable small businesses and employee ownership.

S2E7 Sustainable Small Businesses and Employee Ownership

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 […]

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Maine Policy Review Volume 24 number 1 cover depicting the U.S. capitol building to represent a Maine Policy Matters episode that contains an interview with Liam Riordan on democracy and the humanities.

S2E5 Interview with Professor Liam Riordan on Democracy and the Humanities

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 […]

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