HeyJaredSpeak Up with Laurel Libby
Speak Up with Laurel Libby is on a mission to give everyday folks the insight and confidence to speak up and make their voices heard, in Maine and beyond.Each episode breaks down the issues of the day… separating fact from fiction, translating policy into plain language, and…
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 7
- Latest publication
- Sep 15, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 7, 2026
Latest episodes
How States Compete (And Why Maine Is Losing) | Episode 18 with Grover Norquist (opens the original)
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Eight states now have ZERO income tax. Thirteen more are on automatic paths to zero. That's 21 out of 50 states moving aggressively to lower taxes and attract business, talent, and families. Meanwhile, Maine has the 5th highest tax burden in the nation. If you earn under $100,000/year (the vast majority of Mainers), you pay the HIGHEST income tax rate in all of New England. This is not accidental. This is strategic policy, and it's reshaping which states win, and which lose. My guest, Grover Nor
Proof the Lewiston Victims Fund Broke Its Promise | Bonus Episode with Amy Sussman (opens the original)
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Amy Sussman is back. Her nephew Max Hathaway was killed in the October 2023 Lewiston shooting, on the day he graduated high school. Two years ago she learned what donors were never told: of the $6.6 million raised for victims and survivors, $1.9 million went to 29 outside nonprofits instead, while victims and survivors split $4.7 million, an average of $29,000 a person. In this bonus episode, Amy brings the paper trail. An email from the fundraiser's own consultant and a letter on Maine Communit
A Maine Entrepreneur, Farming Since AGE NINE (opens the original)
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Brayden Nadeau started following his grandfather around a Maine farm basically from birth, and farming it for real at nine years old. By sixteen he was running his own vegetable stand, farming 10 to 15 acres, raising 18 head of cattle, and turning a Facebook page into national attention from Rachael Ray and Lester Holt. On this episode of Speak Up, Laurel sits down with Brayden, his grandfather Dan, his mom, and his grandmother at the farm on Hatch Road in Auburn to trace how a nine-year-old's f
Follow the Money | Episode 16 with OJ Oleka (opens the original)
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How fraud becomes your tax bill...What if the reason Augusta keeps asking you for more money is that no one stopped the money it already lost? Dr. OJ Oleka, CEO of the State Financial Officers Foundation, shows exactly how fraud takes root in a state budget, and what Maine could do about it.In this episode you'll hear: What treasurers and auditors actually do, and why an elected officer can stop a bad payment when an appointed bureaucrat has no reason to How a routine $5,000 contract becomes fra
Transforming Education with Accountability and High Standards | Episode 15 with Mike Miles (opens the original)
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Mike Miles took over Houston ISD (170,000 students, the largest district in Texas) in June 2023. The district was broken: 121 D and F schools, 1,900 chronically absent teachers, zero focus on instruction quality, financial chaos, and worst of all, kids failing year after year.In just three years, HISD transformed. From 121 D and F schools to nearly 200 A and B rated schools 13 of 20 state exams: above state average (previously zero) Reading and math proficiency gains three years in a row Teacher
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