Irwin Gratz
Morning Edition Host and ProducerIrwin was born and reared in New York City and, while he never hiked miles to school, he did walk up six flights of stairs every day to the apartment his family lived in until he was nearly 19. Irwin remains a lover of subway rides, egg creams, and the New York Mets.
He moved to Maine in 1978 and worked a dozen years in commercial radio in Sanford, then Portland, before beginning to freelance for Maine Public Radio in 1990. He has been the local anchor of Morning Edition since September 1992.
Irwin served as chairman of the Maine Association of Broadcasters in 2015. From September 2004 to October 2005, Irwin served as national president of the Society of Professional Journalists, the nation’s largest and most broad-based journalism organization. He holds a master’s in journalism from New York University. Irwin won a Yankee Quill Award in 2011 from the New England Newspaper and Press Association for his “broad influence for good, both inside and outside the newsroom.”
Irwin also has an interest in astronomy, which he indulges to this day as an occasional show presenter at the Southworth Planetarium in Portland. And he swims, a lot. Irwin has completed seven Peaks Island-to-Portland swims. Irwin is married and has a teenage son.
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The Portland City Council will vote Monday on a proposed settlement with Federated Companies over a housing development that never came to fruition. -
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, in a conversation with Maine Public Radio, discusses her opinion about the $8 billion President Trump wants Congress to claw back. -
Republican Senator Susan Collins talks with Maine Public about the passed budget reconciliation billThe budget reconciliation bill President will sign Friday passed without the support of any of the members of Maine's congressional delegation, including Republican Senator Susan Collins. -
The federal government finds jobless rates in Maine's three major urban areas steady, about half-a-percentage point higher than they were a year ago.
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Federal figures paint a mixed picture f the state's economy in the January-March quarter.
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King told reporters the bill as written would be devastating for Maine hospitals and patients as well as food aid recipients, and would tax lower-income Mainers more heavily than higher-income Mainers. -
State Labor Department's latest figure shows a 0.1% decline to 3.4%.
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Greater Portland Metro will launch a pilot in July, providing service to Bath.
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The federal government is reporting the first increase in Maine job openings in four months. First-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose in the past week, but are continuing a longer-term decline as summer jobs open up
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Our basket of grocery prices cost about 5% more in May than it did in April.
