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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Some 60 of these so-called Violins of Hope that have been recovered from the Holocaust era are in Maine this month, where they're being played at various events.
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Maine Lobstermen's Association says it will go to Supreme Court to prevent more federal restrictionsThe Maine Lobstermen's Association says it will go all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary, to prevent more federal restrictions aimed at protecting endangered right whales.
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Internet service providers have formally abandoned their attempt to overturn a Maine law that protects users privacy by limiting the ability of providers to sell their customers' personal information.
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Former University of Maine Professor Andrew Egan has written a new book, "Haywire: Discord in Maine's Logging Woods And The Unraveling of an Industry." It's about the threats, both physical and financial, that have faced Maine loggers for decades.
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"The bipartisan Opportunity Maine tax credit, we expanded in this year's budget, greatly expanded, is probably the most generous student loan forgiveness program in the country," Mills says.
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After the state's most recent spike in COVID hospitalizations last spring, they fluctuated between 130 and 150 throughout the summer, but have trended upward in August.
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Despite Monday's rain, southern York county and the coast to Penobscot Bay remain in a "severe drought" condition.
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Monday night's rain likely eased the drought conditions that have worsened this summer.
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A proposal to convert 31 miles of the Mountain Division railroad to a recreational trail is moving toward a decision.
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While the data are so far limited, there do appear to be a few spots where sharks are gathering.