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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Governor Mills has signed into law a bill that calls for construction of fencing along the Penobscot Narrows bridge that's meant to deter suicide attempts.
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Callaghan, who will retire at the end of this week after 43 years in television news, said in an interview that he initially envisioned a different future for himself in broadcasting: spinning his favorite records. He went on to cover a shuttle disaster in Florida, peace negotiations in Northern Ireland and countless other things back here in Maine.
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The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that joblessness in Bangor rose from 3.1% in September to 3.3% in October. Lewiston-Auburn's unemployment rate rose the most: from 3.3% to 3.6%. Portland-South Portland's increase was the smallest: 2.8% in September to 2.9% in October.
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On the Maine Turnpike and at Portland Jetport, signs are people are leaving earlier and may head home later.
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The latest Measures of Growth report from the Maine Development Foundation showed, among other things, that wages were up, but the state continued to face the challenge of having enough workers for the available jobs.
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King said the spending is needed to maintain a credible deterrence, especially for the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
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After an election that went particularly well for Maine Democrats, Maine Public's chief political correspondent, Steve Mistler, spoke with host Irwin Gratz about the results.
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University of Maine at Farmington political science professor Jim Melcher says that the performance of top Democrats was stronger than he expected.
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Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows says it's looking like voter turnout will be "very high" this Election Day, even after more than 200,000 Mainers voted using absentee ballots.
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To help kids understand and appreciate voting, author Sonny Dean of Corea, Maine has written a book One Equals Many. It's aimed at youngsters from preschool age to about the third grade.