Susan Sharon
Deputy News Director Susan Sharon is a reporter and editor whose on-air career in public radio began as a student at the University of Montana. Early on, she also worked in commercial television doing a variety of jobs. Susan first came to Maine Public Radio as a State House reporter whose reporting focused on politics, labor and the environment. More recently she's been covering corrections, social justice and human interest stories. Her work, which has been recognized by SPJ, SEJ, PRNDI and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, has taken her all around the state — deep into the woods, to remote lakes and ponds, to farms and factories and to the Maine State Prison. Over the past two decades, she's contributed more than 100 stories to NPR.
Got a story idea? E-mail Susan: ssharon@mainepublic.org. You can also follow her on twitter @susansharon1
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Churches are retiring their hymnals and organs, hoping to attract younger crowds, but at West Auburn Congregational in Maine, Charles Marshall has been playing for 70 years with no plans to retire.
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South Portland, Maine, has blocked crude oil from being loaded onto ships at its port. Environmentalists are cheering, but the Portland Montreal Pipeline Corp. says the ban won't hold up in court. -
The state could elect the nation's first openly gay governor this fall. But Mike Michaud only recently came out, and some question whether he deserves the backing of Maine's largest gay rights group. -
Benzodiazepines like Xanax and Valium are among the most widely prescribed drugs in the U.S. Patients and addicts often mix them with prescription painkillers — sometimes to deadly effect. -
In some states, the overdose antidote known as Narcan is becoming more popular among law enforcement. Not the state of Maine; that state's governor is opposing a bill that would put Narcan in the hands of more first-responders. -
The latest winter storm left parts of Maine feeling as cold as 45 degrees below zero. For the homeless, the blistering cold makes an already difficult situation challenging. Susan Sharon found people lined up at a city shelter, making the best of the resources available while outreach workers quizzed them about whether they had warm places to spend the night.
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He's the only man with two gold medals in Snowboard Cross from the Olympics, in 2006 and 2010. And now Seth Wescott of Maine is trying for a third in Sochi. But this time around, Wescott's recovering from a torn ACL and a broken tibia, injuries sustained during an annual snowboard trek in the rugged Alaska wilderness last April. Wescott knows it will be difficult to defend his title. But at 37 he's no shrinking violet. He's already setting his sights on the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, when he'll be 41 years old.
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Lots of New England towns have taken non-binding votes against tar sands oil, but residents of South Portland, Maine, are about to take a vote that could matter. They are considering an ordinance designed to prevent their port from being used to export tar sands to world markets via an existing pipeline that connects Maine to Montreal.
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In Maine, an unusual and historic process is under way to document child welfare practices that once resulted in Indian children being forcibly removed from their homes. Many of the native children were placed with white foster parents. Chiefs from all five of Maine's tribes, along with Gov. Paul LePage, have created a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help heal the wounds.
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The race for the state's open U.S. Senate seat has been dominated by three things: an independent former governor, third-party spending and a barrage of negative television ads. Among the casualties of the campaign have been the candidates' positions on the issues.
