The News Makers

Susan Cover

Susan Cover has been a journalist for 24 years, working at newspapers in Kansas, Rhode Island, Ohio and Maine. In 2002, Susan moved to Maine to cover state government and spent 10 years in the Statehouse Bureau working for the Kennebec Journal. She covered state budgets, hundreds of bills, and referenda campaigns including bear baiting and marriage equality. In 2013, Susan was promoted to city editor at the Kennebec Journal, leading a team of reporters and photographers to put out each day’s paper. Susan is a graduate of Muskingum University in Ohio and has a master’s degree in newspaper journalism from Syracuse University. Most recently, Susan left daily newspaper journalism to pursue freelance writing and her other passion – taking run-down houses in Kennebec County and bringing them back to life. She lives in Augusta with her partner and their pets – Piper the cat and Wooley the dog.

Patricia McCarthy

Patricia McCarthy has been a journalist for 36 years, starting in Charleston, S.C. She moved to Maine in 1985 to be a Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram reporter. In 23 years there, she had writing, editing, page design and marketing roles in the news, features, sports, business, online and marketing departments. McCarthy then served as publisher of The Cape Courier in Cape Elizabeth for 5½ years. She has done freelance writing, editing, design and marketing/PR work since 1978 and has a photography business. McCarthy lives in Cape Elizabeth and has three grown daughters and a 12-year-old black Lab.

Steve Solloway

Steve once fantasized of becoming the next second baseman for the New York Mets. He turned back pitches from his Lutheran pastor and the Russian Orthodox Archbishop of North American to enter seminaries. A repentant sinner and student of human behavior, Solloway discovered the joy of factual storytelling through reporting. Over a 43-year career, mostly with the Kennebec Journal, Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram in his adopted state of Maine, Solloway won numerous national, regional, and news and column writing awards. He has asked questions of youngsters playing pee wee football and men playing in the Super Bowl. Lobstermen, actors, and U.S. senators. Boxers and bank presidents. Racecar drivers and climatologists. Everyone has a story and Solloway loves to listen. Solloway was inducted to the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame in 2016.