In its first online-only meeting, the RSU 16 School Board is eyeing a proposed $24.2 million budget that would increase spending in the three-town school district by 7.6%. The proposal spending plan, which is not yet final and will require public approval, hikes pay for teachers and support staff by 5%, adds a world languages […]
Steve Collins
Columnist
Steve Collins became an opinion columnist for the Maine Trust for Local News in April of 2025. A journalist since 1987, Steve has worked for daily newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Maine and served as the State House reporter for the Sun Journal since 2016. The Maine Press Association named him Maine's Journalist of the Year in 2022. Among his other awards are the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2016 Ethics in Journalism Award, the I.F. Stone Whistle-Blower Award in 2015 and the Bob Wallack Community Journalism Award from the New England Newspaper & Press Association. Steve is a founder and board president of Youth Journalism International, a charity that teaches students around the globe about news writing, media literacy and issues of the day. His wife, Jackie Majerus, serves as its executive director. Born in Massachusetts, he grew up in a military family that took him to Norway, Ohio and Virginia, where he earned a degree in history from the University of Virginia. He and Jackie live in Auburn. They have two adult children, two collies and not enough time.
Posted inFranklin, Maine
2012 Verso mill explosion in Minnesota was deadly
In 2012, an explosion and fire ripped through a Verso mill in Minnesota, killing one employee and injuring five others. The Sartell mill, which burned for days, suffered $60 million in damages and lost about $18 million worth of material, according to a report by the Minnesota State Fire Marshal. In that case, the blast […]
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Posted inBethel, Business, News
A $10 million condo complex planned in Bethel
The 38 units could be under construction later this year not far from the former train station.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Janet Mills seeks to help Maine’s struggling hunger relief charities
Maine’s governor calls for more federal help to secure more food and give priority access to emergency food providers.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Poland Community School principal taking new job in Gray
Rick Benoit, who’s been principal since 2012, will take the same role in July at Gray-New Gloucester Middle School.
Posted inBusiness, Maine, News
Maine’s many summer camps hope they can open this year
Staying closed all summer would be a ‘huge’ financial hit, Maine Summer Camps director says, and some camps may not survive.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Maine’s largest hunger relief charity is struggling to keep up
Facing soaring demand and shrinking donations, Good Shepherd Food Bank looks to Washington for help.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Maine’s Bicentennial Parade in Lewiston-Auburn rescheduled for August; same weekend as the Balloon Festival
The big parade in Lewiston-Auburn had been planned in May, but COVID-19 concerns forced its postponement.
Posted inMaine, Oxford Hills
Seeds of Peace cancels summer camps in Maine
The coronavirus pandemic forced Seeds of Peace to give up plans for its annual peace-building camps in Otisfield.
Posted inMaine, Nation / World, Politics
Maine’s delegation pushes Congress to provide more COVID-19 relief
Senators, representatives on Capitol Hill seek more help for everything from newspapers to rural hospitals.