A Reason Foundation report issued this week ranked Maine as having the 4th-best highways in the country, the only state in New England called “very good” for the shape of its roads.
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 inBusiness, Maine
A century after Prohibition, some Maine towns are still dry
Three dozen small Maine towns — home to more than 12,000 — have maintained bans on booze, beer and wine sales long after Prohibition’s national repeal.
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Racism at Edward Little highlighted in The Boston Globe
Auburn officials say racial issues at high school deserve more attention but insist the city’s high school is typical in the problems it faces.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Bates College receives its largest-ever federal grant
Nearly $4 million from the National Science Foundation will allow the college to create a new database of video images useful for research on artificial intelligence and neuroscience.
Posted inMaine, News
The strange tale of a Maine balloonist who vanished in 1885
Wealthy Frederick Gower disappeared after his balloon wound up in the English Channel and put an end to his plan to develop a way to drop dynamite on London or Paris in future wars with the help of wind-borne bombing.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine, News, Politics
Eric Brakey rounds up endorsements for congressional race
The Auburn Republican plans to announce formally next month that he will take on U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a 2nd District Democrat serving his first term.
Posted inMaine, News, Politics
Democratic ‘dark money’ group targets Susan Collins
Maine Momentum has reserved at least $722,000 worth of advertising through early January to ‘educate’ voters about Maine’s senior senator as she heads into a re-election year.
Posted inMaine, Nation / World, News
Researchers back Chellie Pingree’s efforts to keep agricultural agencies in DC
The Trump administration’s plan to move two agricultural research agencies to Kansas City has drawn sharp criticism from scientists and Maine’s 1st District congresswoman.
Posted inMaine, News
Was Margaret Chase Smith a ‘devil in disguise?’
Fiercely anti-communist, Maine’s legendary senator earned scathing criticism from the Kremlin as she eyed nuclear war to block the rise of the Soviet Union.
Posted inMaine, Nation / World, Politics
Maine’s lawmakers call for more effort to combat hate crimes
Though hate crimes appear to be down in Maine, the state’s senators and members of Congress say it’s important to address i t.