In July, there were days when Androscoggin County didn’t see a single new case of COVID-19. Not anymore. On Friday, as the state reported 665 new cases and three more deaths, Androscoggin County registered new case levels not seen since the height of the pandemic last winter. To get a sense of how fast COVID-19 […]
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 inMaine
In wake of Texas law, abortion again becomes a hot topic in Maine
Pro-choice politicians decry Supreme Court’s refusal to block the highly restrictive new law.
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine, News
Lewiston cremation service owner issues apology to families
An attorney says Affordable Cremation Solutions owner Ken Kincer man was in the grips of substance abuse.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
A Bates College senior from Kabul helps save her family from the Taliban
Two sisters in America found Americans in Afghanistan to evacuate their parents and younger siblings.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Schools & Education
A near-normal Bates College welcomes a supersized new class
The Class of 2025, which arrived this week, hopes for an academic year that isn’t disrupted much by the pandemic.
Posted inHealth, Maine
State EMS regulators agree to give more time for some personnel to get vaccines
Fire and ambulance officials warned Monday the state’s vaccine mandate will lead to an exodus of firefighters and EMS personnel from already stressed staffs.
Posted inbPlus
They were winter weary, fed up and suffering ‘Ohio Fever’: How fleeing Mainers founded Maineville, Ohio
The tiny town in southwest Ohio was among the places Mainers settled in the 1800’s seeking a better life, and the town maintains a connection with Maine 200 years later.
Posted inHealth, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine
A longtime nurse in Lewiston vows to quit her job rather than get the shot
Defying expert advice, Annette Roy said she won’t get vaccinated as ordered because it is too dangerous to inject “a poison into my arm.”
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Distressed families sue Lewiston cremation firm accused of mishandling remains
A half dozen Mainers filed suit Friday against Affordable Cremation Solution, a business shut down in June by state regulators who say they found unrefrigerated bodies stacked in its basement.
Posted inElections, Maine, Politics
Republican Mike Perkins vows to beat Bruce Poliquin in primary
Calling himself ‘an average Joe,’ a state representative from Oakland said he’ll wind up as his party’s choice to take on Jared Golden next year in the 2nd Congressional District race.