Water levels in the reservoirs and rivers are low, some days at historically paltry levels, and officials are beginning to worry.
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 inAndroscoggin County, Business, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, Politics
Proposal to extend passenger rail into Androscoggin County picks up steam among state legislators
Bills to fund studies of service to Lewiston, Bangor and more are moving toward approval and could lay groundwork for federal aid down the tracks.
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Posted inAndroscoggin County, Schools & Education
Voters back RSU 16’s $24.3 million budget
Results from Poland were not available at press time, but Mechanic Falls and Minot approved the district’s spending plan.
Posted inbPlus
Almost forgotten artist D.D. Coombs deserves to be remembered
The once well-known Auburn painter produced local landscapes as well as portraits of Maine dignitaries, cartoons and caricatures, drawing until the day he died.
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Schools & Education
Voters to decide Tuesday on Poland-based school district budget
School officials say the $24.3 million plan’s local tax impact will wind up even lower if Legislature backs Gov. Janet Mills’ call to increase education aid.
Posted inElections, Lewiston-Auburn, Politics
Oakland Republican jumps into 2nd District congressional race
Michael Perkins hopes to unseat two-term U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Lewiston Democrat, in the 2022 political contest.
Posted inAndroscoggin County, River Valley
Seth Carey says his accuser wants to murder him
Carey got a protection order from a Rumford court that requires a woman who accused him of sexual assault to stay away from him.
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Lewiston-Auburn, Schools & Education
Saint Dom’s seniors say they’re ready to take on the world
Students at the private Catholic school in Auburn said the pandemic may have socked them but it didn’t stop them.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Schools & Education
After a couple years of coping with COVID-19, Bates seniors graduate
Class of 2021 hailed for flexibility and urged to tackle the world’s problems.
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, Politics
State House speaker zings Auburn’s Laurel Libby
Ryan Fecteau said he ‘won’t tolerate’ Laurel Libby’s treatment of State House as “a Hollywood set’ to raise money for her reelection.