To better cope with COVID-19, the winter semester is slated to begin Feb. 17 instead of early January.
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.
Maine’s Electoral College offers young and old a chance to pick a president
Among Maine’s four electors are a 79-year-old Oxford Republican and an 18-year-old Democrat from North Yarmouth.
Lewiston’s congressman has something extra to be thankful for this year
A happy Jared and Izzy Golden said they’re expecting their first child in May.
Three people die of COVID-19 at Clover Health Care
34 residents and 22 staffers have tested positive for the disease, which has slammed the memory care unit.
Jared Golden backs Trump bid to remove U.S. troops from Afghanistan
Maine’s 2nd Congressional District representative, a combat veteran, said it’s “time to bring our armed forces home.”
Police Log
Arrests Auburn Justin Hayward, 42, 181 Pownal Road, Freeport, on charges of domestic violence assault and criminal threatening, at 1 p.m. Saturday, in Freeport. Lewiston Raymond Caouette, 48, 8 Pine St., Mechanic Falls, on a warrant, at 7:04 p.m. Friday, in Mechanic Falls. John Siddiqui, 22, 85 Horton St., on a warrant for failure to […]
Two Poland area schools in RSU 16 close temporarily after COVID-19 cases found
Poland Regional High School and Whittier Middle School shuttered until after Thanksgiving after two cases are diagnosed.
Maine Democratic Party chief moving to Rhode Island
State Rep. Drew Gattine of Westbrook only declared contender to replace her at the party’s helm.
Maine voters bucked a partisan tide at the polls
Mainers proved much less partisan in the Nov. 3 election than their counterparts around the country, two Bates College professors with a passion for politics say during an online Great Falls Forum.
Alaskans follow Maine’s lead on ranked-choice voting
Maine is no longer the only state to rely on ranked-choice voting after Alaskans approve a ballot question to revise its elections.