Before I begin, I’d like to tell readers a little something about myself.
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 inLewiston-Auburn, Maine, News, Politics
Gov. Janet Mills assails Trump’s tariffs, Social Security layoffs
The governor made the comments while hailing the renovation of an old mill for new housing in Lewiston.
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine, News
Municipal bans on homeless shelters may be prohibited in Maine
Lawmakers are weighing a bill that would prevent cities and towns from blocking homeless shelters.
Posted inCops & Courts, Maine
Lewiston teen faces deportation after Border Patrol in Maine detains him
The Border Patrol is ‘detaining kids, yanking them from their stable homes and communities, and for what?’ said a lawyer for the boy, who is an undocumented immigrant.
Posted inMaine
Muslim holy days should be state holidays, Lewiston lawmaker says
Rep. Mana Abdi, D-Lewiston, is pushing for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha to join Christmas, Thanksgiving and others on the state calendar of holidays.
Posted inMaine, News, Politics
Paul LePage may be eyeing another campaign in Maine
LePage, who is registered to vote in Florida, is said to be weighing a run in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.
Posted inMaine, Schools and Education
Academic standing ‘not sustainable’ without larger endowment, Bates College warns
President Garry Jenkins aims to bolster fundraising to catch up with its academic peers.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine, News
Auburn rail line to Portland should be a trail, lawmakers told
Opponents of the proposal to create a 26-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail along the route say the tracks should stay in place in case passenger rail service returns.
Posted inMaine, Politics
First Democratic challenger to Sen. Susan Collins emerges
Little-known Natasha Alcala takes aim at one of nation’s most hotly contested U.S. Senate seats.
Posted inMaine
Maine’s state dog may become the Seppala Siberian sled dog
Legislators sympathetic to push to honor the legendary Togo’s descendants