Environmentalists hail plan to allocate $18 million in additional funds to boost water quality projects for Maine’s lakes
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, Local & State, News
State panel backs creation of new rail trail between Auburn and Portland
Rail Use Advisory Council endorses a 26-mile path for bicycles and pedestrians along an unused rail corridor.
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Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Democratic Blue Dogs like Jared Golden can still bark, but can they bite?
Maine’s 2nd District lawmaker sees hope for compromise and progress in a narrowly divided, Republican-controlled U.S. House
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State
Museum L-A snags federal funds for a new facility near Androscoggin River
A challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities offers a boost for plan that may allow construction to start next year.
Posted inLocal & State, Nation & World, Politics
Maine’s Democratic representatives criticize Republican moves in U.S. House
Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree opposed a number of measures pushed by the new congressional majority.
Posted inBusiness, Lewiston-Auburn, Local & State, Schools and Education
Worried about rising costs, Bates College plans budget cuts
College says its finances remain strong, but ‘serious challenges’ are looming.
Posted inLocal & State
Former Franklin County prosecutor suspended from legal practice for 9 months
Kayla Alves had already pleaded guilty in federal court to tampering with possible evidence.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State, Politics
Fresh off election victory, Golden again bucks Biden over deal to avert rail strike
The Lewiston Democrat said imposing railroad pact by legislation was ‘premature.’
Posted inLocal & State
‘No hunting ground left — the moose, the deer and beaver are all gone’
A newly discovered 1839 letter spotlights the poverty and powerlessness of a Penobscot Nation trying to survive.
Posted inElection 2022, Lewiston-Auburn, Politics
Brakey’s win in state Senate race confirmed by recount
After a seven-hour recount by the Secretary of State’s Office on Monday, officials reaffirmed Republican Eric Brakey’s victory in Maine Senate District 20. The recount trimmed 16 votes off Brakey’s tally while adding two votes to the total for Democrat Bettyann Sheats. But Brakey won by a 146-vote margin out of 18,243 votes cast, according […]