The state’s hospitals have seen revenues dip by 50% in recent days because they shifted from normal services to preparing for a surge of COVID-19 patients.
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 inElections, Local & State, Politics
Eric Brakey denounces $2.2 trillion relief bill as a ‘rotten deal for the American people’
Eric Brakey is alone among the three Republicans in Maine’s 2nd District congressional primary in rejecting the compromise bill that won unanimous backing in the U.S. Senate.
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Posted inElections, Local & State, Politics
Republican congressional contenders clash over appropriate campaigning during emergency
Adrienne Bennett accused Eric Brakey of putting elderly and sick at risk from COVID-19 by knocking on doors in a bid to gain more 2nd District votes.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State
Food bank calls on Mainers to stop hoarding
Good Shepherd president says hoarders are ‘creating a crisis’ by snatching up months’ worth of food and emptying out grocery stores.
Posted inBusiness, Lewiston-Auburn, Local & State
Call centers pose ‘pretty high’ risk for coronavirus exposure, expert says
After worker complaints, TD Bank lets more of its Auburn call center workers stay home, beefs up cleaning.
Posted inHealth, Lewiston-Auburn
CMHC says it can’t provide COVID-19 tests to show people are healthy
Central Maine Healthcare says it faces a barrage of test requests from people seeking to show their bosses they don’t have the disease.
Posted inElections, Local & State, Politics
Maine’s campaigns turned upside down by coronavirus
Candidates emphasize online presence, avoid handshakes and struggle to get petition signatures amid virus fears.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State, News
Bates College to close its campus and send students home
Bates was the last NESCAC college to yield to the coronavirus.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State
Fake flyers at Bates showed ‘blatant disregard’ for efforts to inform community of COVID-19 dangers
College officials decried the hoax and urged students, faculty and staff to ignore the flyers, which carried a forged signature of Bates’ president.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Republicans, Democrats split on whether to back Question 1
Maine Republican candidates favor vaccine referendum, Democrats oppose it and independents vary on how to vote.