A Democrat and an independent are self-quarantining rather than risk spreading virus along the campaign trail.
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 inMaine
‘Big, big forces bearing down on’ humanities community
Maine Humanities Council director searches for light in the dark time caused by a dangerous new virus.
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Posted inMaine, 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, Maine
Bates College to close its campus and send students home
The Lewiston campus is the last NESCAC college to yield to the potentially deadly coronavirus.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Lewiston’s d’Youville Pavilion bans visitors to protect residents
Nursing homes are screening or barring visitors in a bid to stave off COVID-19, also known as a coronavirus.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
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 inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Despite coronavirus threat, Bates College expects to finish academic year as planned
Bates officials in Lewiston are preparing for online teaching in case shutting classrooms becomes best way to deal with the COVID-19 threat.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine, Politics
Polling places are busy as voters show up for primaries and Question 1
Voting has been busy in Lewiston and beyond, officials said. And voters are happy to have a nice day to go to the polls.
Posted inMaine, Politics
Voters go to the polls today to decide vaccine question, party primaries
Democrats, Republicans to choose U.S. presidential picks.
Posted inMaine, Politics
Vaccine question pits science versus choice
Supporters of Question 1 argue parents, not the state, should decide if children should be vaccinated. Opponents, including every major medical group in Maine, say immunizations save lives.