At least two New Engand baseball teams after the Civil War were named after the KKK, including one in Bangor
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 in175th anniversary
Chapter 14: Lowell’s arraignment in Auburn
Maine’s attorney general, Harris Plaisted, had ventured from Bangor to Lewiston at New Year’s to work on the case. He intended, as everyone expected, to prosecute the case himself.
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Posted inAndroscoggin County, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, News
Think Maine was hot this summer? Just wait
New study predicts twice as many hot summer days in Maine by 2053.
Posted inElection 2022, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine
Paul LePage questions integrity of voting in Maine’s larger communities
Lewiston cited, without evidence, as a city that requires ‘a little bit more careful’ monitoring.
Posted in175th anniversary
Chapter 13: Murder charge lodged against Lowell
With the inquest completed that concluded the skeleton found off Switzerland Road was likely the missing Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Lowell, her husband next faced a preliminary examination on a murder charge before Judge Albion Knowlton that was supposed to take place in the Police Courtroom in the City Building’s basement.
Posted inMaine, Nation / World
Jared Golden backs Democrats’ signature domestic legislation
Bruce Poliquin assails the bill while Tiffany Bond is unsure how she would have voted on it
Posted inElection 2022, Nation / World, Politics
FBI search of Trump club spurs controversy in Maine’s 2nd District race
Poliquin calls for probe into the move, Golden counsels caution and Bond insists ‘no one is above the law’
Posted inMaine, Nation / World
Federal prosecutors seek prison time for former Minot man’s role in Jan. 6 riot
Glen Mitchell “Mitch” Simon is scheduled for sentencing Friday for his participation in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Bates College drops mandatory COVID-19 testing on campus
Bates tells students they need to test negative for the disease before coming to Lewiston but won’t require tests once they’re here.
Posted in175th anniversary
Chapter 12: Strange letters in Lewiston
It struck everyone as more than a little suspicious that a letter purporting to come from Lizzie was so chock full of help for the things her husband wanted, including, apparently, Jennie Blood.