Report urges firefighters to take a defensive stance when they respond to reports of leaking gas
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 inFranklin
Police responded to a Wilton incident Thursday that ended in a suicide
WILTON — A large number of police officers responded to an incident early Thursday afternoon on Orchard Drive in Wilton that ended in a suicide, according to Wilton Police Chief Heidi Wilcox. No one else was injured, she said.
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Posted inAndroscoggin County
Feral cats use up some of their 9 lives to make it through a fire in Greene
A group that has long cared for the wild cats called the now-destroyed garage Paradise and wonders what comes next.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, News
Labor board receptive to Bates College’s appeal of proposed union terms
The argument against having a single union that includes some faculty and staff will be reviewed.
Posted inMaine
Legislators may ban most secret settlements in cases brought by employees
The push is part of a national effort to give victims of harassment and discrimination a voice, but it may have a cost as well.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
‘My entire nation is in torture,’ says Bates student from Ukraine
A first-year student at the Lewiston college worries about friends and family in his homeland.
Posted inElection 2022, Maine, Politics
Liz Caruso seeks a series of debates with Bruce Poliquin before Republican primary
Former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin ignores request for 11 debates before June 14 with Caratunk’s Liz Caruso
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Election 2022, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, Oxford Hills
Seth Carey’s bid for district attorney rejected by state election officials
Secretary of State’s office says Carey is not a registered Republican and can’t run in the party’s June 14 primary.
Posted inHealth, Lewiston-Auburn
Lewiston forms panel focused on substance abuse
Officials plan to investigate what’s needed to create a ‘recovery-ready community’ that can help addicts recover
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Election 2022, Franklin, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine, Oxford Hills
Seth Carey plans to run for district attorney again
Though the Rumford resident faces felony sexual assault charges and his law license is suspended, Carey hopes to win the Republican primary in June, as he did four years ago.