A shortage of bus drivers forces Lewiston superintendent to switch schools to remote-only this week.
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
Open-air cremation gets strong support before Legislature
A committee in Augusta heard from many Mainers who like the idea of open-air funeral pyres as an end-of-life option.
advertisement
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Legislators eye juvenile system changes to help New Mainers transition back home
Young immigrants are the focus of bill backed by Lewiston officials.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Bates extends lockdown two more days to stop COVID-19 spread
Students will have been kept mostly in their rooms for at least 12 days. to fight against ‘relatively large outbreak.’
Posted inBusiness, Health, Lewiston-Auburn, Maine
Central Maine Healthcare’s president to retire this year
Jeffrey Brickman will step down in September after five years at the helm of the Lewiston-based healthcare company that oversees three area hospitals.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine, Politics
Golden recalls Jan. 6 Capitol attack and what he saw during wars overseas
The U.S. Marine veteran and 2nd District congressman said he was sad and unsettled by the invasion.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine, Politics
Jared Golden: A gridlock-prone Congress should heed Maine’s ‘independent spirit’
The Lewiston Democrat said the country needs to put aside partisanship and focus on getting things done.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Harvard honors the life of Nobel Peace Prize winner Bernard Lown
The 99-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who died in February was hailed in an online celebration of his life.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine, Schools & Education
Number of COVID-19 cases at Bates College keeps rising
Bates College has 77 COVID-19 cases among students and two-thirds of its isolation housing is full.
Posted inAndroscoggin County, Lewiston-Auburn, Schools & Education
With COVID-19 cases surging on campus, Bates College extends its lockdown
The Lewiston-based campus hit a new high of 60 active cases among students after it locked down the campus last week.