New details emerge in the Turner double homicide, spurring consideration of a measure in Augusta that might help prevent harm in the future.
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 inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State
Bates and union organizers clash as workers prepare to vote on whether to form one of state’s biggest union locals
Bates denounces union complaints as ‘the very essence of misinformation’ after organizers say college is violating its own COVID-19 protocols.
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Posted inElections, Local & State, Politics
Maine’s 2nd Congressional District race looking a lot like 2018 election
Independent Tiffany Bond’s entry into the contest sees a return to the campaign trail by the three contenders who got the most votes in 2018.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State, News
Central Maine’s goats like to pig out on Christmas trees
Many farmers like to pitch old trees into animals’ pens to give them something fresh and green during long, difficult winters
Posted inHealth
It may be time to upgrade from cloth masks to hi-tech ones, experts say
Better masks will better block transmission of the virus, especially omicron, some say.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Schools and Education
Fearing omicron spread, Bates College imposes new COVID-19 restrictions
Bates College closes campus buildings to outsiders, shuts down in-person dining hall and more to limit threat from new variant
Posted inElections, Local & State, Politics
Paul LePage tells Tom Saviello to ‘bring it on’
Former governor said he would love to see the ex-lawmaker from Wilton jump into the 2022 gubernatorial race, but it’s not clear what will happen.
Posted inElections, Local & State, News, Politics
After COVID-19 nearly killed him, Mike Perkins drops out of Republican primary
Four contenders are vying for Republican backing in Maine’s 2nd District primary for the right to face Rep. Jared Golden next year.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Schools and Education
Bates College now requires booster shots for students in a bid to keep college safer from COVID-19
Bates aims to avoid the campus closures that have hit other colleges as omicron variant takes hold.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State
Development centered on Maine’s forests may get up to $100 million from U.S. program
A University of Maine proposal to accelerate growth of the forest bio-economy is a finalist for possible funding from a federal agency