Reversing fall plans, the Lewiston college tells its mostly-vaccinated community that high COVID-19 rates in Lewiston require a return to a mask mandate on campus.
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, Politics
Bruce Poliquin’s bid for his old position fascinates Maine politics professors
Several keen observers said Jared Golden may be stronger than Republicans think — and Poliquin may face trouble in a primary.
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Posted inElections, Lewiston-Auburn, Local & State, Politics
Bruce Poliquin seeks to reclaim his old seat in Congress
The two-term Republican hopes to knock out the Lewiston Democrat, who beat him in 2018, in next year’s U.S. House race in Maine’s 2nd District.
Posted inOlympics, Sports
The untold story of a 1964 Tokyo Olympic Maine silver medalist
Glo Perrier is one of two Lewiston natives known to have won medals at the Olympics.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Schools and Education
With vaccine mandates for students in place, Bates College eyes a return to near normal in the fall
Vaccinated students will no longer need masks and won’t have to stay 6 feet apart anymore as most COVID-19 restrictions are dropped at the Lewiston campus.
Posted inLocal & State, Schools and Education
Bates College seeks to reduce heated interactions between students and campus security
A new report on campus safety urges more residential life staffers and greater effort to ease tensions between safety officers and students at the Lewiston college.
Posted inLocal & State
New state law aims to help former prisoners get jobs
In most cases, employers will not be allowed to ask applicants about criminal history on applications, though they can do so during job interviews.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Sports
At the 1924 Olympics, Maine’s Bob LeGendre leaped into history
For several years in the 1920s, Americans hailed LeGendre, a world-record holder and Olympic medalist, as the best athlete in the country and possibly the world.
Posted inLocal & State
America’s water systems are vulnerable to a Pearl Harbor-level cyberattack, Angus King warns
Maine’s junior senator said the nation faces “an extremely dangerous situation” until it bolsters its security against web-based attacks on critical infrastructure.
Posted inElections, Lewiston-Auburn, Local & State, Politics
Youngest state senator eyes challenge to Jared Golden for Maine congressional seat
Trey Stewart of Presque Isle is the second Republican to enter the 2nd District race in hopes of unseating a two-term Democrat.