The bill would upgrade some sections of the Androscoggin River to a Class B, adding additional water protections for what was once one of the most polluted rivers in America. Environmentalists and recreationalists support the idea. Businesses that use it as a way to get rid of waste do not.
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 inLocal & State
Come up with new safety rules, legislators tell funeral home regulators
Lawmakers said they want rules that would keep drivers safe when they are transporting bodies in Maine.
advertisement
Posted inLocal & State, News, Schools and Education
Bates College fires a top campus safety officer for violating use-of-force policies
Lead Campus Safety Officer Dennis Skinner, who was fired for an incident in which he tackled a student, said he didn’t try to restrain that student until he pushed him.
Posted inHealth
Make Medicare available to those 60 and older, Jared Golden urges president
Lewiston Democrat among leaders in U.S. House urging President Joe Biden to endorse lowering the health care program’s eligibility age and bolster its coverage.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State
Auburn man, hoping to make a difference from his home, has weighed in on 33 bills — and that’s just this month
Mark Chasse, a retiree, pays close attention to bills under consideration in Augusta and doesn’t hesitate to offer his two cents’ worth at public hearings.
Posted inLocal & State
Debate resurfaces on whether to allow Sunday hunting in Maine
Long a hot topic in Augusta, hunters hope they’ll have more luck lifting the ban this year.
Posted inLocal & State, Schools and Education
Legislators weigh whether to require free tampons and pads in Maine schools
Hoping to ease the burden on students, legislators may mandate free sanitary supplies in bathrooms.
Posted inHealth
More cases, fewer vaccinations leave Androscoggin County as a COVID-19 hotspot in Maine
Androscoggin County posted its third-highest daily total of cases on Thursday, its worst showing since January.
Posted inLocal & State
CMP and other utility companies can once again disconnect customers who are behind on their bills
After an 18-month moratorium, utilities are allowed to cut off service starting next week if customers who have fallen behind don’t work out payments plans.
Posted inLocal & State
Lewiston lawmaker proposes bill that would lower taxes for Maine veterans who are 100% disabled
Of the nearly 110,000 veterans in Maine, less than 7% would qualify for the exemption, a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander said.