Joel Babb has won acclaim for his finely detailed paintings of everything from Boston to babbling brooks.
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
Winthrop widow seeks more regulation of funeral home vehicles
After her husband died driving one in 2017, Marie Charest wanted to sue her husband’s employer, but soon learned that she couldn’t because workers’ compensation laws bar it unless a company does something that breaks the law.
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Bates says it has the capacity to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to students
College plan will depend on vaccine supply, dropping age restrictions
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Maine may allow Viking-style funeral pyres
Legislature is weighing whether to make open-air cremation legal in Maine.
Posted inLocal & State
You can help make a better map
Editor’s Note: This story is part of a special, two-part report is part of a continuing series on poverty in Maine, and the strangling affect poverty has on our communities. We look at how vital broadband accessibility is for our schools, our businesses and our health. The work is being done in cooperation with the […]
Posted inLocal & State
Maine map gap: Bad federal maps muddle route to better broadband
State and federal maps offer little more than a vague impression of where high-speed internet exists and where it does not.
Posted inLocal & State
Nondislosure deals keep a lot of broadband data secret
To get better broadband information than the Federal Communications Commission could provide, the state asked providers in Maine for more details about the service they offer. Companies generally agreed to let the state see more data than they had any legal obligation to provide, officials said, but only if ConnectMaine, the state agency involved, signed […]
Posted inLocal & State
Controversial power line plan includes fiber optic line through western Maine
State broadband officials hope the proposed hydropower transmission project will boost efforts to bring high-speed internet to unserved areas.
Posted inLocal & State
Maine lawmakers debate over allowing people to kill nuisance beavers
Lawmakers are discussing whether to drop or revise a law that makes it a felony to kill a nuisance beaver in Maine.
Posted inLocal & State
Maine lagging on road to high-speed broadband
State’s bid for better access has been stymied by high cost, misleading maps and Maine’s rural nature.