In its first online convocation, Bates College urged the Class of 2024 to seize the opportunities ahead.
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
Chellie Pingree aims to transform American agriculture
From an island in Maine, the 1st Congressional District Democrat is pushing a measure to make the nation’s farming carbon neutral and more sustainable.
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Posted inSchools and Education
Student tests positive for COVID-19 at Bates College
Bates now requires everyone to wear masks outside as well as indoors, except in limited cases.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State
Bates warns students to stay away from large parties — anywhere
As students began arriving in large numbers Tuesday, administrators said they were looking into reports of off-campus gatherings that violated Bates’ pandemic-control rules.
Posted inElections, Lewiston-Auburn, Local & State, Politics
Fake newspaper touts its stories in social media ads aim to bolster Jared Golden, other congressional Democrats
Deceptive news site has spent at least $50K this year advertising its stories to help the Maine congressman win reelection.
Posted inLocal & State, Schools and Education
Testing finds no COVID-19 at Bates as students begin return to campus
With student testing slated to start Sunday, more than 500 employees have so far been checked without a single positive result.
Posted inLocal & State, Politics
Susan Collins’ Postal Service overhaul in 2006 becomes a hot issue on the campaign trail
Democrats who backed her bill at the time are attacking her for it today as Maine’s U.S. Senate race gets ever hotter.
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State
Growing pains on Maine’s many lakes
From mooring disputes to Jet Skis, the state’s great ponds are seeing an uptick in disputes related to ever more use.
Posted inLocal & State, Schools and Education
Bates College warns students to give up on partying this year
“Social life as you have experienced it on campus in the past is no longer possible..,” Josh McIntosh, vice president for campus life and dean of students wrote.
Posted inLocal & State
Lewiston oral surgeon accuses dental board of destroying his reputation
Lewiston oral surgeon Dr. Jan Kippax asked state court Tuesday to reverse his reprimand by dental regulators.