Supporters of Question 1 argue parents, not the state, should decide if children should be vaccinated. Opponents, including every major medical group in Maine, say immunizations save lives.
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, Politics
Republicans, Democrats split on whether to back Question 1
Maine Republican candidates favor vaccine referendum, Democrats oppose it and independents vary on how to vote.
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Posted inElections, Lewiston-Auburn, Local & State, Politics
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Posted inLocal & State
Maine charity working to preserve languages worldwide
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State, News, Politics
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State, Politics
Susan Collins complains about misleading campaign advertising
At Republican dinner Saturday in Lewiston that barred the press, Maine’s senior senator expresses hope for winning a fifth term this year.
Posted inLocal & State
‘Cult’ leader Gary Blankenship loses eviction fight in St. Agatha
Facebook followers told he will look for “someplace warmer”
Posted inLocal & State, News
‘Cult’ leader in St. Agatha may face eviction
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Local & State
Tens of thousands of Mainers may face exposure to excessive levels of arsenic
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Posted inElections, Local & State, Politics
Abortion foe from Auburn to challenge Sen. Collins
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