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BANGOR, Maine — Veteran Maine journalist Christopher Cousins is joining the staff of the Bangor Daily News as a reporter covering southern Somerset and Penobscot counties.

Cousins, 33, replaces Sharon Kiley Mack, who recently was reassigned to Washington County. Cousins will be based in the Pittsfield area and is expected to begin work in late August.

A former city editor and reporter for The Times Record newspaper of Brunswick, Cousins most recently had been covering state government on a freelance basis for several weekly and daily papers and Web sites before being hired by the BDN.

“Working for such a top-notch news organization was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, and one that I’ve been seeking for several years,” said Cousins, a native of South Paris. “I look forward to learning everything I can about central Maine and its people, then turning that knowledge into a stream of must-read news stories and online presentations.”

Cousins graduated cum laude from Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H., with a degree in communications. He began his career as a reporter with the Advertiser Democrat newspaper in Norway before being hired by The Times Record. After five years as a reporter in Brunswick, he spent a year with Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation as a Donald W. Reynolds Fellow for Community Journalism.

“Covering communities and their people is my passion, and the excitement of never knowing what I’ll find myself in the middle of is what drives me,” said Cousins, who returned to reporting in September 2008 after spending 16 months as city editor for The Times Record.

Cousins has won numerous awards for his work and served as a panelist at conventions of the Maine Press Association and the New England Press Association. His family includes his wife, Jen, and son, Caleb.

“On a personal note, my wife and I are excited to settle in central Maine, where we can give our son the same small-town Maine upbringing we both enjoyed,” he said.

Cousins may be reached at christopher.a.cousins@gmail.com.