Government

With Suffolk County reporting a steady increase in the Covid-19 positivity rate, East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen announced on Monday that Village Hall will be closed to the public starting Thursday and through the end of the year.

If you're going to talk to someone in the aftermath of what's shaping up to be the most confounding presidential election in two decades, Julian Zelizer is your man.

The proposed South Fork Wind farm's export cable will not come ashore at Atlantic Avenue Beach in Amagansett, the clerk of the East Hampton Town Trustees flatly told the New York State Public Service Commission last week.

The East Hampton Town Board is expected to vote today to begin the process of adopting a community choice aggregation program. Community choice aggregation, or C.C.A., allows a local government to procure electricity and/or natural gas on behalf of its residents, businesses, and municipal accounts from a provider other than the incumbent utility.

The Suffolk County Health Department traced a cluster of Covid-19 infections to the early voting site at the Stony Brook Southampton campus, County Executive Steve Bellone said in press briefing on Wednesday.

Voting this year for the first time, local teens weren't just #adulting — a popular hashtag that means taking grown-up life seriously, and a term that teens may not even be using anymore these days. Instead, they headed to the polls equipped with information and intent, determined to make their voices count.

The counting of some 75,000 ballots cast by mail in New York's First Congressional District will not begin until next week, but as of yesterday Representative Lee Zeldin appeared headed for a landslide win in his quest for a fourth term.

Consultants hired by Sag Harbor Village to create a new zoning code that will control its redevelopment presented the goals of the project on Oct. 28 at a village board meeting. Marta Goldsmith, director of the nonprofit Form-Based Institute, said the new code will be designed to protect the village's historic charm and water quality, preserve and enhance views and access to the water and open spaces, and maintain a diversity of architectural styles.

With early voting and Election Day votes counted, the Republican incumbent Lee Zeldin appears to be the winner of the race to represent the First Congressional District, having garnered 61.31 percent of those votes to Nancy Goroff's 38.66 percent, according to unofficial totals from the Suffolk County Board of Elections.

Monday morning dawned bright with a stiff, northwesterly wind on the bay as I lifted the bedroom shades. I squinted as I tried to focus on my surroundings from the second floor. It was a little after 7, and not a single boat was in view. It was a sad sight to see but not a total surprise.

As the pandemic continues into the colder months, East End restaurants are extending the outdoor dining season with the use of heaters, tents, and igloos, and the East Hampton Town Board is seeking to draft a law that would allow restaurants to transfer up to 100 percent of their seating capacity from indoors to outdoors.

If you're voting Tuesday, you have until 9 p.m. to cast a ballot at your regular polling place. Not sure where to vote? You can look it up at here, and here's a list of polling places by election district in East Hampton Town and eastern Southampton Town.