Government

Representative Lee Zeldin of New York's First Congressional District, who is among President Trump's most devoted supporters in Congress, accompanied the president to his rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday. 

Kyle Vorpahl, the secretary of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, resigned from that position last Thursday, and will focus on the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum, of which he is vice president, responsibilities as deacon of the Amagansett Presbyterian Church, and family, he said.

Tuesday’s Democratic primary election was unlike any in memory: Instead of a result before midnight, voters will likely wait weeks to know who will challenge Representative Lee Zeldin in New York’s First Congressional District and Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo in the State Senate’s First District.

The East Hampton Town Board voted unanimously last Thursday to engage the advocacy group Renewable Energy Long Island to further the Energize East Hampton initiative, a multifaceted program to transition from fossil fuel to energy derived from renewable sources. The contract is to be in effect as of Wednesday. 

There was sharp disagreement when the East Hampton Town Trustees discussed a 10-year review of the Suffolk County Aquaculture Lease Program on Gardiner's Bay, which has angered many bayfront property owners, but the trustees ultimately agreed to recommend moving 13 lease sites not in use and two in active use to locations that do not conflict with navigation or recreation and to suggest that another six be analyzed for potential growth.

Under a new federal bill introduced by Representatives Lee Zeldin and Tom Suozzi, recipients of grants that subsidize residential septic system upgrades would no longer have to pay taxes on the grants, as was mandated by the I.R.S. in 2019.

Bonnie Brady of Montauk, the executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said the creation of the marine monument was devastating to the commercial fishing industry in the Northeast.

With only a small fraction of voters showing up in person at polling stations, Perry Gershon led the field among Democrats vying to take on Representative Lee Zeldin, but the 14,596 votes counted as of Tuesday night are dwarfed by the 150,000 absentee ballots mailed out by the Suffolk County Board of Elections.

Democratic voters who did not vote in Tuesday's primary by absentee ballot or take advantage of early voting can vote in person until 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Even as the spread of Covid-19 appears increasingly under control in Suffolk, County Executive Steve Bellone said a deepening financial crisis has already led to budget cuts, salary freezes, and even a potential ballot referendum in November.

County Executive Steve Bellone said on Friday that he had signed executive orders to plan for a day of special observance for Juneteenth beginning next year and to extend the implicit bias training now being received in the police department to all county employees, and for it to be completed in one year.

Local officials appeared perplexed this week by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's concerns that public safety requirements were not being enforced on the South Fork.