Government

Nicholas LaLota, newly elected in the First District, said in a statement Tuesday that while he, like other House Republicans, is “eager to be sworn in and focus on our commitment to America and our respective districts,” he had heard from countless Long Islanders expressing “how deeply troubled they are by the headlines surrounding George Santos.” Mr. LaLota added that as a Navy veteran “who campaigned on restoring accountability and integrity to our government,” he believed a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee, “and, if necessary, law enforcement, is required.”

East Hampton Town Councilwoman Cate Rogers has a legislative “bucket list” item for 2023 that would see the creation of a pilot program to ramp up composting efforts in the town. Her vision would flip the script on the well-worn “farm-to-table” concept to a so-called table-to-farm program where residents — and eventually, restaurants — would collect food scraps that would then be composted instead of being sent off to landfills, where some 40 percent of all waste is residential food waste.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. told The Star that he had some optimism that the bill might ultimately be met with her signature, noting that Gov. Kathy Hochul and her staff had been engaged in discussions over the bill with stakeholders that include New York’s powerful real estate lobby, which leans Democratic in its campaign-funding largess and is one of the reasons Governor Hochul prevailed in her race against Lee Zeldin this year.

Off-premises catering companies on the South Fork are welcoming Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signing, on Dec. 20, of legislation to close a loophole that previously restricted them from obtaining liquor licenses. Now, they will be able to apply for permanent catering permits that will ultimately enable them to add liquor, and sales of alcohol in general, to the “approved” list.

After earmarking $1.2 million in its 2022 capital plan for repairs at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, the East Hampton Town Board will be putting the job out to bid again after “the bids came back much higher than anticipated,” Deputy Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said last week.

Jim Brundige, manager of East Hampton Airport, told the East Hampton Town Board on Tuesday that five capital projects there, with a combined cost estimate of more than $600,000, are either underway or circling in for a landing.

As it strives to make good on President Biden’s goal of adding 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by decade’s end, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced last week that it had issued two draft environmental impact statements for proposed wind projects in waters off Virginia Beach and New York.

Pending approval from the D.E.C. to place a wastewater treatment plant under the long-term parking lot off Gingerbread Lane, the East Hampton Village Board heard a presentation on alternate locations including at the village's Department of Public Works property at 172 Accabonac Road, outside the village, and at 29 King Street, which is not owned by the village but is within its boundaries.

Following in her predecessor’s footsteps, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday vetoed a bipartisan and widely supported bill passed by the State Legislature this year that would have granted state recognition to the Montaukett Indian Nation. It was the fourth time in nine years that a Montaukett recognition bill was shot down by the state’s executive branch after passing in the Legislature.

Chief lifeguard John Ryan Jr. this week recapped what he called a “great summer,” in which lifeguards performed 137 rescues — including 15 on unprotected beaches.

The East Hampton Town Planning Board did last week what it has taken nearly five years to do: agreed that the draft environmental impact statement for the Wainscott Commercial Center was complete. The vote closes a chapter in the saga of the 70.4-acre former sand mine, located just north of the Speedway Station in Wainscott, and opens another, as a public comment period has now begun.

Following a rippling cyberattack on Suffolk County in September, the East Hampton Town Board announced Tuesday that it is fast-tracking upgrades to its own computer systems.