Government

By a split 3-2 vote, Riverhead became the first East End town to pave the way for retail sales of adult-use recreational marijuana and cafes for on site consumption. "If we don't regulate this, the black market is going to thrive, and the black market is not where we want people to buy it; that's where you start having issues," a town councilman said.

East Hampton Town could convert all of its streetlights to light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, before next Memorial Day weekend, realizing both energy and cost savings as well as improved visibility, less glare, and reduced light reaching nearby properties.

A tagging study could explain where juvenile bass are coming from.

Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee members discussed real estates advertising with "extensive computer-generated imaging of very oversized houses and landscapes," suggesting to prospective buyers that plans and permits are already in hand when they are not. 

Board members and the public addressed the lingering tension between the village's new mayor, James Larocca, and Bob Plumb, a trustee who had supported former mayor Kathleen Mulcahy's bid for re-election and clashed with Mr. Larocca during the campaign

The site plan for a 50-unit affordable housing complex the East Hampton Housing Authority will build off Three Mile Harbor Road received a positive initial review from the East Hampton Town Planning Board.

Representative Lee Zeldin of New York's First Congressional District is the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for governor of New York, following the state party's straw poll of county Republican committees last week. The congressman, who declared his candidacy in April, won more than 85 percent of the vote.

A public hearing on a proposed code amendment that would prohibit trucks greater than nine tons from a stretch of Accabonac Road in East Hampton drew three speakers urging its adoption, and one opposing it, as the East Hampton Town Board met in person for the first time in 16 months last Thursday.

In this closer-to-normal summer than during pandemic-impacted 2020, many residents are pleading with the town board to close the airport or severely restrict flights when Federal Aviation Administration grant assurances expire in September.

After being sworn in as mayor of Sag Harbor Village at a ceremony in John Steinbeck Waterfront Park on Tuesday, James Larocca asked residents to leave the "hard-fought election" behind them and rally together to focus on issues such as protecting the waterfront and water quality, developing affordable housing, and addressing the village's longstanding lack of parking.

The Southampton Town Board approved a ban on helium and gas-filled balloons on June 22, and is giving businesses a year to pivot away from them before it goes into effect.

At the start of last Thursday's meeting, Mayor Jerry Larsen apologized for the village's failure to put out American flags on June 19 in honor of the first observance of Juneteenth — a day that commemorates the end of slavery in the nation — as a federal holiday.