Government

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Representative Lee Zeldin are comfortably ahead of their respective challengers in the June 28 primary election for governor of New York, according to a poll conducted last Thursday and Friday and released on Monday.

The Biden-Harris administration has announced that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is initiating a process to designate Hudson Canyon, America's deepest Atlantic Ocean canyon, as a new national marine sanctuary.

The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and North Fork has announced that the New York State League’s online voters guide, at vote411.org, is live with nonpartisan information on the Democratic and Republican candidates for the June 28 state primary election for governor and lieutenant governor.

One-quarter of households in East Hampton Town are spending at least half of their income on housing, and more than 70 percent of renters and more than 33 percent of mortgage holders are spending at least 35 percent of their income on housing. With that in mind, the town is drafting a community housing fund project plan to detail how proceeds from a new .5-percent transfer tax could be spent if voters approve the tax in November.

Blade Air Mobility and East End Hangars, which are among the plaintiffs that successfully sought a temporary restraining order preventing closure of East Hampton Airport on May 16, claim that the town is violating the terms of that order and have petitioned the New York State Supreme Court to hold it in contempt and impose daily fines to bring the town into compliance.

Every one of East Hampton Town’s 729 streetlights will be replaced with energy-efficient LED lights within the next year or so, and the town has asked residents to weigh in on what type of light they’d prefer.

Even as municipalities have done their part by opting in or out to recreational marijuana sales and on-site cafes or lounges, legalization is in a state of flux in New York while the Office of Cannabis Management acts to put regulatory muscle on the bones of the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act.

“A helicopter banned in East Hampton could become a seaplane landing in Sag Harbor,” Aidan Corish, a Sag Harbor Village trustee, said at a packed village board meeting Tuesday night, as he urged the village to gain more control over seaplane operations in waters it oversees.

After months of discussion and planning, the Sag Harbor Village Board on Tuesday approved affordable housing legislation, including three amendments to the existing housing rules, which was met with applause from some 50 people in attendance at the meeting.

East Hampton Village’s proposed 2022-23 budget — at just over $25 million — will be the subject of a public hearing Friday at 11 a.m.

Jack and Fran Levy, who own the circa-1895 G.A. Strong House on Georgica Road, an early East Hampton “summer colony” residence that is on the National Register of Historic Places, brought an unusual proposal before the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday.

Voters in East Hampton Village will go to the polls to fill two open seats on the village board on June 21, as the incumbent, Arthur Graham, seeks to hold his spot against Carrie Doyle and Sarah Amaden, who are running together on the NewTown Party line.