Dispatches from around the Fourth of July of years gone by included raising a new Liberty Pole in the village in 1949 and, of course, Puff Daddy’s noisy party 50 years later.

From airplane noise to the goings-on in Accabonac Harbor, this is what’s on readers’ minds this week.

Joe Biden has dedicated his life to public service, but he cannot win this one. The debate of June 27 was a tipping point.

The Fourth of July in 1827 was the day that slavery officially ended in New York State.

Those doing this duty are the unsung heroes of the waterways, ridding potentially thousands of gallons of wastewater from boats from the region’s most precious resource.

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, Americans typically consume 7 billion hot dogs.

Europeans make fun of Americans for the way we go about grinning and chirping banalities at one another, but we don’t do it because we’re all idiots, but because the smiling, nodding, and have-a-nice-day-ing are folk customs that serve a social purpose.

It was a track athlete’s worst nightmare, and now the defending 800 meters gold medalist won’t be going to the Paris Games this summer.

The love of objects isn’t necessarily symptomatic of greed. Sometimes they become an extension of who we are, and a tangible sign of our connection to others.

White’s Lumber & Millwork and Multi-Aquaculture Systems win grants, while WordHampton Public Relations wins an award.

The latest reported moves in South Fork real estate.

Standing outside the Newtown Lane store on Tuesday late in the morning, striking employees offered fliers to customers entering the store, urging them to reconsider their decision to shop there even at a time when people typically flock to grocery stores to get ready for Fourth of July celebrations.

Audrey Flack, an art world iconoclast, died on Friday. Her memoir holds nothing back, from the boorish big boys to parsing who the real feminists were to knowing when she nailed a masterpiece.

“Round House & Its Gardens: A Walking Tour,” a new book of photographs by Ennius Bergsma, captures the evolution of the property since he bought it from Jack Lenor Larsen in 1989.

HamptonsFilm will present “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” a documentary about a Russian couple who have made a career out of scaling some of the world’s tallest buildings.

Guild Hall’s newly renovated theater will open with a performance by Student Body, a local band, an American Masters documentary about August Wilson, and a performance by the award-winning singer-actor Billy Porter.

Terrence McNally’s “Master Class” at Bay Street is set in an opera master class run by Maria Callas, played by Vicki Lewis, who commands “the audience’s attention like a true diva of old.”

Bay Street Theater will honor Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, and Georgette Grier-Key at its gala, and host Patti LuPone for Music Mondays.

The Church will host Rameshwar Das, who co-authored three books with Ram Dass, and Mira Dougherty-Johnson and Jenny Xie, who will read from their works.

The celebrated writer Colson Whitehead will be at The Church in Sag Harbor for a conversation with Kevin Young of the Museum of African American History and Culture.