Coronavirus

East Hampton Village Mayor Richard Lawler will issue an executive order to allow restaurants and takeout food stores to set up temporary outdoor dining areas on public property starting next Wednesday in a move aimed at providing a much-needed boost to village restaurants and the commercial district in general. Sag Harbor is proposing a similar move.

With food distribution channels disrupted, supermarket shopping fraught with anxiety, and grocery delivery slots hard to come by, the reopening of farmers markets here may be more anticipated and more celebrated this year than ever before.

Restaurants can begin offering outdoor dining as part of phase two of the economic reopening, which will begin early next week, and municipalities will be given leeway to approve sidewalk and even street dining in order for businesses to meet state guidelines.

East Hampton Town has alerted business owners intending to reopen that they must file with New York State an affirmation that they will follow mandated safety protocols and prepare and post a safety plan.

On Monday Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone thanked those taking part in demonstrations here sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis for doing so peacefully.

As Covid-19 cases rise and hospitalizations decrease, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent protests that have erupted around the country were also on the minds of county officials here.

Jobs cancelled, loans rejected, two months waiting for unemployment to kick in, creditors calling. This Amagansett contractor's story will sound familiar to many who've been left reeling from the financial pain of the pandemic.

After imposing strict short-term parking limits in the village last weekend, the mayor on Friday set a 45-minute limit on parking for the final weekend of May.

Charter and party boat captains, eager to get back to their livehoold and get clients back on the water, finally got the chance to do so this week.

Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman extended emergency orders closing the town's beaches to out-of-towners and restricting parking in beach lots and nearby roads through June 5.

Two months of a nearly complete economic standstill came to an end Wednesday, when Long Island reached regional criteria necessary to reinstate some industries as evidence shows that the spread of Covid-19 here is increasingly under control.

East Hampton Village is in strong fiscal health and will likely remain so despite the economic shutdown caused by the pandemic, according to a recent credit analysis from Moody’s Investors Service.