Barbara Patricola-McNiff, who owned and operated the Devlin-McNiff real estate business in East Hampton with her husband, John, died on Nov. 21 at home here. She was 81.

Word has been received of the death of Merrie Barbara Bennett Gay, a lifelong resident of Springs, on July 15 at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue. She was 63 and had been ill with cancer for two years.

Ellen Frank, an artist, scholar, writer, and founder of the Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation in Springs, died last Thursday at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. She was 75. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

By an 8-to-1 vote on Dec. 15, the Long Island Power Authority’s board of trustees approved a new contract with PSEG Long Island, which operates and maintains the electrical grid on its behalf.

Supporters and critics alike called the new Operation Service Agreement an improvement over the previous contract, though the critics say it falls short, particularly in setting the utility on a path to becoming a fully public power authority operated and managed directly by LIPA.