Owing to Covid-19 difficulties and mounds of recent snow, it has been a long, cold winter — and it's not over. Long Islanders in need of help paying for home heating costs this winter have a few places to turn.

East Hampton Town will receive 300 Covid-19 vaccine doses from Suffolk County on Friday, and on Saturday will use them to vaccinate firefighters, teachers, and other members of the b eligibility group at the town's new mass vaccination site at the former Child Development of the Hamptons building.

Having read and written about the vaccines and their safety, efficacy, and side-effects profile, I knew that more significant side effects were possible when I went back to the hospital four weeks later for my second dose. And they definitely happened. 

After a change that went into effect last year, the Independence Party and other third parties now have to meet a higher threshold to keep their spots on the ballot in New York State. The move has frustrated members of third parties, but there may be some upsides, East Hampton's Independence Party chairwoman said.