Rick Murphy, Independent Editor

Thu, 07/23/2020 - 06:55

July 23, 2020

Rick Murphy, a former executive editor of The Independent newspaper, died unexpectedly late Tuesday at Southampton Hospital after being hospitalized on Friday and having a heart attack. Mr. Murphy’s career as a journalist included a stint as a cartoonist for The Sag Harbor Herald and as a reporter at The East Hampton Star. An obituary for Mr. Murphy will appear in a future edition.

Villages

The State of the Bays Is Mostly Bad

Sensational mentions of a flesh-eating bacterium aside, the State of the Bays symposium at the Stony Brook Southampton campus offered dire news regarding degraded waterways and climate change.

Apr 30, 2026

Call ‘Flesh Eating’ Alarmist

The Vibrio vulnificus “flesh eating” bacterium “is not unusual in warm saltwater or brackish environments and does not necessarily indicate pollution or a widespread public health emergency,” the Southampton Town Trustees said in an advisory issued following a social media post that went viral.

Apr 30, 2026

Item of the Week: All Aboard the Fishermen’s Special

The L.I.R.R.’s Fishermen’s Special to Montauk and Hampton Bays was once a convenient and popular rail service for urban anglers. The photo here is from 1946.

Apr 30, 2026

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