Opinion

Five hundred people, from a population of at least 22,000, have been vaccinated locally in East Hampton Town for Covid-19. This is far from enough, and allegations are that other parts of the region are faring better.

It is unfortunate that the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee decided to throw Councilman Jeff Bragman overboard by not nominating him to seek another term for asking too many questions.

Time is running out for East Hampton Village to get things right with a looming summertime fiasco over parking.

The America we live in today did not begin in 1776; it grew out of Anglo-European colonization in which the exclusion of the land’s indigenous people was from the start routine.

True confession: I am a flower thief. I know it’s wrong. I have no moral compass when it comes to flowers.

A February break doing nothing much at all can get you thinking . . .

A shovel brigade was summoned to East Hampton High last Saturday to clear snow from the track, the turf field, and from the baseball field and tennis courts, too, for the new sports season.

We have a new president. The virus cases are receding, hospitalizations and deaths, too. What is keeping me from yodeling in the streets? Could it be Post-Traumatic Virus Reprogramming Syndrome?

In the last week, the shiny halo that many New Yorkers had thought hovered above Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s head may have dulled a little as it became clear that he had withheld data about Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes and then refused to answer questions about it. More than 15,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the state’s nursing homes and long-term care facilities. At one point last August, when the Legislature and state attorney general asked for information, Mr. Cuomo decided to keep the toll secret.

Last spring, after the Black Lives Matter protests had begun, the New York Legislature voted to change a portion of civil rights law that had blocked police disciplinary records from public disclosure. The section of the law, known as 50-a, had made the records confidential, meaning that even the most serious repeat offenders might be shielded from scrutiny.

News that the Shinnecock Indian Nation had renewed plans for a casino development on its land may have come as a bit of a shock to some this week, but it was a long time in coming. The small community has a minimal tax base, which leaves it chronically lacking the kind of amenities enjoyed by residents of the nearby towns and villages. These include some basics, like roads and other infrastructure and social services. Income from a casino — and the tribe’s two giant illuminated billboards alongside Sunrise Highway — could fill that gap.

Covid-19 test diagnoses have fallen to nearly none in East Hampton Town in the last week. Where two or more positive cases were found in each hamlet or village a day, now the figure might be zero for days at a time. I am closely aware of the figures, preparing the semi-daily reports The Star sends out by email.