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Opinion

All Signs Equally

It almost seems a drop in a vast sea of uncertainty to talk of something as seemingly small as signs in Sag Harbor. Yet in the context of the re-election of a Constitution-defying leader, small freedoms will come to loom large.

Nov 7, 2024
Gristmill: Ghosts of Shinnecock Hills

Casting an early ballot in the old Southampton College gym brings on the hoop dreams.

Nov 7, 2024
Guestwords: Once in Paris

Memories of a time abroad that taught one writer how to truly experience travel.

Nov 7, 2024
Shifting on Its Axis

Overnight, from Tuesday to Wednesday, the world shifted on its axis. We can pretend we awoke to the same country, and go about our business, but we did not.

Nov 7, 2024
The Mast-Head: Not Sailing

A number of people I’ve run into in the past couple of weeks have asked about my sailboat and what the status of its motor retrofit is. Perhaps it was because of the unseasonably mild weather that some minds turned to sailing.

Nov 7, 2024
The Shipwreck Rose: In the Dark

Many, many years — and many shattered illusions — ago, during the presidential election year of 2004, when I was a magazine editor in Manhattan, I volunteered during the Republican National Convention as an “election observer.”

Nov 7, 2024
Gristmill: The Bulging Billfold

Paging George Costanza? My college-age son has a wallet beyond his years.

Oct 31, 2024
Guestwords: See You November 7

Proposals for some development regulations that just might save this place are up for a public hearing with town board members next Thursday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall.

Oct 31, 2024
The Mast-Head: Audience of One

I have a problem with genius jerks who have a great idea in a garage somewhere and then see themselves as gods.

Oct 31, 2024
The Shipwreck Rose: Society News

I am overawed by previous generations of Rattray women who managed to file their weekly Star columns without a break over the span of four and five decades.

Oct 31, 2024
Continuity in the Assembly

Fred W. Thiele Jr., who has represented the East End in the State Assembly for nearly 30 years, leaves enormous shoes to fill. He has endorsed Tommy John Schiavoni to replace him, calling him the candidate with "the temperament, maturity, and leadership skills needed to get things done."

Oct 30, 2024
For Harris-Walz

For decency. For rationality. For science. For truth — and for many, many other reasons — we are for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Oct 30, 2024
No to Proposition 3

Voters in East Hampton Town should vote "No" on Proposition 3. If approved, the proposition would allow town officials to take protected status away from a wooded, 2.4-acre triangle at the confluence of Three Mile Harbor and Springs-Fireplace Roads on North Main Street in East Hampton.

Oct 30, 2024
Palumbo for State Senate

State Senator Anthony Palumbo can be found on the Republican and Conservative ballot lines. We believe that he is the better choice for our end of Long Island.

Oct 30, 2024
Zipped Lips LaLota

Representative Nick LaLota is in a tough spot: trying to present himself as a moderate while not appearing so cozy with Democrats that he risks alienating his conservative District 1 base.

Oct 30, 2024
For Water Quality

Proposition 2 on Suffolk County ballots this election cycle would allow the county to raise the sales tax by one-eighth of 1 percent to support a dedicated Water Quality Restoration Fund.

Oct 24, 2024
Gristmill: Up, Up, and Away

The National Warplane Museum in Geneseo triggers (in a good way) one non-pilot.

Oct 24, 2024
Guestwords: Pity the Bees

Thoughts on a neighborhood spraying of pesticides, weekly through the end of December.

Oct 24, 2024
In Defense of Gunning

Should a gun club be allowed to exist in East Hampton in 2024? 

Oct 24, 2024
The Gender Scare

The far right, in its weird obsession with gender, sees Proposition 1 and the Equal Rights Amendment only through a distorted lens of students and sports.

Oct 24, 2024
The Mast-Head: Beware the Zombie Deer

Deer are rapidly adapting to their new reality and doing things they never did before.

Oct 24, 2024
The Shipwreck Rose: The Groucho Vote

I’m a believer in the veil of distraction. It seems to me blatantly obvious that Karl Marx was correct on that score, anyway.

Oct 24, 2024
Election: Last Call

Only 19 days remain until the presidential election on Nov. 5. If you haven’t registered to vote, we urge you to do it now. 

Oct 17, 2024
Gristmill: On Steinbeck Point

That’s funny, he doesn’t seem like a Nobel winner. (A trip to John Steinbeck’s water-encircled Sag Harbor compound.)

Oct 17, 2024
Guestwords: Trump and the SALT Cap

In 2017, the Republican Congress capped the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction. Then-President Trump eagerly signed it. This cap has severely hit Suffolk residents’ net income and the region’s economy.   

Oct 17, 2024
The Aurora Effect

There was something especially heartening about the universal awe and enthusiasm that greeted last Thursday’s rare northern lights display here. 

Oct 17, 2024
The Mast-Head: An Enemy Within

The phrase “fifth column” came into common use during the Spanish Civil War.

Oct 17, 2024
The Shipwreck Rose: Milkshake Duck

Is the vocabulary of the average American contracting?

Oct 17, 2024
Village Wants to Buy What Now?

From the moment we heard about an East Hampton Village government dream of owning some or all of the Main Street inns we were wary, which might be an understatement.

Oct 17, 2024
FEMA and the End of Truth

Lying in politics is not confined to a single political party, nor is it new, but this does not mean that the very real dangers it can lead to can be ignored.

Oct 10, 2024