Villages

From liquor stores to landscapers, East End businesses are scrambling to staff up for the summer as an increase in job opportunities, beefed-up unemployment benefits, limited seasonal work visas, and the high cost of living are making it hard to find employees. 

Bay Street Theater's plans to build a new theater complex and develop other properties near the Sag Harbor waterfront received mostly harsh critiques from village residents at a public forum on Saturday. 

Change is afoot for people traveling to and from Shelter Island, as the South Ferry institutes a new requirement for those purchasing discounted commuter cards and the North Ferry seeks permission to raise its ticket prices.

Two hundred and thirty-eight years ago, on April 25, 1783, the Rev. Samuel Buell (1716-1798) reflected on the popular demand for his recent publication, which was actually a funeral sermon he preached for his daughter Jerusha Buell Gardiner Conkling.

After having spent more than a year following Covid-19 precautions, East End residents who are fully vaccinated are easing back into normal life with shopping trips, dinner parties, and family get-togethers. "The first thing I did was host three dinner parties in one week," one resident said. For another, a trip to supermarket "was like going to Saks Fifth Avenue."

Pandemic-related restrictions on restaurants, gyms, offices, casinos, and catered events, will be relaxed the coming weeks in New York, a direct result of improving Covid rates in the state, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Wednesday.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, which oversees parishes across Long Island, has released a list of over 100 clergy accused of sexual abuse while serving in the diocese, including some who had not previously been identified. Eleven of the clergy on the list served on the South Fork from the late 1950s through as recently as 2000.

"This doesn't mean that it's going to be out on the streets for everyone; in fact, it'll be off the streets," Nicole Ricci, a board member of New York Small Farma told the crowd at a Tuesday rally in Sag Harbor in support of the state's marijuana legalization. The event addressed details of the law, and encouraged people to take an active role in developing local regulations for the use and sale of marijuana.

This photograph from the Carleton Kelsey Collection shows Dr. Morley Brown Lewis (1869-1955) and his wife, Mary Robina Law Ettershank Lewis (1870-1958). A notation on the reverse indicates this image was captured in 1947 while the couple enjoyed Thanksgiving in Westhampton Beach. Kelsey saved a letter with this image, which he received from their son Arnold Meredith Lewis (1904-1994), sharing details about Arnold's parents.

Customers and locals had plenty to say this week about the loss of the only spot in the village where one can grab lunch on a budget of $5 or less. The popular all-day, everyday convenience store is set to close on Friday, April 30, in a move stemming from a major Sag Harbor real estate shake-up involving Friends of Bay Street, the organization formed to help Bay Street Theater acquire, develop, and finance its new facility.

Last week, the news broke that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Drug Administration here in the United States had called for a pause in administration of the single-dose Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine following reports of blood clots after administration of this vaccine.

The idea behind the new 2/3 for the Birds campaign is simple: By planting two-thirds of one's property with native greenery and abstaining from the use of pesticides, homeowners can help local bird species make a comeback. Experts say it's a critical way to restore avian populations that have been dying off since the 1970s.