By Stephen J. Kotz Congressman Zeldin, this was your first inauguration as a member of Congress. Can you share with us some of your impressions? It was an honor to... more
The combination of the new Ken Burns documentary on the American Revolution and the rosy image of the first Thanksgiving led me to recall a 1778 event that exemplifies the true relationship between the white settlers and the Indigenous population. And that relationship spread west as the settlers did. During the war, the Stockbridge Mohicans, along with the Oneida, Tuscarora and a handful of other Indigenous nations, allied with the American colonists in their struggle for independence from Britain. Many of these communities hoped that their military support would ensure recognition of their sovereignty and protection of their lands. Instead, ...
by Tom Clavin
Will Governor Kathy Hochul sign, or again veto, a bill to protect horseshoe crabs that again passed by large majorities in the State Legislature earlier this year? Hochul vetoed the same bill last year. She claimed then that the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act was “well intentioned,” but their management should best be left with the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. She said the DEC has “significant rules and regulations regarding commercial and recreational fishing in the state.” It currently has an annual quota of 150,000 horseshoe crabs that can be taken. Environmentalists have been actively calling on Hochul to sign ...
by Karl Grossman
Sag Harbor Village has secured a $1,795,219 grant from the Southampton Town Community Preservation Fund’s Water Quality Improvement Plan that will help it cover a shortfall in its funding to extend sewer lines. “Even though the project is already underway, the town has been willing to help,” said Trustee Aidan Corish, who has overseen the grant writing and planning for the sewer expansion project. “They appreciate the fact that the village is committed to the project.” The village has been planning the expansion for several years, with the goal of using excess capacity at the plant, which mainly serves commercial ...
25 Nov 2025 by Stephen J. Kotz
Thanksgiving is synonymous with harvest. Reaping what you have sown, you walk across the threshold of the field, your machete idle but ready to swing, to neatly lob off a head of broccoli. The level of satisfaction is hard to replicate in layman’s terms, somewhere between basketball’s slam dunk and capturing the flag. Harvest is what gave us some primordial ease, that the dark, cold months will not be hungry ones. The ancient discovery that successful agriculture could offer its practitioners self-reliance — to a degree — is what set us on the path to discovering other things, like gratefulness. ...
24 Nov 2025 by Marilee Foster