Two years after a groundbreaking for the Montauk Playhouse Community Center’s new aquatic and cultural centers, Gov. Kathy Hochul led a jubilant gathering including East Hampton Town and New York State officials past and present in a ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the expansive new facilities on Friday.

An East Hampton Town Board whose motto has been “All hands on housing” was divided 3-to-2 over two aspects of draft legislation that would create a new affordable multiple-residence housing use. Councilmen Ian Calder-Piedmonte and Tom Flight balked at the inclusion of what they characterized as “environmental restrictions” in the legislation, continuing a disagreement that began the previous week.

The East Hampton Town Architectural Review Board offered only anticlimactic comments to the planning board at its Aug. 14 meeting on an over 10-year-old application by the Springs Fire Department to erect a communications tower on its property at 179 Fort Pond Boulevard.

As the 2026 midterm elections draw closer, a second candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge Representative Nick LaLota in New York’s First Congressional District has emerged, Lukas Ventouras, who is 24 and attending St. John’s School of Law.