Editorials

Suffolk’s enforcement of the accommodation tax was overdue. Far too many property owners using Airbnb and its competitors to handle sub-30-day rentals were operating as de facto hotels, but not paying up.

Hurricane Idalia’s overnight surge to Category 4 has been attributed to record warmth in the oceans.

Enforcement is not East Hampton Town government’s best feature, and a locally run business that has monopolized a portion of a popular ocean beach in Montauk is a prime example.

Looking through the official East Hampton Village website recently, one of our reporters noticed something strange about a committee created to review a proposed sewage system in the historic district.

It turns out that not only are our smartphones and computers commanding an increasing portion of our waking hours, but they are distracting us from even breathing.

Congress does not have that much of an obvious effect here, other than perhaps on marginal tax rates for the very rich, but on global warming policy it is a crucial player.

For fans of local history as well as of early American furniture, the opening today of the new Dominy Shops Museum on North Main Street is an exciting moment.

The Sag Harbor Village Board did the right thing recently when it proposed handing back development oversight in the waterfront zone to the village planning board.

East Hampton Town officials are again revising the rules for sandbag seawalls.

In the water, the big risk to life is drowning and near-drowning.

Neighbors worried about the current East Hampton Village administration’s designs on Herrick Park are rightly concerned.

East Hampton Town officials are beginning to practice what they have long preached when it comes to wastewater by installing modern wastewater systems at public restrooms and elsewhere. It’s high time.

With smartphone maps, there are no back roads anymore, and more tie-ups are the result.

Major new reports say that smartphone use could be directly linked to poor educational performance while harming children’s emotional stability.

Just as a lot of bad news about water was coming out, the Suffolk County Legislature failed to authorize putting the Water Quality Protection Act on the Nov. 7 ballot.

We have been here many times before. Officials and citizens vow to take a fresh look at building rules in the face of overdevelopment, but, in the end, little changes.

Eating out is lovely on a summer evening. But it has also created a potential mess by possibly almost doubling the number of patrons on site at any one time.

In a study of emergency room visits from 2000 to 2017, researchers at New York University’s School of Medicine concluded that e-bike injuries were the most severe and most likely to require hospitalization.

Coming soon to a farmers market near you: food-waste bins.

Speaking in the first person, ChatGPT declared it would be happy to help a Star letter writer. The result was cringe-worthy.

The list of problems is long, but the potential for improving the area around Springs-Fireplace and Three Mile Harbor Roads in East Hampton is great.

It is difficult to know yet whether disaster was averted or just delayed by a United States Supreme Court decision released this week in an important voting case.

The East Hampton Village Board has a golden opportunity ahead to clear up confusion regarding the use of Herrick Park.

Political ties run deep in Suffolk County, and there has been speculation that an old-boy network is behind the extraordinary fines a State Supreme Court justice has imposed on the town.

For the first time, lifeguards at East Hampton Main Beach will have the ability to fly a drone to help pinpoint swimmers in distress.

In a village election season with a deficit of drama, the contest for Sag Harbor justice has become a headliner, and we think Carl Irace is now seasoned enough for the job.

In praise of Southampton Town’s pay-per-bag system of handling trash.

In light of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires, special caution is urged for people who regularly work outside and whose particulate exposure was already high.

Whether the fossil fuel industry likes it or not, the United States is moving toward a point at which the majority of electricity produced in the country is from renewable sources.

In the nearly 85 years since the 1938 Hurricane, the Atlantic climate has become more favorable for storm formation.