First District Matters: Avlon, LaLota Agree and Disagree on Some Health Care Issues
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Democratic candidate John Avlon and incumbent Republican U.S. Representative Nick LaLota
Democratic candidate John Avlon and incumbent Republican U.S. Representative Nick LaLota
Christopher Walsh on Oct 24, 2024
Republican U.S. Representative Nick LaLota and John Avlon, his Democratic challenger in the 1st Congressional District race, agree that the political parties should find common ground to improve health care... more
I never thought I would see this story, and as a nine-page article no less, in the current April issue of the esteemed and influential magazine Scientific American. “A Softer Corps” is the headline. The subhead: “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has uncharacteristically been working with nature instead of bulldozing it into submission. Will this enlightened approach prevail?” So the piece would not be missed, it is flagged on the cover of Scientific American with: “Reinventing the Army Corps of Engineers.” When I began as a journalist based in Suffolk County in 1962, the Army Corps was promoting a ...
7 Apr 2025 by Karl Grossman
Last week’s article outlining the delays associated with the Shinnecock Nation gas station is disturbing [“Shinnecock Say Town Reviving Abandoned Deal to Derail Tribal Land Purchase,” 27east.com, April 6]. How much more can we do to these people? This is their land. Long before any of us got here. They have lost the land, had it stolen from them or manipulated from them for centuries. The government took their land and then named it the Shinnecock Canal, almost to torment them. The U.S. government has stated that the Shinnecock Nation is a free and independent nation, almost like another state ...
by Staff Writer
The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork in Bridgehampton is once again seeking applicants for its High Impact Community Outreach grant program, which is now in its sixth year. HICO provides financial assistance to institutions located in or servicing any of the five eastern towns — East Hampton, Southampton, Shelter Island, Riverhead and Southold — as well as the Shinnecock Nation. Over the past five years, the program has donated $211,000 to 25 nonprofits, in grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000. The program’s committee stated in a press release that today’s challenges are both immediate and in a state ...
by Stephen J. Kotz
In the August 19, 1915, issue of The Sag Harbor Express, there was a headline: “Greatest Track Meet Ever Held in Sag Harbor, F Moench Individual Star.” On August 14, 1915, Francis Moench, my grandfather and a Pierson alum, was awarded the Strongheart Garage Cup after winning the 440-yard and the 220 low hurdles, as well as leading the relay team to victory. Last week’s Express had a great article on the much more notable success of Pierson alumnae and Geneseo senior Penelope Greene [“Two More All-American Finishes for Penelope Greene, Who Can Tie a Program Record This Spring,” Sports, ...
by Staff Writer
As a public librarian for more than 45 years, I have struggled with wringing sufficient funds from my municipality, along with a pitiful pro-rated stipend from my province, to keep my small-town library operational. Not once throughout my career did we ever get a penny of support from our federal government [“Institutions React to Federal Cuts to Institute of Museum and Library Services,” 27east.com, April 3]. After I retired, I do believe some of my staff, working in collaboration with librarians across Canada, may have been given stipends to further develop the groundbreaking and inexpensive software they created, enabling them ...
by Staff Writer
Something must come to fruition in Southampton Town Hall. At numerous meetings over months and months, and years, the same stuff is discussed over and over, but there is never a conclusion. Something should be finalized. The first time I heard about a sewage treatment plant coming to Flanders was in 1966. That’s 59 years ago. There’s still no plant. Bel-Aire Cove property: Thanks to the town for removing the motel, but now it’s a vacant piece of property with a fence around, making it look like a Superfund site. It was supposed to become a park. Why is the ...
by Staff Writer
I’m Route 27 east-west from the end of Southampton Village all the way to Montauk. I was built about 100 years ago. I used to run through broad stretches of verdant farm fields all the way to Wainscott and eastward through quaint New England-style hamlets. The insatiable lust for land to develop has pretty much wiped that out over the past 40 to 50 years — and with that my tale of woe starts. When I was built back in the 1920s, I was state-of-the-art. The communities I served all the way to Montauk were sleepy little country villages. By ...
by Staff Writer
The March 20 Southampton Press front-page story, “Riverside Sewer Project Is Among Local Work Impacted by Federal Cuts,” is instructive. Reporter Michael Wright informs readers that it was “mostly Republican-led spending cuts.” The vote to pass the 2025 Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, which was the legislative vehicle to cut money from the Riverside and other important East End projects, was approved in the House of Representatives by a vote of 217-213. All but one of the Republicans voted to cut community project funding. All but one of the Democrats voted to keep and continue funding. Our congressman, Nick LaLota, ...
by Staff Writer
On Saturday, I attended a “Hands Off” rally in Florida. I later watched the coverage on TV of the other rallies around the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Americans came together to peacefully protest many of the policies, intrusions and lawlessness of the second Donald Trump administration, and especially the Department of Government Efficiency. There were no Democrat signs, nor any signs bashing Republicans, at the Florida rally. When I spoke to other Florida protesters and listened to the protesters interviewed on television, it was apparent that people came together for the sake of all fellow Americans. People waved ...
by Staff Writer
The “Tilting at Windmills” column first appeared in this paper six years ago last month. Happy anniversary to me! Time flies when you’re having fun, and it’s been a blast drafting such entertaining (at least to me) 900 words every four, five or six weeks — depending on how many wise columnists the fine folks at The Express News Group had on rotation. Wait, why didn’t I celebrate the more traditional fifth anniversary? Great question. The short answer is, I forgot. The longer answer might involve painkillers. My March 2024 column was about how I had spent the preceding six ...
by Tracy Grathwohl
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