July 19 Main Newsletter

Napeague Brush Fire Closed Highway, Halted Train

July 19, 2025

July 19, 2025

Today: Sunny, high 81, winds south-southeast at 5 to 10 miles per hour. Tonight: Partly cloudy, low 73. Tomorrow: Thunderstorms expected in the morning, then scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon, high 84, winds southwest at 10 to 15 m.p.h. Sunset tonight: 8:16. Sunrise tomorrow: 5:34. Three Mile Harbor tides today: Low, 11:23 a.m.; high, 6:03 p.m.

A brush fire along the north side of Montauk Highway on a remote stretch of Napeague was reported on Wednesday afternoon and burned an area roughly the size of a football field before being extinguished.

By Christopher Walsh

The East Hampton School Board last week officially approved a ban on student use of smartphones and internet-enabled devices during the school day. It will take effect at the start of the school year.

By Carissa Katz

A special event went awry on July 9 and was promptly shut down by Marcos Baladron, the East Hampton Village administrator, after he fielded multiple complaints about a General Motors “car dealership” at the park’s entrance.

By Christoper Gangemi

In 2011, Alex Esposito and James Mirras addressed a specific need with Hamptons Free Ride, an electric shuttle service that ran in a fixed loop through East Hampton and from parking lots in town to Main Beach. Since then, a “hometown side project” has developed into Circuit, an all-electric, on-demand “micro-transit” solution in more than 40 cities and towns.

By Bettina Neel

The underutilized Town Lane Park in East Hampton, where works by the late sculptor Sasson Soffer are on permanent display, could see a dramatic transformation, as proposed to the town board on Tuesday by Soffer’s widow, Stella Sands, and Emily Goldstein of the Drawing Room gallery in East Hampton.

By Christopher Walsh

As goes the little saltmarsh sparrow, so goes the salt marsh. In what could be a win for both, a team of scientists will now capture and band saltmarsh sparrows at Accabonac Harbor.

By Christopher Gangemi

The public relations firm WordHampton has long had its finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the East End business community. That comes with the job. And now, with a new office overlooking Park Place in East Hampton Village, it is part of that pulse in a way that was not quite as tangible from its former headquarters in Springs.

By Carissa Katz

Soldier Ride — The Hamptons, a community event to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, returns to the South Fork on Saturday, taking participants from the Amagansett Firehouse to Sag Harbor and back.

By Christopher Walsh

Speaking at an Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee Meeting this week, State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni said that rebuilding of the Cranberry Hole Road bridge is included in the M.T.A. capital plan, “but the pace is glacial.”

By Irene Silverman

The case of Augusta Ramsay Folks, an 81-year-old accused of cutting down two trees on Meadowlark Lane in Sag Harbor in June of last year — in violation of the village’s new tree-protection law — was back in court on July 8, when a settlement proposed by Ms. Folks was rejected by the village and then withdrawn by her attorney.

By Bettina Neel

ReWild Long Island and East Hampton Town have launched an initiative to encourage backyard composting by taking advantage of a “flash sale” on compost bins and expert support.

By Christopher Walsh

East Hampton Town experienced a total governmental funds loss of $27.3 million in 2024, primarily due to losses in the general fund and the community preservation fund, the latter impacted by last year’s $56 million purchase of a 30-acre lot at 66 Main Street in Wainscott.

By Christopher Walsh

The East Hampton Town Trustees voted to authorize a special season for the taking of soft clams or razor clams by the method known as powering, or churning.

By Christopher Walsh

Kerri Walsh Jennings, a five-time Olympian (and three-time gold medalist) from California, will be in town this week to give a youth volleyball clinic at East Hampton High School Monday morning that is to be followed by a pro-am beach volleyball tournament Tuesday at Kirk Park in Montauk.

By Jack Graves

The East Hampton Little League’s 10-U all-star baseball team became one of only a few in local annals to advance to sectional competition.

By Jack Graves

Melina Sarlo, who’s about to enter her sophomore year at Hofstra University, was a member of the Argentine lacrosse team that recently qualified to play in the World Cup championships next summer in Tokyo.

By Jack Graves

There were 163 finishers in the I-Tri empowerment program’s 16th youth triathlon Saturday at Long Beach in Noyac — 129 of them being I-Tri members.

By Jack Graves

It’s a great tradition. The popular Montauk Grand Slam charity fishing tournament — now in its 25th year — will once again be held this weekend at Uihlein’s Marina on West Lake Drive.
By Jon M. Diat

This still from an LTV archive video shows 1989’s competitors locked in a tight race for the clam shucking title.

By Julia Tyson

James Patterson and Mike Lupica hit it off so well when they met four years ago that they have collaborated on six novels since then, most recently on "The Hamptons Lawyer."

By Mark Segal

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