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Main Newsletter July 18
July 18, 2026
Today: Partly cloudy early with thunderstorms later in the day that could include strong winds, high 78, winds south-southwest at 10 to 20 miles per hour. Tonight: Evening thunderstorms and cloudy overnight, low 70. Tomorrow: Mostly sunny, high 81, winds out of the northwest at 10 to 15 miles per hour. Sunset tonight: 8:17. Sunrise tomorrow: 5:33.
A storm of smoke that covered Long Island and most of New York State traveled thousands of miles from its source in Canada and the Midwest, leading to multiple air quality alerts here and giving an eerie cast to the skies.
By Christopher Gangemi
 | Amid the continuing and worsening drought, the Suffolk County Water Authority issued the season’s first Stage 1 water alert on Tuesday for all customers in Southold, Shelter Island, Southampton, and East Hampton Towns. Those restrictions include using an odd/even watering schedule. Also, no lawn watering is permitted between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. By Christopher Gangemi |
 | A week after Richard Normoyle, East Hampton Town’s chief building inspector, told the town board that progress was being made on a large backlog of applications, rumors began spreading among building industry insiders that he is not New York State Code-certified to perform inspections. By Christopher Gangemi |
 | Following two recent fatal shootings by ICE agents, one in Maine and one in Texas, the appearance on Monday of two Suffolk County Sheriff vehicles parked with a U.S. Customs and Border Protection truck on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor created a stir. By Christopher Gangemi |
 | Soldier Ride, which was conceived in an Amagansett bar and has grown into a nationwide awareness and fund-raising effort, will once again return to its roots on Saturday, when veterans and others ride from Amagansett to Sag Harbor and back. By Margot Kohn |
 | Because of a licensing issue, the East Hampton Village Foundation has canceled a World Cup finals outdoor watch party planned for Herrick Park on Sunday, July 19. By Alison Morris Roslyn |
 | A plan to improve water quality at Havens Beach, where elevated levels of nitrogen and bacteria, including fecal coliform, have concerned residents for decades, had its first public hearing before the Sag Harbor Village Board on July 8. By Bettina Neel |
 | Angry board members. That was the theme last week at meetings of both the East Hampton Town Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. By Christopher Gangemi |
 | Teenagers are working the land in a summer internship program with Share the Harvest Farm and Pitch Your Peers Teen, a youth-led philanthropic and service organization that introduces students to local nonprofits, meaningful volunteer opportunities, and charitable funding. By Alison Morris Roslyn |
 | An East Hampton mother enters the uncharted terrain of treating an ultra-rare genetic condition. By Bettina Neel |
 | The East Hampton Village Z.B.A. appeared disinclined to grant variances allowing a freestanding sign to be erected at 28 Newtown Lane, the former Odd Fellows Hall, which now houses the Rolex Boutique. By Christopher Walsh |
 | Two locations in Montauk, one at the southwest corner of Lake Montauk and the other at the northwest corner of Fort Pond, will be improved with so-called “living shorelines.” By Christopher Gangemi |
 | Aircraft and firearms, two things America has more of than any other country in the world by a wide margin, are causing frustration to boil over in Wainscott. By Christopher Walsh |
 | Toby Haynes, an artist who splits his time between East Hampton and Cornwall, England, built the belfry that supported the Wavertree ship bell rung to welcome 40 tall ships into New York Harbor. By Margot Kohn |
 | The Bridge Shul in Bridgehampton has a new cantor, a professional singer and voice teacher who has served as a cantorial soloist in synagogues across the United States. By Christopher Walsh |
 | The Rev. Thomas James of the East Hampton’s first church “came to the New World in search of religious freedom but found that freedom was not enough.” So says an announcement for a lecture next Thursday provokingly titled “The Convict Pastor: Thomas James and the Puritan Roots of Christian Nationalism.” By Star Staff |
 | The East Hampton boys and girls cross-country teams are wasting no time this summer, hitting Main Beach on Thursday nights at 6 to get ready for the season ahead. The sessions are run by the high school coaches Kevin Barry and Diane O’Donnell, but you don’t have to be a member of either team to join in. By Alison Morris Roslyn |
 | “Calm waves, slightly cloudy, offshore wind. Almost as good as it could be,” John Britton, a Shred the Love board member, said about the surf on July 11, when the nonprofit hosted the 28th annual Rell Sunn surf competition at Ditch Plain Beach in Montauk. By Margot Kohn |
 | They’re called Nippers, but the 6 through 8-year-olds in East Hampton Town’s youngest water safety program looked like full-blown lifeguards during a recent session at Gin Beach in Montauk, where they learned about sun protection and saving lives. By Alison Morris Roslyn |
 | Topping off this weekend’s Montauk Grand Slam charity fishing tournament in Montauk, Capt. Tom Herlihy will be crowned as the Fishing Legend of the Year on Sunday. By Jon M. Diat |
 | This cyanotype photograph shows Dorothy MacKay and Ruth MacKay, the twin daughters of Emily McIlvaine DuBois MacKay and the Rev. William Richard MacKay, playing on the gate to their house on Cottage Avenue. By Andrea Meyer |
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