The Maidstone Gun Club voluntarily closed its rifle range after a bullet struck a house nearby and a judge has ordered the whole facility to remain closed as the neighbors argue in court that the range should be shuttered permanently. In this week's podcast, senior reporter Michael Wright joins the editors to discuss where the court battle stands, the police investigation's conclusions and the fate of the gun club.
Jan 12, 2023•54 min
Sagaponack Village Mayor Bill Tillotson came under fire from some residents after the village placed a porta-potty on the roadside this past summer to accommodate laborers who work at estates in the village. Tillotson defends the move, saying it's about human dignity. The mayor joins the editors and reporter Cailin Riley on the podcast this week to discuss the controversy and the importance of public restrooms.
Jan 05, 2023•32 min
Throughout 2022, The Express News Group has presented a monthly series on climate change, The Rising Tide, which concludes this week with a look back on the threats that have been identified and the mitigation measures being proposed or implemented right now. On the podcast, the editors discuss the biggest takeaways from the series and the ongoing challenges climate change will present for the East End.
Dec 22, 2022•42 min
Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, the chair of the Legislature’s Transportation Working Group, joins the editors on the podcast this week to discuss the redesign of the Suffolk County Transit bus network, including a new on-demand bus service connecting the Southampton and Sag Harbor areas for the same price as a regular bus fare.
Dec 15, 2022•50 min
Suffolk County's Septic Improvement Program grants and similar grants issued by Southampton and East Hampton towns to subsidize nitrogen-reducing innovative/alternative septic systems will no longer be subject to federal income tax, a change that provides long-awaited relief to grant recipients and perhaps encouraging more participation in the future. The IRS announced the move this month in light of the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently determining that the grants should be exempt from in...
Dec 08, 2022•33 min
Crime is happening here on the East End, especially crimes involving the theft of luxury vehicles. But did you know that these thefts are occurring because owners are leaving their key fobs in the car? Common sense goes a long way in reducing opportunity. This week, police reporter Kitty Merrill and special guests Captain James Kiernan of the Southampton Town Police Department, Chief of Police Christopher Isola and Lt. Daniel Hartman of the Quogue Village Police Department, and (by text message)...
Dec 01, 2022•49 min
Jay Schneiderman, the current Southampton Town supervisor and a former Suffolk County legislator and East Hampton supervisor, has long had a passion other than politics: music. Recently, a song that Schneiderman wrote in collaboration with Grammy nominee Matt White debuted on an episode of “The Bachelorette” and was heard by some 25 million viewers of the ABC reality show. Schneiderman and White join the editors and reporter Kitty Merrill on the podcast to discuss their musical careers and how t...
Nov 24, 2022•54 min
Listen to the 27Speaks podcast to whet your appetite for The Express Magazine before digging in to the new issue. It’s the holiday issue, and this week the editors discuss many of the articles and themes within it: heirloom cookie recipes, Greek pastries to raise funds for the Orthodox Church’s philanthropic initiatives, the secret to good gravy, cooking an extra turkey the night before the Thanksgiving feast so there are leftover ready to go for guests, and more.
Nov 17, 2022•41 min
Residents of the Sag Harbor School District approved, in a 638-521 vote on November 3, a plan to expend $3.28 million in capital reserve funds toward the purchase of five lots on Marsden Street for athletic fields directly across from Pierson Middle High School. But the deal also hinges on the Southampton Town Board agreeing to contribute $6 million from the Community Preservation Fund to the deal. In this week's podcast, the editors and reporter Cailin Riley discuss questions of whether it is a...
Nov 10, 2022•1 hr 10 min
A decade ago, Superstorm Sandy roared through the New York region. This week, the editors share what it was like to ride the storm out on the East End and share some thoughts on how infrastructure has improved in the region in the years since — or not.
Nov 03, 2022•43 min
Commuters who are subjected to snail's pace stop-and-go eastbound traffic on the South Fork in the morning and westbound traffic in the p.m. hours got some relief, sporadically, over the past few months with the introduction of blinking yellow light programs that allowed cars to flow through main arteries with fewer red lights to cause backups. Southampton Town Highway Superintendent Charlie McArdle joins the editors on the podcast this week to discuss the methods his department and partner agen...
Oct 27, 2022•51 min
Doctors at some of the region's top health networks offered a promising diagnosis of the state and future of treatment for women's cancers on the East End at the first in a series of discussions about the changing face of health care. The Express News Group's Innovating Health Care on the East End series kicked off this month with "Gaining Ground: The Innovations in the Fight Against Women’s Cancers," a Zoom event with Peconic Bay Medical Center Chief of Breast Surgery Dr. Susan Lee, Stony Brook...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr 9 min
The fate of the late Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck's Sag Harbor home hangs in the balance as it sits on the open market. However, an informal coalition of individuals and groups that want to preserve the home as a historic site and writers' retreat is endeavoring to raise the funds to purchase the waterfront property where Steinbeck wrote his final novel, “The Winter of Our Discontent," before a private buyer does. Nada Barry, the proprietor of The Wharf Shop, joins the editors on th...
Oct 13, 2022•53 min
The massive 185-foot steeple of the First Presbyterian (Old Whalers’) Church in Sag Harbor was the tallest structure on Long Island when built in 1844. But the steeple came down in the Hurricane of 1938 — the victim of a well-intentioned but ill-fated attempt in the early 1900s to shore it up. Now, there’s a vision to rebuild the steeple, this time, with cell towers within that would help pay for its reconstruction and improve communication networks for miles around. Architect Randy Croxton, a m...
Oct 06, 2022•57 min
In this week's 27Speaks podcast, Express News Group mothers compare notes on the first few weeks of school, the transition from summer fun to fall homework, the many challenges of school day lunches, and the general ups and downs of parenting in the digital age.
Sep 29, 2022•57 min
After a months of opinion gathering, Southampton Village is close to adopting its first village-wide comprehensive master plan update in more than 20 years. Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren joins the podcast this week to discuss the scope of the plan and its purpose, plus SouthamptonFest coordinator Nancy Kane and the mayor share what to expect during the festival weekend kicking off Friday, September 30.
Sep 22, 2022•43 min
New York State's Freedom of Information Law is designed to protect the public's right to know and to enable journalists and members of the public to obtain records from municipalities, police departments and other government agencies. However, the law is often vague and lacks teeth, which makes it easy for agencies to turn down, ignore or slow walk valid FOIL requests while rarely facing consequences. Journalist Charles Lane of the Institute for Access to Public Information joins the editors thi...
Sep 15, 2022•41 min
With Labor Day now in the rear-view mirror and cooler, shorter days on the horizon, this week our editors discuss the season that was and take a look ahead to the fall festivals that will soon give us all reason to celebrate.
Sep 09, 2022•41 min
With Labor Day now in the rear-view mirror and cooler, shorter days on the horizon, this week our editors discuss the season that was and take a look ahead to the fall festivals that will soon give us all reason to celebrate.
Sep 08, 2022•41 min
For the fourth year in a row, researchers who monitor the bay scallop population in the Peconic Estuary say there are clear signs of a massive die-off of the valuable shellfish unfolding on local bay bottoms. Biologists from the Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program say that they have seen almost 100 percent mortality of adult bay scallops at monitoring sites in Northwest Harbor and Orient Harbor. A parasite is likely contributing to the scallops' demise, but record-high water temperature...
Sep 01, 2022•47 min
Real estate appraiser and market analyst Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Inc. joins the podcast this week to share his insights on the state of the Hamptons real estate market, how it has behaved throughout the pandemic and what he's looking out for to get a sense of where it is headed next.
Aug 25, 2022•44 min
The editors discuss the "Summer of the Shark." Shark sightings and bites have caused beach closures on Long Island this summer, and two deceased juvenile white sharks washed up on South Fork beaches. The increased presence of sharks nearshore is the result of conservation efforts and a sign of a healthy marine ecosystem.
Aug 18, 2022•44 min
Organización Latino Americana (OLA) of Eastern Long Island is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Founded in 2002, the nonprofit organization offers advocacy and crisis management to Latino residents across the East End, as well as health and wellness education in English and Spanish, and art and cultural events — all in the name of inspiring systemic change. Joining the editors on the podcast this week is OLA’s associate director, Sandra Dunn, who talks about OLA’s history, the strides that have ...
Aug 11, 2022•55 min
The Shinnecock Nation recently broke ground on a 5,000-square-foot cannabis dispensary on its territory in Southampton as it looks forward to the economic development New York's decriminalized cannabis industry will bring to the tribe. Chenae Bullock, the managing director of Little Beach Harvest, the tribal cannabis business; Bryan Polite, the chairman of the Shinnecock Nation Council of Trustees; and Express News Group senior reporter Stephen Kotz join the editors on the podcast this week to d...
Aug 04, 2022•1 hr 3 min
The East End's food pantries are a lifeline for people in need, and with the rising costs of food, fuel and other essentials, need is rising. At the same time that inflation is causing greater demand at food pantries, the food pantries themselves are combating rising costs for the goods that they buy for distribution. The ongoing pandemic has also exacerbated need while causing supply chain problems. Reporter Cailin Riley joins the editors on the podcast this week to discuss the struggles food p...
Jul 28, 2022•52 min
Rob Wiesenthal, the CEO and founder of aviation company Blade Urban Air Mobility, which operates shared helicopter and seaplane flights to the East End, joins the editors and reporter Michael Wright to discuss his company’s origin, how the service works and the plans that Blade has in store for the future on the East End and elsewhere, including electric, emission-free aircraft that are much quieter than the helicopters that are a point of contention in many East East communities that are under ...
Jul 21, 2022•53 min
Hampton Bays School Superintendent Lars Clemensen, a member of the New York State Council of School Superintendents Executive Committee and an author of the 2018 Blueprint for School Safety, joined the editors this week to discuss what school districts and the state are doing to address safety in light of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24 and other school shootings. Clemensen was present for Governor Kathy Hochul’s recent signing of Alyssa’s Law, which requires scho...
Jul 14, 2022•29 min
The Express News Group recently published a series of articles commemorating the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation, passed in June of 1972, that ensured equal access and opportunity for women in education. While the law applies to all areas of education, one of its biggest legacies has been how it changed for landscape for female athletes, in the high school, college and even professional ranks. Reporter Cailin Riley, who put together the series, spoke with several local coa...
Jul 07, 2022•40 min
Adam Potter, the face of Friends of Bay Street Theater, has been buying up properties on Bridge and Rose streets in Sag Harbor Village for some time, and this month, he revealed why: He is proposing a mixed-use development with 79 units of affordable housing and 30,000 square feet of commercial space. Senior reporter Stephen Kotz joins the editors this week to discuss the plans, the obstacles and the process ahead.
Jun 30, 2022•37 min
The inaugural Hamptons Pride Parade was held in East Hampton Village on June 4 in celebration of Pride Month. Co-grand marshals Robert S. Chaloner, chief administrative officer of Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, and Kathryn Szoka, co-owner of Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor, join the conversation this week to talk about their experiences as long-time members of the East End’s LGBTQ community, how attitudes have evolved and changed, and where improvement is still needed in terms of support and acce...
Jun 23, 2022•49 min
