Week in Review: At Years' End

Hochul's Year-End Actions, A Forest in the Classroom, The Jazz Loft Takes Over the Vail-Leavitt

Author

Beth Young
December 21, 2025

In Albany

Hochul Signs Horseshoe Crab Protection Bill But Vetoes Montaukett Recognition

Montaukett Chief Robert Pharoah (left) as he was named Grand Marshal of East Hampton Town’s 2023 Anniversary parade as part of East Hampton’s support for the Montaukett recognition effort.

In a flurry of end-of-the-year bill signings Friday, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a bill banning the use of horseshoe crabs for bait and biomedical research, but has vetoed a bill that would have reinstated state recognition for the Montaukett Indian Tribe.

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The Jazz Loft Takes the Keys to the Vail-Leavitt

When a mostly unamplified jazz quartet took the stage at the historic Vail-Leavitt Music Hall at a ceremony to celebrate the sale of the building to The Jazz Loft, it was immediately clear that the acoustics in this room were meant for this type of intimate music. Every note came through, loud and clear, from every corner of the room.

“As you can hear right now, it’s a very acoustic room. There’s no amplification right now,” said Thomas Manuel, Executive Director of The Jazz Loft, as the band improvised over the chords to “It Had To Be You” and dignitaries milled around the historic theater. “We really don’t want to mess around with the historical character of the space. Obviously, we don’t want to go back to gaslights, but it’s amazing that all these details are still in place.”

Education

Bringing the Forest into the Classroom

Plum Kilcer and Adelaide LeFort showed off the timeline of the development of the forest at the Peconic Community School.

Down at the Peconic Community School in Cutchogue, the kids were busy tromping around outdoors exploring the snow-filled world this week, and when they came indoors, the forest followed them.

Their schoolwide interdisciplinary project on the life of the forests, in the works all fall, culminated this week in an transformation of the school into an immersive world filled with demonstrations of the timeline of the development of the forest, the different types of forests that grow at different latitudes, the bugs and other fauna of the forest and experiments involving the types of food that come from the forest.

Eyes on Southold

A Chorus of Greenport Voices Asks Southold for Action on CPF

All five members of the Greenport Village Board pleaded with the Southold Town Board to use its Community Preservation Fund money within the village at the Southold board’s Tuesday afternoon meeting.

Frustrations Continue Over Pace of Southold Zoning Update

The early retirement of Southold Town Assistant Town Planning Director Mark Terry this summer and a shortage of staffing in the town’s planning office has had a greater impact than expected on the pace of the town’s Zoning Update, acknowledged Town Planning Director Heather Lanza at the Town Board’s Dec. 16 work session.

Southold Democratic Party Chair Seeks to Unseat County Chief

Southold Democratic Party Chair Kathryn Casey-Quigley has launched a challenge to longtime Suffolk County Democratic Chairman Rich Schaffer, with a promise to bring her grassroots organizing skills to bear on a role that she says has become stagnant in recent years.

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On the South Fork

Southampton To Consider Banning Private Docks in the Peconics

The Southampton Town Board is considering banning the construction of private docks in the Little and Great Peconic Bays.

Assistant Town Attorney Kelly Doyle and Town Planning and Development Administrator Janice Scherer were given the go-ahead to draft new code for a public hearing, after pitching the idea to the Town Board at its Dec. 4 work session.

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Peconic Dish

Around the Table, Around the World

By Alison Boyd-Savage

When we moved to the East End in the late eighties, we were taken under the welcoming wing of the Zelinski family in Southampton. Since that happy meeting, we have not spent a single holiday on our own. Over decades of warm friendship, we have been included in every family celebration, including their lavish Christmas Eve dinners. Starting at sundown on December 24, they serve a seafood meal of the traditional seven dishes in the Italian American style.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sunday, Dec. 21

Christmas Market & Solstice Celebration at KK’s The Farm

KK’s The Farm in Southold holds a Farmers Market with crafts and gifts from the garden from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, followed by a Winter Solstice Celebration from 3 to 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 21

Winter Solstice Celebration at Bailie Beach

Turtleback Conservation Center hosts a warm and welcoming Winter Solstice celebration featuring a peaceful nature walk, seasonal refreshments, and simple festive activities and crafts around the fire.

Sunday, Dec. 28

LI Baroque: Holiday Revels! at NFAC

Long Island Baroque’s Holiday Revels features timeless works, new and old, to celebrate this holiday season, performed by singers, instrumentalists and circus artists.

Words

“Don’t let the solstice fool you: our lives will always be a stew of contradictions. The worst moment of winter can come in April…

— Adrienne Rich

All words in and on The Beacon are always generated by human beings. Guaranteed.

See you next Sunday,

Beth