Week in Review: Elections in Focus

An Announcement in Riverhead and Community Happenings for a Holiday Week

Author

Beth Young
November 23, 2025

2025 Elections

Riverhead Democrats Declare Victory for Jerry Halpin in Town Supervisor Race

Jerry and Kristen Halpin on Election Night

More than two weeks after a nail-biter election night that saw him up by six votes for much of the evening, Riverhead Democrats declared Friday afternoon that their Town Supervisor candidate, Jerry Halpin, will be the next Town Supervisor.

Climate Local Now

Turn Off the Lights, Leave the Leaves

By Leonard Green

In spring, the nearby bayside meadow is covered with beach plum blossoms. It looks like snow. The white fields fade, and a golden carpet of beach heather follows. By late summer, the beach plums are ripe and sweet to eat. They have withered now, food for winter’s wild foragers. Asters and goldenrods flower in time for the monarch migration. They are an important source of nectar for late season hangers-on like our native bumble bees. Nature has its rhythms. This is one way to measure time.

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Peconic Bathtub

Eco-Moorings Could Protect Fishers Island Seagrass

Artist Carol DeVito organized this year’s Art Show & Sale at Brecknock Hall

Fishers Island, in the relatively cool and clean waters between Southold and Connecticut, is one of the few local places where you will find healthy beds of seagrass.

Arts

Riverhead Votes to Move Forward with Jazz Loft Deal for the Vail-Leavitt

The Riverhead Town Board deemed The Jazz Loft qualified and eligible to purchase and renovate the Vail-Leavitt Music hall in a 4-1 vote Tuesday evening, after a public hearing in October in which board members of the Stony Brook-based non-profit said they could quickly reopen the space as a vibrant community music center.

Trotting Off Turkeys

At the Shelter Island Library’s Turkey Plunge

Plunging & Trotting

From Montauk to Mattituck to Crescent Beach on Shelter Island, you too can find companionship in turkey-related antics.

Lighting the Season

The Duck, all lit up

Yes, It’s Already Time

Here are some of the Christmas festivities beginning just after you finish your Turkey.

In Our Hearts

CAST’s Festival of Trees

CAST in Southold, the North Fork’s most far-reaching provider of safety net and self-sufficiency programs, is holding its sixth annual North Fork Festival of Trees this weekend at Treiber Farms in Peconic.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Gems of Community

Saturday, Nov. 29

There’s No Place Like Home at NFAC

Kick off the holiday weekend with the opening of “There’s No Place Like Home,” an exhibition curated by local galleries VEME Studios, VSOP Projects, Alex Ferrone Gallery, North Fork Art Collective, and William Ris Gallery. The show brings together artists whose work reflects themes of belonging, courage, and community.

Saturday, Nov. 29

Taking Venice

“Taking Venice,” a film being screened at East Hampton’s Guild Hall Saturday evening, tells the true story behind rumors that the U.S. government and a team of high-placed insiders rigged the 1964 Venice Biennale so their chosen artist, Robert Rauschenberg, could win the grand prize.

Saturday, Dec. 6

Holiday Songs from Around the World

This special concert led by Director Iris Ornig promises to be a delightful journey through the diverse holiday and winter traditions of the world, all interpreted through the captivating lens of jazz.

ON THE AIR

Behind the Headlines

At this week’s Behind the Headlines on 88.3 WLIW-FM, Beacon editor Beth Young joins a panel talking with former New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele about this year’s local elections and current issues with the Community Preservation Fund and train service on the North Fork.

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Words

“We choose to go to the moon and do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” — JFK

See you next Sunday,

Beth