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Mitch Freedman
A reporter at Newsday for nearly 40 years, Freedman currently runs the East End bureau. Freedman has covered stories ranging from the political scandals in Brookhaven to the growth of Stony Brook University and the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996. This is the third time in his career at Newsday he has been assigned to the East End and, over the years, his stories have shown how the area has kept its own unique identity, even as it has grown along with the rest of Long Island. Before coming to Newsday, he worked on the now-defunct daily Long Island Press. His first job after leaving Hofstra College was on the Delaware State News, and he did some radio work and worked for two weekly newspapers as well. Freedman and his wife live in Smithtown. They have three grown children.
Suffolk library chiefs thank lawmakers for aid
Photo credit: Newsday/Gordon M. Grant
Standing in the new, still-unfinished children’s wing of the East Hampton Public Library, three East End library directors got a chance to thank two state lawmakers for their share of the $724,655 in state library construction grants that went to their districts.
The small libraries in East Hampton, Sag Harbor and Shelter Island are in the middle of expansion projects, and the state grants...
Read more »Sag Harbor's village board, chamber to discuss public toilets
Photo credit: Newsday
Sag Harbor’s village board has agreed to meet with the village Chamber of Commerce to discuss a small but key summer issue — why the public toilets in Village Hall are closed on weekends, when the resort village fills with tourists.
A sign on the Village Hall directs tourists and local residents to use the public toilet facilities by the docks on Bay Street, a short walk from the Village Hall...
Read more »Shelter Island working toward modified 'dark skies' vote
Photo credit: Randee Daddona, 2011
The Shelter Island town board will likely vote on a modified version of a “dark skies” law when it meets later this month.
The board held a lengthy public hearing last month on a proposal to restrict outdoor lighting, with outdoor fixtures shielded so that any light is focused toward the ground and does not cross over a neighbor’s property line.
Nearly three dozen people spoke at the...
Read more »Sag Harbor library gets new grant for construction
Photo credit: Randee Daddona
The race between rising construction costs and new fundraising for the John Jermain public library has gotten a little closer, with the Sag Harbor library getting its third New York State library construction grant in three years.
“We’re really excited,” library director Cathy Creedon said. “We’ve raised over $500,000 in grants, and almost $2.5 million in total fundraising."
The...
Read more »Riverhead chief Sean Walter wins leaders’ cardboard boat race
Photo credit: Ed Betz
Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter, paddling furiously, pulled up to the dock Saturday in his duct-taped silver boat to win the title of King of the Peconic River in his town’s fourth annual cardboard boat race.
Just 14 seconds behind him, Southampton Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst — who won the title from Walter last year — came both up to the dock and down into the Peconic River simultaneously,...
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