With Election Day less than 11 weeks away, Republican U.S. Representative Nick LaLota and John Avlon, his Democratic challenger for New York’s 1st Congressional District seat, continue to needle one another over their residency and, by extension, their fitness to represent the district. Christopher Walsh reports on 27east.com that LaLota, a first-term Republican, has relentlessly portrayed his Democratic challenger as a wealthy Manhattanite who is out of touch with the district. Avlon, an author, columnist and former CNN anchor who lives in Sag Harbor and Manhattan, counters that LaLota himself does not live in the 1st Congressional District. The congressman, born and raised on Long Island, lives in Amityville Village, outside of the district boundaries, but emphasizes his lifelong ties to Long Island. While members of the House of Representatives typically live in the districts they represent, they are not required to do so. They are required to be an inhabitant of the state they represent at the time of their election. Last week, LaLota publicized an August 13 New York Post article that asserted that Avlon was “apparently netting more than $2,000 per year in abatements by claiming his primary residence is in Manhattan.” The Post article said that the tax abatements are eligible only to units designated as a primary residence. Avlon cited “numerous fundamental inaccuracies” in the Post article. “The co-op in which I have an apartment filed for that abatement without consulting any of us individually,” he said this week. He said that he had been unaware that the abatement had been filed, but since he entered the 1st Congressional race this year, “the key point is whether the abatement will be filed in this calendar year, which it will not.” The Cook Political Report puts the 1st District race in its “likely Republican” column.

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Southampton Village announced a new measure intended to mitigate the traffic nightmare that has plagued the area. Effective Wednesday, August 21, only right turns will be permitted from Lee Avenue and Captains Neck Lane onto Hill Street from 4 to 7 p.m. during that dreadful westbound trade parade traffic. Cones will be placed down the center of Hill Street to prevent U-turns. As reported on 27east.com, Hill Street residents will be able to access their residences, a village alert noted. The Southampton Village Police Department will be monitoring the pilot program, using daily motor patrols and drones. The pilot program will run through September 13.

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Elementary school and pre-kindergarten playground expansion projects are in the works in the Hampton Bays School District. Desirée Keegan reports on 27east.com that Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Larry Luce said during Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting that plans for both have been approved by the state Education Department, with purchase orders going out this week or next. “We will start to see actual construction happening on both of those playgrounds in the next month or so,” he said of the projects, both of which are on state contract. “We don’t even need to bid them because of this, so that helps move things along a little quicker.” Also at the Hampton Bays Elementary school is a plan to upgrade the south-facing windows along the 1998 wing, and replacing the toilets in the 1957 and 1968 wings.

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For Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s new chief administrator, Emily Mastaler, the shift from working in a rural, remote hospital system near the Canadian border, to the South Fork of Long Island, with its mind boggling array of diversities, personalities and logistical challenges is a learning experience that she is still just beginning to get her arms around eight weeks into the job.

Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that Mastaler, 43, who grew up in Vermont and spent most of her career there working...