27Speaks

Launched in 2017, The Gates Scholarship, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is based on evidence that “by eliminating the financial barriers to college, a last-dollar scholarship can enable high-potential, low-income minority students to excel in their course work, graduate college, and continue to be leaders throughout their lives.” It becomes evident early on during a conversation with the 17-year-old Sa'Naya Morris why she was chosen to receive the scholarship, which has a rigorous application process, and which is awarded to fewer than 800 students out of the more than 53,000 who apply. Morris joins the editors on the podcast this week to discuss her academic career and plans.

In Shinnecock Hills, an ancestral Shinnecock burial ground is back under the stewardship of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. The site is adjacent to the summit of Sugar Loaf Hill, land that has been used by the Shinnecock and other Indigenous people from as far away as New England for cremation and interment. A house deemed historic, but not yet landmarked, sits on the land, and the question of what to do with the house remains. Shinnecock Indian Nation tribal attorney and Niamuck Land Trust Executive Director Tela Troge,  Peconic Land Trust President John v.H. Halsey and Express News Group reporter Cailin Riley join the editors on the podcast to talk about the significance of the site and the effort by others to preserve the house there.

Rex Heuermann, who is suspected of being the Gilgo serial killer, was charged last week with two more murders, including one victim who was discovered in North Sea in 1993. Reporter Michael Wright joins the editors on the podcast this week to discuss the new charges and the case's new connection to Southampton.

After a long wait — and several complications — Heart of the Hamptons, the community nonprofit food pantry that also provides other services to families in need, has moved from its long-time home in the basement of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Roman Catholic Church on Hill Street into its new headquarters in the old ambulance barn on Meeting House Lane in Southampton Village. Heart of the Hamptons Executive Director Molly Bishop talks with the editors about the pantry’s mission, the big move and a new distribution location​​​​​​​that was added at the Stony Brook Southampton campus a little more than a month ago.

Thanks to a $125,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, the East Hampton Historical Society has launched a new “augmented reality” app at Mulford Farm that gives users an interactive way to learn about the history of the American Revolution. The app, 1776AR, features a 3D avatar of Hugh King, the East Hampton Town and Village historian, sharing the history of the Mulford family before, during and after the American Revolution. Stephen Long, the executive director of the Historical Society, and King joined the editors to talk about the new app and its mission.

Since 1974, the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, also known as ARF, has placed over 30,000 cats and dogs with loving families across Long Island and beyond, changing their lives one connection at a time, according to Kim Nichols, ARF's executive director and CEO. Nichols joins the editors on 27Speaks to talk about ARF's work and the nonprofit's 50th anniversary.

On this week's edition of 27Speaks, reporter Cailin Riley and co-publisher Gavin Meny join the editors to offer a preview of The Summer Book, the name given to the issue of The Express Magazine that drops just in time for Memorial Day weekend each year.

As far as Anita Fuellbier is concerned, Stage 4 lung cancer picked the wrong body. She is a fighter. She takes risks. She has fierce love for her two daughters, her job and her place in her community. And she is currently six months into her projected year and a half to live — though, following an experimental clinical trial, that timeline may have shifted. Anita joins the editors on 27Speaks this week to discuss her cancer journey and share her positive outlook.

New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. joins the editors on 27Speaks to discuss a range of issues, including the fate of the historic windmill on the Stony Brook Southampton campus, affordable housing initiatives, water quality, school aid and his last budget process before retiring.

John Reilly, a physician assistant from Shelter Island, spent the first half of March on a medical aid mission to Ukraine. As a volunteer with Global Care Force, for two weeks Reilly was part of a medical team that traveled to small towns and tiny villages, delivering routine health care to Ukrainian citizens in the midst of the war with Russia. The experience deeply affected him, and this week, Reilly joined the editors and senior reporter Stephen J. Kotz to talk about what he witnessed during his time in Ukraine and share his insight into what he learned from his first-hand visit to the war zone.