Note for hockey junkies (like myself): Today and tomorrow should be the last days (for a while) devoted solely to Lighthouse project bits. We'll get back to regular player grading and stat-gazing and roster churning speculation after that. Update: The Aug. 5 round-up of post-hearing/rally coverage links is here.

For the moment though, the biggest priority in Islandersdom -- rightfully so -- is the Lighthouse project rally and public hearings, and my-oh-my is it being covered thoroughly and with a healthy dose of editorial wit. Published stories will come out this evening and tomorrow (and we'll have a round-up of those, too), but today, as it happens, several bloggers, reporters and tweeters are keeping a close, entertaining eye on the action.

They're breaking for lunch now before the afternoon sessions, but here are the best sources for up-to-the-minute coverage and entertainment (Seriously, the good quotes alone that they've relayed could fill a journal, or an alternative civics textbook):

Tweet Central

Live, moment-by-moment observations and quotes from those on the scene, who are all cracking me up, informing me -- and making it very hard to work: @islesblogger (Mike) @Lighthouse_LI (official), @LetThereBeLH (Nick) @NYIsles10 (Doug), and @islesesoteric. This is Twitter at its best; these guys are knocking it out of the park. (If I missed any doing live coverage, please leave the address in comments.) This crew deserve one hoppy beer -- or more -- after this day is over.

Live Lighthouse Hearing Blogs

• They're Liveblogging at the official Lighthouse Development Group's blog, the Light Post.
• Katie Strang, Newsday's Islanders reporter (while Greg Logan is away, or...?) is doing a live blog of Lighthouse hearing proceedings; a lot of reader comment happening there.
• Doug of Official's Outlook is liveblogging in addition to his tweetathon.
• Islesblogger Mike is updating at his Twitter mentioned above, but he has a nice round-up of must-know info on his blog.
• The Old Maven's joint, MaxHockey, sort of has a live blog, but it's actually an aggregation of Tweets from those mentioned above (which is a nice tool in itself).
  

Other Lighthouse Hearing/Rally Coverage

• Newsday coverage of this morning's Lighthouse rally at Nassau Coliseum
  
• Chris Botta's take on the day, and his prepared remarks when he got his chance to speak
• The ESPN 1050 radio show last night with Botta and Seth Everett
• Nick also had a great, inspiring post at his blog in anticipation of today. Tough to capture what this day means for young professional Long Islanders; he is one who has made the case repeatedly and eloquently.
• Eden Laikin's preview at Newsday

More to come later as breath is caught. As always with these posts, if I missed you or you found something else, drop 'em in comments.