A brush fire along the north side of Montauk Highway on a remote stretch of Napeague was reported on Wednesday afternoon and burned an area roughly the size of a football field before being extinguished.
East Hampton School Board Makes Smartphone Ban Official
In a move championed by educators, dreaded by many students, and mandated by Gov. Kathy Hochul, the East Hampton School Board last week officially approved a ban on student use of smartphones and internet-enabled devices during the school day. It will take effect at the start of the school year.
July 17, 2025
Police & Courts
East Hampton Town continues to make investments in its dispatch capabilities, with the town board most recently approving a $1.5 million bond issue for improvements to its dispatch center on July 3.
Jul 17, 2025
A man “with white hair and a blue jacket” took another patron’s phone during a movie at the Regal Cinema and said he would not return it. He later told police he’d taken the phone to “make a stand” because the owner was talking loudly on it during the movie.
Jul 17, 2025
Two drivers were charged last week in unrelated cases with fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance after East Hampton Town police found bags containing a “white rock-like substance” in their vehicles.
Jul 17, 2025
Turned Off by Electric Vehicle Display in Park
A special event, purportedly for an electric vehicle educational display in Herrick Park, went awry on July 9 and was promptly shut down by Marcos Baladron, the East Hampton Village administrator, after he fielded multiple complaints from residents about a General Motors “car dealership” at the park’s entrance.
Jul 17, 2025
A New Vision for Town Lane Sculpture Park
The underutilized Town Lane Park in East Hampton, where works by the late sculptor Sasson Soffer are on permanent display, could see a dramatic transformation, as proposed to the town board on Tuesday by Soffer’s widow, Stella Sands, and Emily Goldstein of the Drawing Room gallery in East Hampton.
Jul 17, 2025
Government
As goes the little saltmarsh sparrow, so goes the salt marsh. In what could be a win for both, a team of scientists will now capture and band saltmarsh sparrows at Accabonac Harbor.
Jul 17, 2025
ReWild Long Island and East Hampton Town have launched an initiative to encourage backyard composting by taking advantage of a “flash sale” on compost bins and expert support.
Jul 17, 2025
The East Hampton Town Trustees voted to authorize a special season for the taking of soft clams or razor clams by the method known as powering, or churning.
Jul 17, 2025
Speaking at an Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee Meeting this week, State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni said that rebuilding of the Cranberry Hole Road bridge is included in the M.T.A. capital plan, “but the pace is glacial.”
Jul 17, 2025
Arts
A Literary Alliance Launched in a Bar
James Patterson and Mike Lupica hit it off so well when they met four years ago that they have collaborated on six novels since then, most recently on "The Hamptons Lawyer."
Jul 17, 2025
G.E. Smith, the guitarist and former bandleader on "Saturday Night Live," will be joined at Guild Hall by two other late-night bandleaders, Louis Cato and Paul Shaffer.
Jul 17, 2025
LongHouse will host an evening of conversations about humanity's capacity for growth and healing, a bonsai workshop, and an exhibition of innovative garden containers.
Jul 17, 2025
The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival's summer series will feature celebrated works of the classical canon, two premieres, and a commission, all linked in some way with words.
Jul 17, 2025
Villages
First East Hampton, Then the World
In the summer of 2011, Alex Esposito and James Mirras addressed a specific need with Hamptons Free Ride, an electric shuttle service that ran in a fixed loop through East Hampton and from parking lots in town to Main Beach. Since then, a “hometown side project” has developed into Circuit, an all-electric, on-demand “micro-transit” solution in more than 40 cities and towns.
WordHampton Moves Downtown
The public relations firm WordHampton has long had its finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the East End business community. That comes with the job. And now, with a new office overlooking Park Place in East Hampton Village, it is part of that pulse in a way that was not quite as tangible from its former headquarters in Springs.
Sag Harbor Rejects Proposed Tree Settlement
The case of Augusta Ramsay Folks, an 81-year-old accused of cutting down two trees on Meadowlark Lane in Sag Harbor in June of last year — in violation of the village’s new tree-protection law — was back in court on July 8, when a settlement proposed by Ms. Folks was rejected by the village and then withdrawn by her attorney.
