Villages

A dead whale that washed ashore at Kirk Beach in Montauk on Tuesday and a dead gray seal that was found there on Wednesday were both so severely decomposed that further study is needed to determine the causes of death.

Walleska Ramirez, who is known as Wally, is someone who those on the East End will get to know more and more as the harsh effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to emerge.

Ms. Ramirez has been appointed to the new position of crisis response coordinator by Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island, according to an announcement this week by the nonprofit group.

The novel coronavirus causing Covid-19 has the ability to affect many body systems and can lead to such a wide variety of symptoms that it is difficult to say without a test whether certain symptoms are those of a cold or Covid.

East Hampton Village Police Chief Michael Tracey presented the village board with a proposal to change parking regulations on several village streets at a board meeting last Thursday. 

On the north side of Newtown Lane, from Osborne Lane to the Long Island Rail Road tracks, he recommended extending the time limit for parking from one hour to two. The change would benefit businesses in the area, including a barbershop and hair salon whose customers, he said, often find themselves exceeding the one-hour limit.

The American Red Cross in the Greater New York Region is seeking up to 1,000 new volunteers to be part of its inaugural Hurricane Season Reserve Corps. A minimum of three hours' training is provided virtually for this new group of team members, who will be prepared to support affected communities in the event of a major disaster.

For the first time since July 13, more than 100 new cases of coronavirus infection were reported in a single day in Suffolk County last week, with 104 people testing positive on Thursday and 103 on Friday. After dipping to 49 on Sunday, by Monday the number of new cases in the county was up to 89, and on Tuesday 109 new cases were reported, according to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office.

Two mysteries hang over Montauk's Fort Pond this week: What happened to 26 laughing gulls found both dead and injured, all in the same manner and all oddly clustered in an area near PSEG-Long Island's Montauk substation on Industrial Road? And was that really an alligator people saw in Fort Pond late last month? The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has looked into both matters.

Voters on the South Fork have an unusual opportunity to support their preferred candidates and at the same time good causes.

The East Hampton Farmers Market, which had ended its summer season on Sept. 1, was back in business on Sunday in East Hampton Village's Reutershan parking lot. It will be held there weekly from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Dec. 20.

Monte Farber, Amy Zerner, and Jeff Pulver share something in common with Jimmy Fallon, John Krasinski, actors from the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton," and the "Saturday Night Live" sketch comedy ensemble: During the Covid-19 pandemic they have all been using Zoom to reach their respective audiences in some way, tapping into the connective power of the app.

An interior designer turned social worker, Lora Tucker is studying for a master's degree in creative writing at Stony Brook Southampton. Now, the Sag Harbor writer has landed a new job as the poetry editor of African Voices magazine.   

The Hamptons Realty Group, a fixture on Main Street in Amagansett since 1984, rolled up its signature red awning and vacated the space it has long occupied this week. The firm is still very much alive and prospering, said its owner Htun Han, but the pandemic has changed the way it is doing business.

The call came in that a dog lost at sea needed rescuing. He was 300 yards out between Egypt and Wiborg's Beaches in East Hampton and it looked like he was going to go under.

The homeowners selected from among more than 30 applicants across the county will be Anthony LaFountain and Cheyenne Banville, volunteer first responders with the Springs Fire Department. Mr. LaFountain and Ms. Banville live in Springs and work in East Hampton.

Rachel Blatt and Jordan Werbe Fuentes were married at East Hampton Town Justice Court on Friday. Justice Steven Tekulsky officiated.

After having wrapped up 20 years of service on the East Hampton Village Board, and following an unsuccessful run for mayor in last week's election, Barbara Borsack, who was the first woman to be elected to the board, said she is now deciding how best to apportion a sudden surplus of free time.

In his first week in office, Jerry Larsen, who ran on a platform to bring change to the village and won in a landslide in the Sept. 15 election, discussed his new proposals for parking, the renovation of Herrick Park, sidewalk repair, police reform, and more.

Anita Boyer and Joe Pallister had June marked on their calendar for nearly a year. Both of them mused on an intimate wedding at what they considered the most idyllic venue: Disney World.

"I am so obsessed with Disney," Ms. Boyer, a dance and acting coach, and co-founder of Our Fabulous Variety Show, said in a phone interview. "Both of my grandparents worked there. I grew up visiting all the time. I have Disney in my blood."

Following the Sept. 15 elections for mayor and two seats on the East Hampton Village Board, Mayor Jerry Larsen and his NewTown Party running mates Chris Minardi and Sandra Melendez, the newly-elected trustees, were sworn in at the village board meeting on Friday.

East End Ocean Rescue, which focuses on warning the public of the dangers of rip currents, recently donated 1,000 rip current cards, along with a warning sign, to the Ocean Vista resort on Napeague, which is near a stretch of beach where a Brooklyn man drowned earlier this summer.

Dustin Reynolds has traversed much of the world alone in his 1983 Bristol 35.5c sailboat and arrived in Montauk for the first time on Friday. To say he has made the journey single-handedly is at once literal and figurative. Mr. Reynolds lost his left arm and his left foot in a 2008 motorcycle accident, caused by a drunken driver, that nearly claimed his life.

In another year, the lawn of the Lamb Building in Amagansett would have been filled with East Hampton Town residents enjoying free clams on the half shell and clam chowder on Sunday, courtesy of the town trustees. But though the 30th Largest Clam Contest could not happen in its typical form this year, the trustees found a creative solution for the annual celebration of the town's maritime heritage and informal seminar on that body's role in town government.

The Jewish Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton and Temple Adas Israel in Sag Harbor will live-stream Yom Kippur services on Sunday evening and Monday, the Conservative Synagogue of the Hamptons, based in Bridgehampton, will hold its services via Zoom, services at Chabad of the Hamptons in East Hampton will be held outdoors in a spacious tent, and Chabad of North Haven will hold its services outside and in.

East Enders gathered this weekend to remember and celebrate Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the trailblazing United States Supreme Court Justice and feminist icon, who died on Friday of metastatic pancreatic cancer at the age of 87.

A recent round of water quality testing in Montauk shows that harmful algal blooms in Fort Pond and Big Reed Pond are dissipating while many other water bodies in Montauk, East Hampton, Springs, and Amagansett have low bacteria counts.

A restoration and preservation project taking place at Third House at Montauk County Park got a financial boost this week from the Suffolk County Legislature, which approved $500,000 in bond money to help usher the project to completion.

The East Hampton Housing Authority held a lottery on Friday to help determine who will be the first residents of a 37-unit affordable housing complex under construction at 531 Montauk Highway in Amagansett. There were 543 applicants.

Making his first bid for elective office in East Hampton Village, Jerry Larsen, the village's former police chief, was the high vote-getter in the three-person race for mayor on Tuesday, winning in a landslide against Barbara Borsack, the deputy mayor, who has been a member of the village board since 2000, and Arthur Graham, a trustee since 2017. 

As the humid heat of summer finally starts to give way to crisp autumn mornings, the health care community in general starts to think ahead to the coming winter months when respiratory viruses begin to run amok. 

The Peconic Land Trust has acquired a 1.4-acre commercially developed property on Georgica Pond in Wainscott and plans to restore it to its natural state.