Close and not-so-close encounters with bears.

How well do bioplastics decompose? While they claim to be compostable, many, including the most common, require industrial high-temperature composting and do not degrade in home composters, soil, or water.

Helen S. Rattray may have stood only 5-foot-1 in her prime, but she was a towering figure in the newsroom and in the town her paper served. A consummate journalist, exacting editor, and dedicated champion of the free press, Ms. Rattray served as publisher of The East Hampton Star until her death on April 16 and was its editor in chief from 1980 until 2003, when her eldest son, David E. Rattray, took over that role.

The Fistys are a three-woman in-your-race punk-rock band whose "sound and fury are a manifestation of their convictions."

Hamptons Doc Fest will celebrate Earth Day week with three days of films, interviews, and information hubs whose theme is our connection to trees, woodlands, and forests.

The Church in Sag Harbor is celebrating with a presentation on public spaces, open studios, a poetry read-in, and a lecture about images of the Fool from the 13th to the 16th centuries.

A new production of "God of Carnage," Yasmina Reza's award-winning play, will have a two-week run at LTV Studios.

The Sag Harbor Cinema will show excerpts from various film versions of "Moby-Dick" before screening John Huston's 1956 epic starring Gregory Peck.

A Brooklyn man has admitted guilt in a million-dollar drug dealing scheme involving cocaine meant for sale on the East End.