Grind

Just in time for the start of NaNoWriMo — that's "National Novel Writing Month," celebrated every November — the East Hampton Library has launched a new weekly group for creative writers.

As the Suffolk County malware crisis approaches the two-month mark — and since October is, after all, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month — New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced this week that his office has rolled out a series of cybersecurity training webinars for local governments.

Eager to cast your ballot in the Nov. 8 general election? Early voting begins on Saturday, Oct. 29, and runs through Sunday, Nov. 6, in New York State.

The arrival of relatively cool, dry weather translated into generally low levels of enterococcus bacteria at water-quality test sites around East Hampton Town for the week beginning Oct. 17, said Jaime LeDuc, program manager with Concerned Citizens of Montauk, which monitors for the harmful entero bacteria at nearly three dozen sites in Amagansett, East Hampton, Springs, and Montauk.

The Hamptons International Film Festival showed it still had the ability to surprise its guests on Sunday when Hugh Jackman made an unannounced appearance at the screening of his new film, Florian Zeller's "The Son." After the film, he sat down for a chat with David Nugent, the festival's artistic director.

Saturday was a busy day for film viewing all across the South Fork with Hamptons International Film Festival screenings in East Hampton at the cinema and middle school, at the Sag Harbor Cinema, and at the Southampton Arts Center.

Some of the films shown in East Hampton included the Venice and Toronto film festival award-winning "The Whale,"  "The Good Nurse," the Cannes Palme d'Or winning "Triangle of Sadness," and the crowd pleaser and locally based film, "Who Invited Charlie?" 

Allison McGovern, an archaeologist and anthropology lecturer at Columbia University, will speak at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8, at the East Hampton Historical Farm Museum about the origins of East Hampton's Freetown neighborhood, which Black and Indigenous people have called home for more than 200 years. Ms. McGovern has gathered oral histories from Freetown residents to document the neighborhood's beginnings and evolution.

Long Island Metro Business Action will host a roundtable discussion of  East End Town supervisors Thursday at noon, at the Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street.  

Supervisors Yvette Aguiar of Riverhead, Jay Schneiderman of Southampton, Scott Russell of Southold, and Gerry Siller of Shelter Island will be on hand for the midday event. It kicks off with lunch and will be followed by a panel discussion focused on interrelated East End hot-button issues -- affordable housing, tourism, the environment, water quality, and economic development among them. 

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele is looking for nominations of high school seniors for the prestigious Presidential Scholars Program, founded by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

A History Festival and a Harvest Festival set to take place on Saturday in East Hampton Village have both been canceled due to weather. 

Heavy rains brought high bacteria levels across Montauk last week, with the Surfside Place outfall pipe downtown leading the way with an off-the-chart enterococcus reading of greater than 24,196. 

Stony Brook Southampton Hospital have partnered with the Cancer Hope Network to pair adult cancer patients and family members who need support with trained volunteer cancer survivors.

Tom Clavin of Sag Harbor, the author of 18 books, will be the next guest in the free Meet the Author series at Ashawagh Hall on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

The Concerned Citizens of Montauk’s regular monitoring of area waters for the bacteria enterococcus found only one test site, out of 32 sites, with elevated levels of the potentially harmful bacteria. The probable cause? A dead bird.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that New Yorkers can fish state fresh waters for free and without a fishing license this Saturday, a state Free Fishing Day coinciding with National Hunting and Fishing Day.

On Sunday at 5 p.m., St. Ann's Episcopal Church in Bridgehampton will hold its annual Blessing of the Animals service.

In response to a rash of car thefts and break-ins, the East Hampton Town Police Department issued a statement Wednesday imploring people to remove their key fobs and other valuable items from their cars and lock them overnight.

In support of a statewide community service project called the Great Give Back, the East Hampton Library is collecting donations for the Retreat, a domestic violence shelter and awareness organization here.

Voters in the East Hampton Library District, which consists of the East Hampton, Springs, and Wainscott School Districts, handily approved the library's over-the-tax-cap budget plan for the 2023 fiscal year.

The recent rain, full-moon tide, and Atlantic Ocean hurricane swell were cited by Concerned Citizens of Montauk as the likely causes of spiking enterococcus bacteria levels detailed in the organization's weekly water-quality report on Monday.

The new Covid-19 boosters, which add protection against the Omicron variant, will be available by appointment only at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Monday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Parrish Memorial Hall.

The Bridgehampton School District is planning to reboot its social-emotional and equity task force, which it originally launched two years ago.

The Retreat, a local domestic violence shelter and awareness organization, is seeking high school students to join its Teen Leadership Council.

Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead will host a free workshop on Wednesday from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on the topic of planning ahead for the care of the elderly and disabled.

HarborFest 2022 will take place on Saturday and Sunday in Sag Harbor, with the village's rich maritime history on display. Long Wharf will be full of activities.

Programs on healthy eating, including a kale tasting, are set to take place on Thursday through local libraries.

The East Hampton Aviation Association will host Just Plane Fun Day at East Hampton Town Airport on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This week marks the "official" end of the summer season, and while it's kind of silly to think that the post-Labor Day East Hampton scene undergoes a wholesale sea change with nothing but traffic-free roadways, empty beaches, and no-reservation dining, a Tumbleweed Tuesday party on Main Beach promises a welcome breather for locals to unwind and take pause.

Drivers take note: School opens this week, which means those familiar yellow buses will be back on the roads right alongside everyone else. And with that drive-safe reminder, here's another — school buses here are now equipped with stop-arm cameras to catch and penalize drivers who fail to brake for buses with flashing red lights.

After a month that saw huge spikes in enterococcus bacteria levels at test sites throughout East Hampton Town, thanks mostly to runoff from recent thunderstorms, the Aug. 29 weekly water-quality report from Concerned Citizens of Montauk lists only one site out of 32 with entero levels considered risky to human health: Accabonac Harbor, east of the Old Stone Highway culvert in Springs.