The prevalence of sprayed insecticides and barrels of agricultural poison was top of mind in 1974. Read on, Starlings.

Now that I am an octogenarian, my sense of risk increases at every turn. At the same time, I have gained an understanding of vulnerability as a character trait that allows me to be more open to what the world may offer.

Realty watchers, here are the latest moves out this way.

There will be two old-fashioned fish fries over the next two days, at Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton on Friday and at the Eastville Community Historical Sciety in Sag Harbor on Saturday.

Playing out in the background of the rather apocalyptic and very visible destruction of the East End’s native pitch pines has been an equally devastating disease killing beech trees. With that in mind, East Hampton Town is working on ways to help residents remove dangerous trees, without running afoul of clearing restrictions.

When a 76-year-old man collapsed while dining at Si Si, a  Mediterranean restaurant on Three Mile Harbor, two quick-thinking strangers trained in CPR resuscitated him, not once but twice. 

In the hours and days following President Biden’s announcements on Sunday afternoon that he was ending his bid for re-election and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, Democrats here on Long Island and across the country have begun to largely coalesce behind Vice President Harris as they react to this political earthquake.

What started out as a tick repellent blend made in a Springs kitchen has now soared to national heights. Its owners have doubled sales year-over-year, brought in a manufacturer, testified on congressional committees, and are now selling in all 50 states.

In the middle of a swamp in Sagaponack is a remnant of colonial history, a stand of Atlantic white cedar trees, as important and ubiquitous 300 years ago as iPhones are now. In fact, what is likely the largest Atlantic white cedar tree in the state, and certainly the largest on Long Island, grows there completely unheralded.

A proposed 10,500-square-foot house with a rooftop kitchen and pool, to be built atop rare and pristine duneland on Napeague, got the unanimous approval this month of the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, whose chairwoman called it a “significant environmental improvement” to a site that could accommodate three houses, three septic systems, and three driveways.

The East Hampton Town Board has set Aug. 15 as the date for three important public hearings. One deals with adjustments to the town’s lighting code, another with the alienation of parkland at the intersection of Three Mile Harbor and Springs-Fireplace Roads in East Hampton, and the third with increasing the maximum density allowed per acre for senior citizen-only affordable housing developments. 

The Eastville Community Historical Society has received an emergency $25,000 grant from the East Hampton Town Board to help pay for a new cedar shake roof at its headquarters on Hampton Road in Sag Harbor.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation closes Three Mile Harbor to shellfishing before, during, and after the Clamshell Foundation’s annual fireworks show there, but have the East Hampton Town Trustees ever tested the water before and after the event to gauge the impact of the increased boat traffic?

Southampton Town has announced that it is accepting applications from people living or working in town who are interested in buying a house or building an accessory apartment onto their existing home, “part of a broader strategy to address housing affordability,” the town said in a release.

The Hampton Lifeguard Association honored Tom Field, a CPR and first-aid instructor for 40 years, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. for getting the state to recognize Jet Skis as rescue equipment , and Tom Casse, a surf instructor and trained lifeguard who made a dramatic nighttime save in Montauk in 2022.

Southampton Town police detectives and the Sag Harbor Village fire marshal are still investigating the drowning death of a 2-year-old boy at a house on North Haven two weeks ago, an incident that prompted the North Haven mayor to remind village residents about New York State’s swimming pool rules over the weekend.

A 75-year-old East Hampton was traveling west through Amagansett in a red Ford Escape on the evening of June 16 when a black sedan lost control and swerved into oncoming traffic, spinning 180 degrees and then striking his car and another.

East Hampton Village police made two felony arrests last week, one involving alleged drug possession, the other driving while intoxicated. 

An East Hampton man was arrested on the morning of July 16 on a felony charge of violating an order of protection following a domestic incident at a house on Central Avenue.

A postal worker was driving along her Oyster Pond Lane mail route with the windows rolled down on the afternoon of July 15, when, she told police, a man watering his lawn “decided to turn the hose at her,” splashing her in the face. Officers arrived quickly, and informed the man that he could be charged with harassment. This time, though, they simply documented the incident and let him off with a warning.