The long-running matter of Harry Macklowe’s Georgica Pond property was again before the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday, ending this time in a unanimous vote that is unlikely to satisfy the homeowner and will likely be appealed.

Long Island’s Indigenous communities are hailing a new set of long-overdue rules, established by the Biden administration effective Jan. 12, that have museums and universities across the country covering up or altogether closing exhibits containing Native American funerary displays and other artifacts, which now must either be returned to sovereign tribes for reburial or displayed only with the permission of those Indigenous communities.

Amagansett School District officials are anticipating some “big changes” in the 2024-25 school year budget, as they try to maintain a “fiscally responsible balanced budget” for the school’s Blue Ribbon academic programs, as well as a healthy and safe campus for students and staff.

“It’s going to be a difficult process. A lot of things are really out of our control,” Adam Fine, the East Hampton School District superintendent, said during a Feb. 6 budget workshop that kicked off the school board’s discussion of the 2024-25 fiscal year budget.

As the town’s planning board continues to weigh Project Most’s application for redevelopment at 92 Three Mile Harbor Road, the site of the now-defunct East Hampton Neighborhood House, nearby residents are banding together in opposition, suggesting that the history of Freetown, their home values, and quiet enjoyment of their properties are at odds with the plan.

By a vote of 4 to 2, the East Hampton Town Planning Board resolved at its Feb. 7 meeting to hire an attorney to advise it on whether or not to seek "lead agency" status on the town’s proposed new senior citizens center. The East Hampton Town Board has said it plans to take the lead on that review process.

The New York State Division of Consumer Protection has notified all municipal government officials that a new law amending and clarifying the state’s existing credit card surcharge law went into effect on Sunday.

The East Hampton Town Trustees agreed to permit a new approach to eelgrass restoration in Napeague Harbor, and authorized funding it, when the group met on Monday.

The Center for Compassionate Leadership has announced a customized Compassionate Leadership Certification Training Program to be held this spring for nonprofit organizations on the South Fork.

Springs School eighth graders are eagerly awaiting their field trip to Philadelphia at the end of this school year to celebrate their hard work in their last year of middle school. On March 3, the Springs Fire Department will host a community breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. as a fund-raiser for this trip.

For kids with earthy interests, Marders, the popular garden shop in Bridgehampton, has some unique upcoming offerings. Plus: dinosaur fun, children's movies, science activities, stories, and more family-friendly fun coming up.

On Saturday, police and firefighters were notified of a “liquid spill” and shattered glass in front of the Empire Gas Station on North Main Street. It turned out that a delivery truck driver had lost “an entire case of Corona beers, which shattered into the roadway.” The driver cleaned up the mess himself.

Driving while intoxicated, usually a misdemeanor, is elevated to a felony charge when a child is in the vehicle at the time, under New York State's Leandra's Law.

A Bridgehampton man was charged with two first-degree felonies, “criminal sex act by forcible compulsion” and criminal contempt, following an incident at a house on Accabonac Road in East Hampton.

Harry Alan Meeker of Springs and Melbourne, Fla., a retired teacher and Korean War veteran, died on Feb. 5 at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne after a fall at home. He was 96.

Elisabeth Louise Bastion Varese, who had worked in advertising in New York and London, died last Thursday in Florida. Formerly of East Hampton, she was 101.

Allan Abraham Retzky of Amagansett, who came to creative writing later in life and published works of fiction in the pages of The Star and elsewhere, died at home on Saturday with his wife of 61 years, Susan Retzky, at his side. He was 86 and had congestive heart failure.

The dawning gas nightmare of 1972, and much more from The Star of yore.

Bonac's Juan Roque, a 124-pounder, placed sixth on the mats, while boys swimmers took ninth in the county meet at Stony Brook, and Pierson has a new 1,000-point scorer.

Meet the 29-year-old Iranian-born figure-skating instructor at the Buckskill Winter Club in East Hampton.