Georgica Pond has long been ecologically compromised, and the Route 27 rest stop, neighboring the pond’s Talmage Creek, has been identified as a source of significant runoff. Improvements are on the way.

The New York State Department of Transportation is now designing a new bridge to replace the one that spans the Long Island Rail Road track at the western end of Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett, which has been closed to all vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists since July 1.

Town officials are urgently seeking funding to mitigate the effects of three storms in December and January that damaged both beaches, particularly at Ditch Plain, leading Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and State Senator Anthony Palumbo to issue a formal request to Gov. Kathy Hochul on behalf of East Hampton.

In a unanimous decision, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals has granted Daniel and Pernilla Ammann permission to remove three 1950s-era beach cottages from properties they own on Sammy’s Beach Road and construct a new, glassy, 4,652-square-foot home.

Sand Land, a mine in Noyac that has been the subject of litigation and controversy for several years, appears to have ceased digging at its Middle Line Highway site and has relocated its retail operation to a facility on Montauk Highway in Wainscott.

Springs School is having a sneaker drive and will accept donations of gently used sneakers until Feb. 29. The drive was thought up and organized by the Diversity Club as a way to raise money for the school while also donating to a good cause.

Christopher Hansen, a detective in the East Hampton Village Police Department, was selected as police officer of the year, at the Jan. 26 Southampton Town Kiwanis Club’s Annual Police Officer of the Year banquet.

A passer-by who gave her name only as Sophie reported Friday afternoon that “two Black men were smoking weed in front of Murf’s Tavern” in Sag Harbor. Officers dismissed the call: It is no longer illegal in New York State for adults to smoke marijuana.

A building on Lake Montauk with four cottage-style apartments went up in flames on Monday morning, bringing out crews from three fire departments that worked for about two and a half hours to put out the blaze at the East Lake Drive property.

An East Quogue man turned himself in to the East Hampton Village Police Department on Jan. 31 after allegedly violating a court-issued order of protection.

Guild Hall’s Student Art Festival is ongoing through Feb. 26, but this weekend holds a special highlight: Viv Corringham, an artist and composer, will join Springs School fifth graders for a choir performance on Saturday at 3 p.m. Plus: stories, crafts, kids' movies and book clubs, social activities for pre-teens, and more.

After the league meet last week, five East Hampton High School wrestlers qualified to compete in the county meet at Stony Brook University this weekend, while the boys swimming team did well and the tracksters hit the large-schools indoor meet.

Tonight, a banner attesting to Pierson (Sag Harbor) High School’s sole state championship boys basketball team is to be raised midway through the Babylon-Whalers game, and that team’s coach, Bob Vishno, is hoping to be there.

The local sporting scene — the week that is to be.

Michael Robert Dickerson of East Hampton, who was 69 and had worked in real estate, hosted an LTV show, and painted, died on Jan. 31 in hospice care at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead.

Robert M. Cooper, who “represented the best of Bonac” and ran the Cooper Trenching Corporation for more than 30 years, died at age 80 on Saturday at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

Mary A. Hyer, who had a 20-year career with Bridgehampton National Bank and volunteered with the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church outreach program, died on Jan. 30 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. A 44-year resident of Amagansett and East Hampton, she was 91.

Loretta Grabowski of East Hampton, a skilled baker popular with the neighborhood children, died on Saturday at the San Simeon by the Sound nursing home in Greenport. She was 91.

Margaret Frances Samet, a medical laboratory manager and interior decorator who lived in Amagansett and East Hampton after retiring, died on Dec. 10. She was 96.

Patricia Wadzinski, a vice president, associate broker, and global real estate adviser for Sotheby’s International Realty in East Hampton, died at home on Talkhouse Walk here on Sunday. She was 74.