The good news is sharks don't want to eat you. The bad news is sometimes they mistake humans for food. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued guidance last week, just in time for ocean swimming season, to reduce "the risk of negative interactions" with and by sharks, like getting bitten.

On Friday, voters in the Village of Sagaponack rallied to steer their board of trustees in a new direction. Two challengers, David McMillan Jr. and Mark Landis, were elected, ousting the incumbents, Marilyn Clark and Lisa Duryea Thayer.

Long Pond in Bridgehampton, Poxabogue Pond in Sagaponack, Mill Pond in Water Mill, and Agawam Lake in Southampton were confirmed this week. It was also discovered earlier this month in Wainscott Pond.

With the Palm Tree Music Festival set to rock the Shinnecock Indian Nation territory on Saturday, the Suffolk County Police Department released a statement on Friday strongly urging drivers to avoid Montauk Highway and County Road 39 in the vicinity of Shinnecock and the Stony Brook Southampton college campus while the festival is taking place.

The latest water quality report from the Concerned Citizens of Montauk flags the persistent and harmful presence of the enterococcus bacteria in the Montauk area. While this week's round of testing revealed low bacteria levels in East Hampton and Amagansett, Montauk waters remained problematic.

Kathy Engel will read from “Dear Inheritors,” her new poetry collection, on Sunday at 5 p.m. at the meetinghouse of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork in Bridgehampton. Five other poets will join in.

Last Thursday, as the culmination of a lawsuit that began in 2019, New York State Attorney General Letitia James distributed New York’s share of a historic multistate settlement secured from JUUL Labs Inc. for its role in the youth vaping epidemic. The settlement money will be put to use by counties and the Boards of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) to pay for vaping education, enforcement, and research programs.

Following the establishment of Juneteenth as a federal holiday in 2021, commemorating the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, education efforts have grown throughout the community. “At the end of the day, this is something that should be taught because this is American history,” said Georgette Grier-Key, executive director of the Eastville Community Historical Society in Sag Harbor.

The Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center plans to highlight collaboration and commonality among nonprofits at this year’s It Takes Our Village cocktail party fund-raiser on June 29 at Mulford Farm.

At an East Hampton Town Board work session full of safety information for pedestrians, cyclists, and fire-pit lovers, the presentation that drew the most interest from the board was one on e-bikes, given by Lt. Chelsea Tierney of the East Hampton Town Police Department. “The biggest thing is that people just don’t know the laws,” she told the board.

A resident of Benson Drive in Montauk called police on the morning of June 10 to report a man “weed-whacking a path through the wetlands” near his house. The man, reported to be wearing a T-shirt, sweatpants, and flip-flops, had attempted to cut through brush on the caller’s property before being stopped. He fled before police arrived.

Representatives of a pesticide company were ticketed in recent days for allegedly peddling the company's services without a peddling permit in Springs and Montauk.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. announced in February that he would not be seeking re-election in November after nearly 30 years in state government. For those wondering what his next act would be, the suspense is over: Mr. Thiele has been named executive director of the Friends of the Georgica Pond Foundation.

There were no surprises in the East Hampton Village election on Tuesday. Mayor Jerry Larsen, Chris Minardi, the deputy mayor, and Sandra Melendez, another village trustee, all ran unopposed and were re-elected to four-year terms.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the American flamingo that first appeared at Georgica Pond on May 31 continued to draw bird lovers to East Hampton. In just the last week, over 100 birders trekked down the beach to view the bird and submit lists to eBird.

As a private duty nurse and a leader of the La Leche League, Joan Marie Hollenbeck of Barnes Landing, Springs, “counseled countless young mothers with breastfeeding struggles,” her family said.

Sunday’s a big day for families at the Parrish Art Museum, where the theme is Savor the Summer. Admission will be free and activities will be plentiful from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Plus: summer reading programs, STEM activities, kids' movies, crafts, and even a flamingo-themed story time at SoFo.

Ryan Fowkes, who is racing royalty when it comes to the East End running community, capped his 2024 competitive season with a third-place overall finish in the Shelter Island 10K on Saturday. The top women's division finisher was Angie Rafter of Vernon, Conn., whose photo finish was called "really exciting" by the race director.

Benefiting from an over-the-pitch-limit ruling that had resulted in Smile Navy Beach having to forfeit a seeming semifinal playoff win, the Amagansett Fire Department’s 11-and-12-year-old Little League team nevertheless acquitted itself well in a 7-5 loss to Race Lane in the Major League championship game played at Stephen Hand’s Path on June 10.

Hours before the start of the Shelter Island 10K on Saturday, the Beacon of Hope 5K run/walk in Montauk kicked off as another successful fund-raiser for the Coalition for Women’s Cancers, drawing runners from all over Long Island, New York, and New Jersey to a race boasting some of the best views around.