Although his nomination is still considered unofficial until petitions are formally filed on April 16, Stephen Kiely has been named as the Suffolk County Republican Committee’s candidate to run for the New York State Assembly seat now held by Fred W. Thiele Jr., a Democrat who is retiring after a long career in politics.

In response to years of community concerns, and taking into account patterns of heavy traffic on the road at certain times of the day and year, the New York State Department of Transportation has agreed to add a left-turn lane on the northwest-bound side of Route 114 at Goodfriend Drive in Wainscott this spring.

Michael and Christine Aaron have begun fund-raising for the next phase of a legal battle to prevent Mill Hill Realty Corporation from opening Toilsome Farms Restaurant and Brewery on a property neighboring their house on Toilsome Lane. The attorney for Mill Hill said this “might delay the project by a few months, but ultimately, it’s not a factor.”

For members of the Garden Club of East Hampton, spring is crunch time, and so it was for Katherine Jordan Appleton (1879-1949) of the Nid de Papillon estate.

Scott Frankenbach, a Sag Harbor Village police officer, was named the village’s Officer of the Year. “He’s been an asset to us ever since he was hired,” said Lt. Robert Drake.

A woman using her backyard hot tub on Hand’s Creek Road was accused by a neighbor Sunday morning of being naked outdoors. When police arrived to investigate the report of a “nude person,” the woman answered the door wearing a bathing suit and towel. “No police action necessary,” the officer concluded.

“Artistic vandalism.” That’s how a police officer initially described the carved tree trunk he found late Saturday night in the parking lot of Amagansett’s Big Albert’s Beach, while patrolling the area for illegal dumping, which has been a problem for police lately.

Two men were charged with felony drunken driving over the last two weeks, one in Amagansett and the other in Sag Harbor.

A 16-year-old girl from Massachusetts accidentally hit the gas pedal too hard while making a three-point turn on South Essex Street near South Etna Avenue in Montauk on Feb. 20, causing her minivan to crash through a split-rail fence, drop off an eight-foot ledge, and land upside down.

For the remainder of the 2023-24 school year, the Springs School District will have help in its business office from two neighboring districts, coming at a critical time — budget development season.

Separate from all the strife that has surrounded the East Hampton Village Ambulance Association the last year and a half has been a discussion about how best to recruit new members to bolster an aging volunteer pool. One method of recruitment that could prove most successful is an emergency medical services club for students at East Hampton High School.

Whisker and Brush, an art school in Amagansett, has a new session of classes for kids starting on Monday. Plus: movies in two languages, origami lessons, science and technology activities, pottery for children, and more.

Have you ever juggled many different activities at one time? At Springs School the cast of the musical “Alice in Wonderland Jr.” has been feeling the pressure of managing play rehearsals, schoolwork, and attending school clubs they like to take part in.

Katy Stewart, the late daughter of Brigid Collins and Jim Stewart, was remembered Saturday at an all-day fund-raiser at the Buckskill Winter Club that included an evening ice show and a youth hockey game.

As of Monday, Cole Brauer, the 29-year-old sailor who graduated from East Hampton High School in 2012, was within 2,000 miles of finishing the Global Solo Challenge singlehanded race around the world’s three great capes and heading for the Azores.

“Teaching people to tap into that strength they have inside is our special sauce,” Sinead FitzGibbon said at her and George Wilson’s Latitude Physical Therapy studio on Sag Harbor’s Bay Street the other day.

A hundred years ago, a rumrunning raid was successfully executed at Fort Pond Bay, where dozens of bootleggers were caught moving cases of booze by the score. And other trips deep into the past.

Frank R. Sofo of Springs, a prolific painter and illustrator who was active in the South Fork’s arts community for many years, died on Jan. 16 at Stony Brook University Hospital. The cause was complications of inflammatory vasculitis. He was 80.

Barbara B. Clarke, an all-around horsewoman and lifelong teacher of “the art and skills of horsemanship,” died at home in Bridgehampton on Feb. 15, a day after her 83rd birthday.

Marshall (Gene) Roarick of East Hampton, an outdoorsman, woodworker, business manager, and Air Force veteran, died at home on Jan. 27 at the age of 92.