A rundown of celebrations of the holiday at local churches.

It's cold out there for sure, but that won't stop the action on the local hiking trails.

Representative Nick LaLota of New York’s First Congressional District supports the impeachment inquiry targeting President Biden and blames both Democrats and extremists in his own party for congressional dysfunction in 2023, as he prepares to seek re-election next November.

The East Hampton Village Board is considering using cameras on village roads that would photograph license plates of speeding vehicles and generate either a ticket or a warning that would be mailed to the vehicle’s owner.

The year 2026 is the latest projected date that Suffolk County plans to repave Three Mile Harbor Road, also known as County Road 40, from its intersection with Copeces Lane in Springs south to its terminus, where it meets Springs-Fireplace Road, one of the busiest intersections in East Hampton Town. Now the town is considering adding a roundabout to the project.

Members of the Surfrider Foundation Eastern Long Island Chapter descended on the East Hampton Village Board meeting on Friday, pressing for legislation to support their Skip the Stuff initiative, which aims to limit plastic waste generated by takeout food orders.

The plan to remove invasive vegetative species at the Benson reserve in Montauk, which calls for the use of 12 to 15 goats as well as machinery, has split residents of the hamlet. With that in mind, the East Hampton Town Board held another substantial discussion of the proposal.

A replay of the 2022 effort to redraw New York State’s congressional district maps may this time hand Democrats an advantage in next year’s elections, as the State Court of Appeals voted 4 to 3 last week to order the redrawing of the maps.

Even though clearing for the new East Hampton Town Senior Citizens Center on Abraham’s Path in Amagansett is to begin next month, its design, features, and cost have been drawing scrutiny; and, now, potential zoning exemptions for the project are being debated, too.

Concerned Citizens of Montauk has appointed Kay Tyler, who previously served as the organization’s director of development and marketing, as its executive director.

The New York State Public Service Commission has once again ruled against Sag Harbor Village, in a last-minute denial of the village’s request to rehear its July decision allowing KeySpan Gas East Corporation to lease the so-called “gas ball lot” to the developer Adam Potter. The lot, at 5 Bridge Street in the village, contains 93 parking spaces.

More than half of the Springs School’s students are receiving Medicaid or SNAP benefits, allowing the district to qualify for federal financial assistance to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students as well as other grant opportunities for the cash-strapped school district.

A unique collaboration among students, teachers, and parents at the John M. Marshall Elementary School and the Springs School resulted in the sending of 430 handmade holiday cards to active service members of the United States Armed Forces.

For kids in need of winter vacation activities, the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton has a lineup of all-ages, nature-oriented programs between Tuesday and Friday, Dec. 29, that promises active, educational fun in Vineyard Field, behind the museum. Plus: arts and crafts, holiday movies, and more for kids and teens.

Harper Davidson, an 11-year-old Springs School student, won first place in the vault event at a recent gymnastics competition.

Robin Murphy was elected Dec. 12 to the office of fire commissioner in the Bridgehampton Fire District. Voters also overwhelmingly approved changes to the Length of Service Award Program.

Shortly after 8 p.m. on Dec. 9, on Abraham’s Path near Asa’s Path in Amagansett, a town police officer pulled over a black 2011 BMW with temporary Alabama license plates and “an exhaust system that was modified to amplify sound.” It resulted in felony D.W.I. charges, one of two such incidents here in recent days.

A 35-year-old resident of Flower Hill, a small village in Nassau County, was seen starting a fire and then cleaning up ash behind the power station off Old Stone Highway in Springs on the afternoon of Dec. 11. A police officer ticketed him for an illegal “open burn.”

Aidan Corish and Bob Plumb were spooked by draft legislation introduced before an affordable housing workshop that would create an Affordable Workforce Housing Zoning District “floating zone,” with one calling it “a powerful and potentially damaging tool.”

Newsday announced that Emma McGrory, a senior midfielder on Bonac’s playoff field hockey squad, has been named to its 12-player all-Long Island team, and tiny Bridgehampton High’s boys basketball team beat Riverhead — a rarity.