This winter, Southampton Town is offering a still-water lifeguard certification course that can qualify a participant to serve at a bay beach and provide the basics needed to move on to an ocean lifeguarding program.

“What the Band Wore,” a photography book by Alice Harris, a former music industry executive, captures four decades of rock and pop fashion, ranging from the Beatles and Elvis to Elton John, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Prince, Janet Jackson, and many others.

Hamptons Doc Fest will bring such noted directors as James Ivory, James Lapine, and Matthew Heineman to Sag Harbor, as well as films about Dan Rather, Rose Styron, Anselm Kiefer (directed by Wim Wenders), and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Tony Rosenthal's “Cube 72,” a tilting sculptural fixture in front of Guild Hall for decades, is back in place after a restoration to its original spinning glory.

The Church will host a live reading of “Dolphins and Sharks,” a new play about stressful working conditions and employee rivalry at a Harlem copy shop.

Monica Banks at Leiber Collection, photography curators at The Church, holiday group show at Grenning, Israeli art in Greenport, Andreesen and Elkins at MM Fine Art, and a focus on color at Kathryn Markel.

Holiday concert from the Choral Society of the Hamptons, LongHouse comes alive at night, theater history talk in Montauk, mismatched men in play at LTV, “Prince of Egypt” musical has East End connection, and two nights of comedy in Southampton.

A forthcoming book by Richard Olsen-Harbich, the winemaker at Bedell Cellars, takes a deep dive into the history, terroir, varietals, and styles of North Fork wines.

Hampton Eats has pizza, Liz Collins will speak at Almond, a feast of seven fishes with wine at Nick and Toni’s, Amber Waves holiday fun, and more.

The holiday toy drive of the Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry has begun. New, unwrapped toys can be donated at the Long Wharf Windmill daily through Dec. 11 between noon and 5:30 p.m.

Margie Ruddick of the landscape planning and designing firm that bears her name has drawn the proverbial line in the sand, choosing to stop taking on projects that involve new construction, except for well-scaled additions. 

Eight East Hampton High School student-athletes aiming to play at the college level were feted last week at the school.

The Montaukett Indian Nation has again been denied official recognition, with Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoing a bill that would have restored the tribe’s status as a sovereign Indigenous nation. “To do it during Native American History Month? It’s inhumane and cruel and racist,” said Sandi Brewster-walker, the executive director and government affairs officer of the Montaukett Indian Nation.

The steel-hulled, 60-foot trawler named Act I, captained by Chuck Morici, had caught 4,000 pounds of porgy and had no issues on Nov. 15 before near tragedy occurred: “A three-inch piece of steel let go by the keel cooler pipe,” he said by phone on dry land Monday. “I could see daylight through the hull.” Three Coast Guard stations were called in to save the day.

Public school districts on the South Fork are increasingly turning to retired police officers to fill critical security roles. “These are people who have children in the schools or have gone through the schools themselves, who know the community. They’re familiar faces, and they’re responsive,” said Adam Fine, the East Hampton School District superintendent.

More than two dozen residents of Montauk spoke at a hearing last Thursday on a management plan for Arthur Benson reserve, more of them in favor of a plan to use goats and machinery to remove invasive species at the roughly 40-acre strip between Montauk Highway and the ocean but also many others who said the plan was for aesthetic and not environmental reasons.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Clean Slate Act into law last Thursday, saying that “the best crime-fighting tool is a good-paying job. That’s why I support giving New Yorkers a clean slate after they’ve paid their debt to society and gone years without an additional offense.”

Change is hard but essential if East Hampton Town and the wider world are going to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, officials of the Nature Conservancy said this week in the wake of the United States government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment, issued last week.

Rowdy Hall's septic system is failing, but the restaurant will no longer benefit from town money now that the East Hampton Town Board has withdrawn a resolution that would have approved a $100,500 grant for its replacement.

A sidewalk to nowhere and an asphalt berm blocking access to a parking lot are only the two biggest problems with the recently built Beckmann Commercial Building at 94 South Euclid Avenue in Montauk, an East Hampton Town planner told planning board members at their Nov. 15 meeting, where the construction was the main topic of discussion.