Like it or not, most East Enders are familiar with Lyme disease and the difficulty in getting an accurate and speedy diagnosis. But the process may ultimately get easier, thanks in part to work done by Dr. George Dempsey, the medical director of East Hampton Family Medicine.

It was a moment six years in the making: Kim Covell, founder of the Flying Point Foundation for Autism, has signed a lease with Southampton Youth Services to establish a community center for teens and young adults with autism, the organization announced on Jan. 24. To be located within 1,500 square feet of the existing S.Y.S. building on Majors Path in North Sea, The Point, as it will be called, has a target opening date of mid-March.

A public hearing on the proposed Wainscott Commercial Center, a 70-acre mixed-use development, is set for Wednesday at LTV Studios, at 75 Industrial Road in Wainscott.

Last Thursday, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. reintroduced a bill that aims to “address the statewide affordable housing crisis and incentivize property owners to construct accessory dwelling units where such units are permitted,” formally known as the Accessory Dwelling Unit Incentive Act.

Ahh, slime — kids still can’t seem to get enough of it, so Hamptons Community Outreach is throwing a slime-party fund-raiser this weekend. Plus: lots more on the agenda for kids and teens.

A Long Island City woman told police on Jan. 12 that her East Hampton fiancé’s daughters had been “talking bad about her to the family.” She wanted her complaint on file, and police obliged.

A 36-year-old Bay Shore man with a prior drunken-driving conviction was hit with two felony charges last Thursday, one for driving while intoxicated and the other for driving with a revoked license.

East Hampton Town police reported charging a 39-year-old Amagansett woman with criminal possession of stolen property, a class E felony, on Jan. 23.

The Southampton Hospital Foundation announced this week that it will break ground this month on the Stony Brook Medicine East Hampton Satellite Emergency Department next to the East Hampton Healthcare Center on Pantigo Place.

This image from the Amagansett Historical Association’s Carleton Kelsey Collection shows Emil Gardell (1876-1962) driving a Boston Cutter sleigh through the snow.

Stephen Randolph Gretz, a finance executive who had a house in East Hampton for 50 years, died in Chicago of a stroke on Jan. 21. Known as Randy, he was 74.

Catherine Babcock of East Hampton, a manager at Main Beach for 18 years, a school crossing guard, and a police matron starting in the 1960s, died at home on Dec. 12. She was 98.

Word has been received of the death of Patrick Abrams in Costa Rica in December. He had cancer. A Montauk resident for over two decades, he had lived in Costa Rica since the mid-1990s.

For almost an hour on Tuesday, Ina Garten imparted lessons on cooking, baking, business, the business of cooking and baking — plus life, love, and the pursuit of happiness — to students in East Hampton High School's culinary arts program. Her messages immediately resonated with the students, who later said they are feeling lots of pressure to choose a college, a major, and a career.

Shirley Wackley, a parishioner at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in East Hampton who had worked at Osborne Insurance and the Strong Insurance Agency here, died of lung cancer at home in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Jan. 26. She was 87.

Kathy Masterson, who took over from the retiring Joe Vas as the East Hampton School District’s athletic director on July 1, learned last Thursday that she has been named by her 60-plus fellow A.D.s as Suffolk County’s Athletic Director of the Year.

“It’s been a long while since we had more than five all-leaguers,” Coach Ethan Mitchell said in looking through the records of Bonac’s wrestling program, which has been winning more than losing of late.

The East Hampton, Bridgehampton, and Pierson High School boys basketball teams continued on playoff paths this past week, with East Hampton defeating Hampton Bays and Sayville, Bridgehampton defeating Greenport and Smithtown Christian, and Pierson defeating Mattituck after having lost to Babylon.

Dylan Cashin and Liam Fowkes, two East Hampton High School juniors who have been long-distance runners since an early age, are about to launch a youth track club here that they hope will stir up enthusiasm for the sport they love.

Laura Elizabeth MacPherson and Russell Edward Young of East Hampton were married on Jan. 21 at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk with the Rev. Liam McDonald officiating. A reception followed at Scoville Hall in Amagansett.