Covid continued clinging when the 2022 winter sports season began here, but soon thereafter the constraints of the past two years were shrugged off as local athletes went toe-to-toe again in scholastic competitions, rubbed elbows again in road races, and, when it came to athletic ambitions, frequently put their best feet forward.

According to an extensive report published in November by the New York State Board of Regents, survey respondents by and large said they felt the exams “were no longer an adequate measure of student understanding.” Instead, they favored the creation of a new system of high school graduation requirements that give students more options for demonstrating their mastery of “21st-century” skills and knowledge.

During this Christmas/New Year’s interlude, I offer a fun challenge: Take a walk in the woods at night. Try it. You may hear a great-horned owl, who, despite the cold, is starting its courtship ritual. Its classic hooting call — offered in the cadence of “Who is awake? Me too!” — can be heard for miles, the song of the blue winter night.

Every week, Andrew Visconti assigns his students — English-learning adults from mostly Spanish-speaking countries, but with a Polish immigrant in the mix — to find an article that they’re interested in and take notes on what they’ve read. Then they come to class and tell one another about the article and why it stood out for them. The Star’s nationally-renowned crime pages are a big and repeat hit for the students.

Off-premises catering companies on the South Fork are welcoming Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signing, on Dec. 20, of legislation to close a loophole that previously restricted them from obtaining liquor licenses. Now, they will be able to apply for permanent catering permits that will ultimately enable them to add liquor, and sales of alcohol in general, to the “approved” list.

A mixed retail and affordable housing development proposed by Adam Potter, the founder of the Friends of Bay Street, for the office district in Sag Harbor Village hit a speedbump recently, as news got out that the developer he was working with, Conifer, had dropped out of the project. The Smith & Henzy Advisory Group, a real estate development firm brought in by Conifer and specializing in funding large-scale housing developments through tax credits, also departed.

East Hampton Town Councilwoman Cate Rogers has a legislative “bucket list” item for 2023 that would see the creation of a pilot program to ramp up composting efforts in the town. Her vision would flip the script on the well-worn “farm-to-table” concept to a so-called table-to-farm program where residents — and eventually, restaurants — would collect food scraps that would then be composted instead of being sent off to landfills, where some 40 percent of all waste is residential food waste.

Nicholas LaLota, newly elected in the First District, said in a statement Tuesday that while he, like other House Republicans, is “eager to be sworn in and focus on our commitment to America and our respective districts,” he had heard from countless Long Islanders expressing “how deeply troubled they are by the headlines surrounding George Santos.” Mr. LaLota added that as a Navy veteran “who campaigned on restoring accountability and integrity to our government,” he believed a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee, “and, if necessary, law enforcement, is required.”

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. told The Star that he had some optimism that the bill might ultimately be met with her signature, noting that Gov. Kathy Hochul and her staff had been engaged in discussions over the bill with stakeholders that include New York’s powerful real estate lobby, which leans Democratic in its campaign-funding largess and is one of the reasons Governor Hochul prevailed in her race against Lee Zeldin this year.

State Senator Anthony Palumbo has recognized the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center in East Hampton with the Empire State Award, the highest honor that can be given by a New York State legislator, for its service to the community over the last 50 years.

Sag Harbor School District officials have decided not to wait for the Southampton Town Board to formally vote on its offer of community preservation fund money before starting what they have been calling “phase two” of the process. On Dec. 21 the district began gathering public comment to shape the proposal for an athletic field and related facilities on Marsden Street, which has been a hot issue in the village ever since the plan — involving the purchase of land from a private developer — was announced in September.

There are 36 members of the Radio City Rockettes, and 36 members of East Hampton High School’s Camerata choir. Coincidence? Yes, definitely. But both groups took the stage at Radio City Music Hall last Thursday, with the East Hampton singers serving as opening act for the Rockettes in a thrilling six-minute performance that made for quite the harbinger of Christmas spirit.

What’s on the horizon for Montauk in 2023? The December meeting of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee laid out some markers for what residents of the hamlet might expect in the new year.

Registration is open now for an afternoon of virtual reality activities for kids 10 and up at The Church, the arts center in Sag Harbor. The Jan. 12 program will be offered through a partnership with the Long Island Science Center.

On Christmas morning, there was a head-on collision on Three Mile Harbor-Hog Creek Road near Ingalls Road in Springs, in which a 27-year-old Springs man was charged with driving while intoxicated.

The wild weather that arrived in town late Friday afternoon prompted multiple road hazard calls to police. The blast of artic air, which brought blustery winds that downed numerous trees, was also blamed for one weather-driven accident.

A dog on North Haven was at the heart of the hubbub on Christmas Eve. It had gone into the bay on that frigid morning, the Sag Harbor Village Police chief said, only to find itself in need of an “ice rescue.”

A dog on North Haven was at the heart of the hubbub on Christmas Eve. It had gone into the bay on that frigid morning, the Sag Harbor Village Police chief said, only to find itself in need of an “ice rescue.”

According to East Hampton Town police, a 26-year-old man entered a house at 13 West Drive in East Hampton without permission and refused to leave when asked. After arresting him, police discovered a small ziplock-style plastic bag in his pocket containing a powdery white substance, later determined to be cocaine.

A woman who gave police her address as Brooklyn reported that thieves had stolen items from a Middle Lane mailbox four times between Nov. 2 and Dec. 17. The missing parcels, she said, include a Christmas ornament, artwork, a Luna brand blanket, and clothing. The thief will be charged with larceny if found; the matter was referred to the detective squad.