In November, residents in the Sag Harbor School District voted 638 to 521 in favor of spending district money to buy land on Marsden Street to create athletic fields across the street from Pierson Middle and High School, but the nature of those fields remains a raging debate, as seen last week when the school district held its second public forum on the proposal. “We decided, as it pertains to the Marsden lot fields, to take 100-percent synthetic turf off the table,” said Jeff Nichols, the district superintendent.

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. sounded optimistic last week as he addressed a crowd in the Sag Harbor Cinema, saying he’s looking forward to a change five years from now in the East End’s affordable housing landscape.

Restaurateurs know that Tuesday nights in the off-season offer some of the best dining experiences on the South Fork, and dedicated locals know it too. But consistency must be on the menu.

The East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to deny a second request by Farrell Builders for a natural resources special permit that would have allowed the developer to demolish a beach cottage at 175 Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett and build a new 3,240-square-foot residence, pool, and accessory structures in the dunes abutting the beach parking lot.

There is only one East Hampton Town Police Officer of the Year for 2022 — Bradley Hughes — but “we easily could have had three or four officers of the year this past year,” Police Chief Michael Sarlo said this week.

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.