A flurry of mid-September overnight car break-ins in Montauk, Amagansett, and Springs has had victims and residents taking to social media to bemoan an apparently organized racket and warn others about the incidents. Police say they’re on the case but have no suspects.

People see firefighters in their trucks, police officers writing tickets, and ambulances streaking by, but they don’t see the public safety dispatchers, who coordinate any emergency response in East Hampton Town and are also specially trained to give guidance over the phone on everything from CPR to childbirth to electrocution and even getting a car out of submerged water.

The ongoing malware crisis that has afflicted Suffolk County computer systems for three weeks should not impact elections here, according to Betty Manzella, the Republican commissioner with the Suffolk County Board of Elections in Yaphank. Nevertheless, the cyber intrusion presents challenges for the board of elections.

East End lawmakers and the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a bill to end the so-called “puppy-mill pipeline” that has sent untold numbers of unhealthy and abused cats, dogs, and rabbits to New York State retail pet shops.

Bluetongue, a serious virus, has been detected for the first time in New York State deer. A cousin of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, it is spread by the bite from a midge, or no-see-um, and incubates in a deer for seven days before the animal begins to show symptoms. There is no treatment for the virus, which typically kills an adult deer within 36 hours.

The Montauk Village Association faces an uncertain post-Covid future after the old guard nonprofit saw its fund-raising plummet during the pandemic.

The Cookery, a grocery store, bakery, and prepared-food shop that is operating where Simply Sublime stood for 10 years at 85 Springs-Fireplace Road, has worked out some of the issues with its site plan application and is now ready for a public hearing. An application for National Grid's East Hampton generating station still needs work before a hearing can be scheduled.

An East Hampton Town Planning Board hearing for a proposed 185-foot cell tower that would be installed by American Tower at Camp Blue Bay in Springs has been scheduled for Oct. 19.

The Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association has endorsed County Legislator Bridget Fleming in her campaign to represent New York’s First Congressional District.

Gov. Kathy Hochul agreed on Sept. 21 to participate in a single debate with her challenger, Representative Lee Zeldin of New York’s First Congressional District, but Mr. Zeldin responded by calling the proposed Oct. 25 debate “a nonstarter,” and as of Wednesday the candidates had not mutually agreed to debate.  

In arrests this week, one person was accused of stealing from the Inter Deli in East Hampton, another of criminal possession of fentanyl and driving while intoxicated, and third of sexual abuse.

Police said they’d clocked a man driving 80 miles an hour in a 55-m.p.h. zone, and that he’d crossed the double yellow line “to pass numerous vehicles in an unsafe manner.” The car smelled like marijuana, they added, and the driver exhibited signs of “cannabis intoxication.”

A dog left alone in a Porsche prompted a wellness check on Sept. 20 after its owner went into John Papas Cafe to pick up a food order. Someone called police, who arrived and said the dog was fine.

In an effort to improve the health of underserved communities, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, a branch of Northwell Health, has recognized the Bridgehampton School District as a breastfeeding-friendly workplace.

By June 2029, the East Hampton School District will have finished making annual $4.9 million debt payments from the $79.2 million renovation and expansion plan approved by voters in 2006. The following year, with a $1 million payment, the district will be done paying it off altogether. Looking ahead, school officials said this has created an opportunity for the district, which is about to begin prioritizing future capital projects across its campuses.

“My first impression of the school is that it was very deliberately designed from both the curriculum standpoint and physically, on campus,” Thomas Sturtevant, who in July started his new role as the Ross School’s head of school, said this week. “It’s thoughtful and innovative, so it’s an exciting place to work.”

Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island announced on Monday the launch of Youth Connect, a bilingual and prevention-focused crisis-counseling program. The goal is to provide middle and high school-age young people access to immediate support and guidance in Spanish or English through an anonymous, confidential helpline that can be reached via text or phone call

Activities on the agenda for kids and teens this week include a celebration of LatinX culture at the Children's Museum of the East End, fun for would-be teenage sleuths, crafts, a salamander search, and opportunities to earn community service credits.

John Custis Lawrence (1867-1944), a Montauk-born architect, appears in this photograph participating in Forefathers’ Day, demonstrating how to grind corn to make samp, a mashed cornmeal porridge dish of Indigenous origin.

A musician, singer, actor, and interior designer, Peter Johannes van Hattum of East Hampton died on Sept. 20 at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. He was 90.