The East Hampton Town Board is working on many fronts to tackle the region's most bedeviling problem, and this week, board members reported on their progress on specific initiatives to provide affordable rental and ownership options for those who live or work in the town. 

Both the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals and Design Review Board, at times appearing frustrated by questions of overlapping or insufficient jurisdiction, signed off unanimously last week on improvements sought by Guild Hall to its exterior. Both boards made it clear that they had no control over the more controversial future of the John Drew Theater and its iconic "circus tent" roof, leaving all the drama inside the building.

At the end of March, in an ambitious effort to eradicate ticks on North Haven, the village relaunched its campaign to install "four-poster" feeding stations for deer. The stations bait deer with corn. While they feed, a tickicide is applied directly to their necks.

Despite a significant uptick in Covid-19 cases, including the designation of Suffolk and Nassau Counties as a region now at high risk of virus transmission by the federal Centers for Disease Control, the number of patients admitted at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital has remained in the single digits over the last few weeks — very much manageable, the hospital's chief medical officer has said. "We're going to have to learn how to live with it when community spread goes up like it is now."

The effort to preserve and restore the Springs house and studios of the late Abstract Expressionist artists James Brooks and Charlotte Park achieved yet another milestone this week when the Preservation League of New York State named the structures to its 2022-23 Seven to Save list, a registry highlighting the state's most at-risk historical places.

This is a public cervix announcement: East Enders are not going to stand idly by as the United States Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that for nearly 50 years has protected women's right to choose to have an abortion. That was the takeaway on Saturday on the steps of the Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead, where hundreds of people from Montauk and Orient to Brookhaven and Patchogue rallied in support of Roe v. Wade, hoping to send the nation's highest court a resounding message.

Catbirds are neither rare nor shy. Work in your garden and you may soon have a catbird working alongside you. They're charming, excellent company, and release a seemingly infinite number of sounds when they open their black bills.

The renovated and reconfigured Montauk Library will host its official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sunday at noon. The institution's new, state-of-the-art facilities, complete with sustainable elements, look more than ready to deal with the changing future. Yet it's the past, said Denise DiPaolo, the library's director, that has especially captivated the library's patrons, especially the older ones.

When the Sagaponack Village Board offered an amendment to a local law on April 13 that stated that construction of new pickleball courts would be subject to various setback regulations, based on a noise-attenuation study the board had carried out, the people of the village sounded off.

Canio's Books and the John Jermain Memorial Library have teamed up to have Donald V. Coers speak about John Steinbeck's World War II novel "The Moon Is Down" and how this story of resistance resonates today. It starts tonight at 6 at the library.

A man who police said is homeless was charged with petty larceny at the Montauk 7-Eleven store.

A woman called police last Thursday to ask if they knew where to find a "male soul mate." An officer told her that police have no special knowledge about the location of soul mates and asked if she was okay, or felt the need to go to the hospital. She said no, she was healthy and in good spirits.

"It's important to start now," Laura Tooman of Concerned Citizens of Montauk told the East Hampton Town Board, in urging it to adopt a plan that recommends a range of strategies to address risks to coastal areas as a result of climate-change-induced sea level rise, coastal erosion, and extreme weather. Among the plan's most controversial elements is a call for managed retreat in downtown Montauk.

Two drivers whose cars had been stopped on the side of the road, plus one whom police pulled over for a reported traffic violation, are now facing charges of driving while intoxicated.

Having beaten back a plan to site a 180-foot tower to house emergency and personal wireless communications equipment in the woodlands of their neighborhood, a group of Springs residents is now asking East Hampton Town to make the approximately seven wooded acres a nature preserve.

The changes have been subtle, but nevertheless troubling, Marrina Jacka and Morgan Johnson Quamina alleged this week, ever since the Ross School brought in Charlie Abelmann as its interim head-of-school. In response to the change in administrators, Marrina and Morgan, co-presidents of the school's student body, led a walkout on Monday, during which 50 or so students streamed out of classroom buildings and walked around the campus, holding signs and chanting: "Hey hey, ho ho, this head of school has got to go!"

Gabe Jaffe has launched Teen Hampton, an online community of young adults who want to work as babysitters and sports coaches this summer on the East End.

Kids will be very busy this week, if the lineup of fun, local activities for teens and younger children is any indication.

For a luxury Montauk rental, it sounds too good to be true. Six bedrooms, 7,300 square feet, ocean view, heated saltwater pool with waterfall edge, and top-of-the-line kitchen appliances listed for $2,500 a night on Airbnb. The catch, says the homeowner: It's a scam offered by "hosts" who've used the legitimate real estate photos to dupe unsuspecting vacationers.

Monday's basketball game between East Hampton High School and Patchogue-Medford — the first home contest for Bonac's unified basketball program — had all the thrill of a varsity playoff game and all the heart a community could muster, showcasing the meaningful moments that can happen when players with developmental disabilities are given the same opportunity to do what many of their non-disabled peers do.