In the contempt hearing in which property owners along the stretch of Napeague oceanfront popularly known as Truck Beach claimed that East Hampton Town failed to comply with last February’s New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division decision that barred driving there, Ed Michels, the town’s chief harbormaster, testified that the best he could do was block access at Marine Boulevard and advise people of the directive.

In what attorneys and lawmakers have described as a rare occurrence, New York State’s highest court has decided it will hear an appeal from the Noyac mine known as Sand Land, which is trying to hold onto its operating permit.

The East Hampton Village Board acknowledged issues with the way nonresident beach parking permits were sold this year. The permits, which went on sale at midnight on Feb. 1, sold out in only 11 hours, a record. This rankled many residents of East Hampton Town, who will be unable to park this summer at their favorite beaches.

The much-anticipated, newly renovated Montauk Library officially reopened on Friday. “This is our soft opening,” said Denise DiPaolo, the library’s director, noting that the official ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place in May. But fanfare for the newly reconfigured and expanded library space has begun, as excited patrons passed through the doors on Friday, wearing big smiles and looks of wonder.

Hamptons Community Outreach, a nonprofit group that helps economically disadvantaged people obtain food, emergency house repairs, and other support, is a recipient of a new Land Rover donated by the Southampton Village dealership in the company’s Above and Beyond Service Awards.

Many people often wonder when they should make the decision to call 911 or go to an emergency room if they are sick or injured. What precisely constitutes an emergency?

A Further Lane woman reported a “shadowy figure” outside her bedroom window an hour before sunrise on Feb. 15. Two officers showed up at the house and checked the interior and exterior. It proved to be nothing more than a shadow.

Last Thursday morning, a 26-year-old East Hampton woman in a 2021 Toyota was at a stop sign at Stephen Hand’s Path and Cedar Street, but didn’t see another car coming, she told police.

Early on Feb. 12, Peter Vaziri of East Hampton was westbound in a black 2018 Mazda on Montauk Highway near Bunker Hill Road in Amagansett, when, town police said, he crossed the shoulder and hit a fence.

A Magical Time

The Amagansett Library has invited children in prekindergarten through second grade to a unicorn-themed party on Saturday at 2 p.m. with stories, crafts, and party favors. The contact for registration is Evan Harris at [email protected].

Children in the 3-K (preschool for 3-year-olds) and prekindergarten programs received their own library cards and were given a quick lesson on how to borrow a new book every two weeks.

East Hampton Village homeowners who rent out their houses for 120 days or less annually will benefit from an amendment to the village code, unanimously adopted by the village board on Friday, that will allow them to collect the rental fees in one lump sum, meaning that they will no longer have to worry about tenants who attempt to terminate a rental early, or those who don’t make payments.

This postcard from the Harvey Ginsberg Postcard Collection shows a summer cottage belonging to Benjamin Franklin Evans (1843-1913) on the dunes at Lily Pond Lane.

Trenching and vegetation removal has begun along a debated cable route.

Amid the East Hampton Town Board’s planning to shift East Hampton Airport to a restricted, “private-use” facility, some residents concerned about diversion of aircraft to other parts of the town have focused their attention on a helipad at the Bistrian Materials supply yard on Springs-Fireplace Road.

There is a new candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination to represent New York’s First Congressional District, a consequence of the recent redrawing of the state’s Congressional districts that followed the decennial census.

The Southampton and Brookhaven Town Democratic Committees will co-host a virtual forum featuring the Democratic candidates to represent New York’s First Congressional District on Thursday at 7 p.m. via Zoom video conference.

Edwin Livingston Sherrill Jr., a descendant of one of East Hampton’s early families and a member of the East Hampton Village Board for many years, died on Jan. 19 in Charleston, S.C. He was 99.

Vincent Elias Grimes, “the oldest living person born in Montauk,” died on Sunday at home at the age of 93.

The white-throated sparrow’s song “is a lament,” George Gladden wrote, “a lament which is wistful and ineffably plaintive, but in which there is no despair, only sweet hopefulness.”