Monday marks the federal holiday originally established in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington’s birthday on the 22nd of February. It wasn’t until 1971 that it officially became known as Presidents Day, when it was included in the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, and moved to the third Monday in February, as an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. Perhaps it’s time to take a historical jaunt and commemorate the South Fork’s ties with many sitting POTUSes over the years.

A New York State mandate that people wear masks or show proof of vaccination at restaurants, gyms, theaters, offices, and stores was lifted last Thursday. The decision, Gov. Kathy Hochul said at the time, was motivated by improving Covid-19 measurements, including the percentage of tests coming back positive, hospitalizations, the number of cases per 100,000 people, and vaccinations.

Fishermen and other residents of East Hampton Town who have been prevented from accessing a 4,000-foot stretch of Napeague ocean beach commonly known as Truck Beach have a new ally in an outside attorney for the town trustees.

Southampton Town’s planning board voted unanimously on Feb. 10 to accept a pre-submission application from Verizon Wireless for a 153-foot communications tower on Sag Harbor Village property directly adjacent to the Long Pond Greenbelt.

A disturbance at a local restaurant, which began on Friday night at 10:30, ended at midnight, after police roused a man asleep in a stolen car in his Springs driveway.

Sag Harbor Village police were enforcing the 20-mile-per-hour speed zone in front of the elementary school last Thursday morning when, they reported, a green 2004 Nissan Sentra whizzed by at 34 m.p.h.

A woman called on Feb. 8 to report a “suspicious” black Cadillac Escalade parked at the dog park, but police found nothing suspicious about it. Nonetheless, the driver agreed to move it.

Around dinnertime on Friday, Sandra Hunter was driving a 2013 Audi, with her husband as passenger, south on Route 114 when she slowed down to let a deer cross.

East Hampton School District officials on Tuesday announced a commitment to remaining at or under New York State’s cap on tax-levy increases to finance their 2022-23 budget plan.

A chorus of Springs School parents on Tuesday joined the many loud-and-clear voices calling for a “mask choice” policy, which would enable them to decide whether their children should wear masks.

While not a foregone conclusion just yet, it is possible that the Springs School District may put an above-the-tax-cap budget on the ballot in May for the first time.

Mark Frankel, a former Ross School teacher and principal who has spent the last 12 years as an educator abroad, will return to Ross on July 1 to serve as high school principal.

Staying in town with the kids for the February break? School may be closed, but there's plenty to do, and even more to look forward to in the coming weeks.

The winners of the Amagansett Village Improvement Society’s “Love Letters to Amagansett” essay-writing contest were announced on the society’s website on Monday, Valentine’s Day.

Two hundred and two years ago, Sarah Frances Dering of Shelter Island wrote her paternal first cousin Elizabeth (Eliza) Packer Gardiner in New York City about a perilous, snowy trip by sleigh.

Jason Epstein, author, publisher, and founder of The New York Review of Books, died at home in Sag Harbor on Feb. 4.

Eric Alexander Suddueth, a musician, animal lover, and waterman who lived and worked in Montauk for more than 30 years, died on Feb. 7 at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Quiogue. He was 60 years old. 

Robert B. Kay, an attorney who moved into executive positions in the hospitality and health care fields, died of cancer in New York City on Feb. 7. He was 82 and had lived part time in Amagansett.

Joseph L. Fitzgerald, a charter member, former chief, and 57-year member of the Springs Fire Department, died on Feb. 4 at home on Three Mile Harbor-Hog Creek Road. He was 94.

The family of Adelaide H. Dunlop will receive visitors on Monday from 9 to 10 a.m. at the Farley Funeral Home at 265 South Nokomis Avenue in Venice, Fla. A funeral Mass will be said at Epiphany Cathedral Catholic Church, also in Venice, at 11 a.m.