Missing movie theaters, getting used to masks, a six-foot sixth sense, the words "these uncertain times" -- what sounds like the most basic Covid starter pack to us now will one day sound outrageous to others, a storytelling opportunity that the East Hampton Library tapped with its initiative the Pandemic Project. 

The East Hampton Town Planning Department gave a qualified recommendation for the town board to approve the use of an aquatic weed harvester to remove macroalgae from Georgica Pond this year, but wants more collaboration with the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, which operates the harvester, "to get a better handle on how the project can go forward and reap the benefits it's provided and ensure there aren't any adverse impacts that haven't been identified."

The proposal from the Promised Land Kelp Company is for an initial pilot program at locations in Napeague Harbor, Three Mile Harbor, and the near Northwest Harbor County Park to determine the optimum site for growth, followed by a long-term program at the site that proves to be best. "These areas have historically been nonproductive shellfishing areas, especially for bay scallops," according to a letter from the company.

The East Hampton Town Trustees' virtual meeting on Monday will include a presentation on the acoustic telemetry studies and trawl surveys associated with the South Fork Wind farm's export cable, which is to make landfall at the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott.

The annual sand replenishment at the ocean beach in downtown Montauk is complete, East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc told his colleagues on the town board on Tuesday.

A new East Hampton Town law prohibiting the use of gas or diesel-powered leaf blowers rom May 20 to Sept. 20 went into effect on Thursday. The law also established a licensing requirement for commercial landscapers engaged in property maintenance, and is intended to encourage "green" landscaping practices, such as electric leaf blowers, which are free of emissions and quieter than their fossil fuel-powered counterparts.

"Three images of the male genitalia were spray-painted on either end of the fence" at 7 North Main Street on May 10, East Hampton Village police reported.

After receiving a complaint last Thursday night concerning a sexual relationship between a 26-year-old man and a minor under the age of 17, East Hampton Town police arrested Byron Torres of Daniel's Hole Road in Wainscott on charges of statutory rape. Contact between the two, police said, was from around Feb. 1 to April 30.

East Hampton Town Police reported that on the evening of May 12, Hai Cao of Amagansett did not see a jogger as he turned left in his 2015 Toyota from Cedar Street onto Osborne Lane in East Hampton. Mr. Cao reportedly said to police that his view was limited and by the time he saw the jogger, Tint Juri of East Hampton, crossing from one side of Osborne Lane to the other, he could not avoid hitting him.

Police this week charged one person with driving while intoxicated and booked seven others on traffic and trespassing misdemeanors.

Project Most’s annual plant sale will be Saturday at the Neighborhood House at 92 Three Mile Harbor Road in East Hampton, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will organic vegetables seedlings, herbs, and flowers grown by its after-school students.

One can only wonder what Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, Sag Harbor's greatest philanthropist of the early 20th century, might think of the newly emerged rift between two village institutions: the Sag Harbor School District, for which Mrs. Sage donated money to build what is now Pierson Middle and High School, and Mashashimuet Park, another one of her gifts to the people of the village.

All About Frogs and Bats

On Wednesday for the first time since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo imposed an executive order 13 months ago requiring face coverings in public, people could go into a store or a walk down Main Street without a mask -- provided they were fully vaccinated. The change comes as the number of vaccinated people continues to grow and the infection rate across the state and here in Suffolk County drops to levels not seen since September and October.

Two years after banning the intentional release of balloons, the East Hampton Town Board appears poised to go further by also enacting a ban on the sale and distribution of filled latex and Mylar balloons.

When dealing with bluefish, especially the larger specimens that have shown up en masse in our local waters in the past two weeks, it's important to avoid their powerful jaws that are equipped by the blessing of nature with razor-sharp teeth.

After Sag Harbor Village began charging for parking spaces in the Long Wharf lot on Friday, residents and visitors said they were dismayed that yet another cost has been added to daily life on the South Fork.

A resounding "Mazel tov!" rang out at Temple Adas Israel on Sunday morning as members of the synagogue -- the oldest one on Long Island -- gathered to break ground on a $7 million renovation and expansion project, including the building of the Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder Center for Jewish Education.

East Hampton Town could once again set an example in banning balloons, but is it going a step too far?

This week, East Hampton Village and the Village of Sag Harbor both implemented a pay-for-parking system that required users to download a smartphone app. This seems a lot to ask of both residents and visitors alike.