A public hearing on a petition for the incorporation of Wainscott will resume on Thursday at 11 a.m., following its initial airing on Feb. 5. The hearing’s purpose is to determine the legality of the petition, which was submitted to East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc on Dec. 30, and to present comments on it, for or against.

Covid-19 continues to disrupt local tradition, with the Montauk Friends of Erin's St. Patrick's Day parade, gala, and grand marshal's lunch the latest victims of the pandemic. The Friends had announced plans to hold the parade on March 28, a Sunday, but yesterday, about five weeks out, word came of its cancellation. The 2020 parade had met the same fate.

Stony Brook University Hospital and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital have been named leaders in LGBTQ health care equality for 2020 by the National LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Index of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.

A new Covid-19 testing site in Montauk is expected to begin operation next week and will be open every day. “Knowing that we’re trending in a positive way toward summer, the state will be looking for negative tests” in order for weddings and other large gatherings to be held safely, East Hampton Councilman David Lys said.

With a winter weather advisory in effect until Friday night, East Hampton and Southampton Towns closed all town facilities early on Thursday and East Enders were being warned to stay off the roads. 

People who commit minor violations of the town code, as well as the code enforcement and marine patrol officers who catch them doing it, would no longer have to appear in court under a new plan being considered by the East Hampton Town Board.

The third of three public hearings on the South Fork Wind farm's construction and operations plan, jointly held by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Army Corps of Engineers, happened this week. The public has until Monday to send additional comments on the project.

This photograph shows John Horton (1852-1940) and his wife, Julia A. Montgomery Horton (1868-1915), outside their home in the Freetown section of East Hampton around 1900. The couple married in December 1885 and brought up two boys, Morgan Raymond (1890-1958) and William H. Horton (b. 1887).

Martin Pettersen of Maidstone Park, who was known as Whitey, died on Friday after a long illness. He was 81. A graveside service and military burial will be held at Most Holy Trinity Cemetery on Cedar Street in East Hampton on Tuesday at 11 a.m., the Rev. Peter J. Garry officiating. Visitors will be welcome at the gravesite ceremony. An obituary will appear in a future issue.

Kathleen Patricia Thompson, who owned FiFi's Franks, a onetime hot dog concession at Main Beach in Sagaponack, died on Oct. 7 at home in Williamsburg, Va. The former East Hampton resident was 60.

Twenty-five members of the New York and New Jersey delegations to the House of Representatives wrote to Amanda Lefton, the new director of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, on Friday to urge her to "jump-start the offshore wind leasing process" by issuing final Wind Energy Areas and subsequent lease auctions in the New York Bight. 

An Oakview Highway woman told police that someone had driven across her lawn overnight on Saturday. Her split-rail fence was destroyed and an officer also noted a broken post, umbrella stand, and spotlight, plus tire marks.

A driver was arrested last week on a charge of aggravated unlicensed driving after hitting a tree on private property at the intersection of Wainscott Main Street and Beach Lane.

Severe weather caused many a slip-and-slide on local roads last week, though no injuries were reported.

East Hampton High School's boys basketball team was 2-1 in league play as of Tuesday, and 2-3 over all.

Having followed his coach's advice, Kal Lewis, the University of Iowa freshman from Shelter Island, trailed a Big Ten pack for most of the indoor mile race at Iowa's field house Friday before kicking his way to fourth place in a lifetime-best 4 minutes and 7.14 seconds, "a second out of second, and a step out of third," according to Cliff Clark, Shelter Island's running guru.

Councilman David Lys hopes to include $250,000 toward the renovation and expansion of the Montauk skate park in East Hampton Town's capital budget.

For the third year in a row East Hampton High's boys swimming team won the League II meet, this one contested Saturday at Hauppauge High School, topping four teams — Hauppauge, West Islip, Sayville-Bayport-Blue Point, and Northport — that had defeated the 3-4 Bonackers in dual meet competition.

As hopes for a return to normalcy in 2021 gather strength, the East Hampton Town Board is considering the costs and quantity of beach parking and beach driving permits the town will issue to nonresidents, resorts, and co-ops this year. 

At the beginning of September, four South Fork college students talked with The East Hampton Star about their expectations and experiences so far attending school during the Covid-19 pandemic. One semester later, this is how it's going.