In 2005, six years after the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 12 students and one teacher dead and many others injured, Joe Pluta took a pledge called Rachel’s Challenge to help promote kindness, empathy, and positivity at the school he attended.

The first day of school on Sept. 4 brought a few more students to some local schools than there were this time a year ago, while others experienced a decline in enrollment. Officials across the public schools say the numbers will change before they report official data to New York State in October.

A 32-year-old Southampton man was arrested Saturday in Springs on two charges, including a felony, after he allegedly violated an order of protection. 

Police have asked for the public’s help to identify two people in connection with crimes committed on the South Fork this summer.

The bowhunting season for deer opens on Oct. 1, and in Suffolk County licensed archers can obtain permits starting on Monday for access to designated areas in select county parks. 

The Army Corps of Engineers may dredge Montauk Harbor to a greater depth and width than it presently calls for, East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said at the town board’s work session on Tuesday. The spoil would be deposited to the west of the western jetty, where erosion has long battered the beach.

The town-owned parking lot behind Amagansett Main Street will see some big changes in the near future, if the East Hampton Town Board accepts new recommendations from the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee. The lot was the center of attention Monday night at a well-attended meeting of the committee.

Mary Vorpahl of East Hampton celebrated her 80th birthday with family and friends at a surprise party on Sunday at Harbor Bistro in Springs.

Proposals to start a bicycle-sharing program in East Hampton Village, to upgrade the septic system at Herrick Park’s bathrooms, and to redesign the parking lot at Chase Bank on Main Street, were discussed at the village board meeting last Thursday.

The Wellness Foundation of East Hampton's next Wellness Challenge 360 program will kick off next Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton.

The newly restored Dominy woodworking shop began rising on Tuesday in its original location on North Main Street. The 18th-century structure was moved by truck, with a police escort, from Mulford Farm to a 5,400-square-foot parcel adjacent to the municipal parking lot.

A Manhattan woman was charged with driving while intoxicated in the early morning hours of Friday after Sag Harbor Village police warned her multiple times not to get behind the wheel.

Saying the district is “greatly troubled” by the fact that schools are widely used as polling sites during elections, Richard Burns, the East Hampton School District superintendent, has sent a formal letter to the Suffolk County Board of Elections requesting it find other places for people to vote.

New at the Y.M.C.A.

A number of new programs for young people are beginning at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter as the school year gets underway.

The Sag Harbor School Board held its architect’s feet to the fire on Monday as he announced that the new Sag Harbor Learning Center, formerly the Stella Maris Regional School, will not be completed until the end of December.

School Leadership, a search firm helping the Sag Harbor School District find its next superintendent, will hold a forum on Monday night to solicit public comment on the hiring process.

When Rick King’s neighbors on 19th Street played loud music and were yelling on Sunday at about 9 p.m., he told police he blasted an air horn and yelled back, out of frustration.

Calixte Stamp, a therapist who lived and worked in East Hampton and New York City, died on Saturday at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. She was 61 and had been diagnosed with breast cancer some years ago.

Word has been received here of the death of Stephen Barton, a screenwriter and director, on Aug. 12 in Hollywood, Calif. The former Sag Harbor and East Hampton resident was 56.

Claude Robert Maeder, a lifelong resident of Sag Harbor, died on July 28 at the Westhampton Care Center. He was 87.