In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, Alex Miller gave his friends something else to talk about — at least for the moment. 

The Springs resident found a rare purple pearl inside a clam he had just opened. But this is not his first such find. In May of 2019, he shucked a clam and found one then, too.

Ruth Appelhof, the director at Guild Hall from 1999 to 2016 and an art history scholar, died on Thursday at home in Springs after living two years with leukemia.

"Certainly, as the hours turn to days the likelihood of a successful outcome diminishes, and we are keenly aware of that," East Hampton Town Police Capt. Chris Anderson said on Friday morning.