On Tuesday afternoon, the United States Department of Education announced that the Amagansett School has been named a National Blue Ribbon School, a prestigious and difficult-to-obtain honor that is based largely on students’ academic performance. Though there was applause, the announcement did little to ease the tension in the room at a board meeting later in the day, as it quickly became apparent that parents and teachers had come prepared with pointed questions about how school operations have been running lately.

South Fork residents were among an estimated 75,000 people who participated in Sunday’s March to End Fossil Fuels in Manhattan, at the conclusion of the hottest summer since global record-keeping of temperatures began and amid multiple signals around the world that climate change is happening now and getting worse. “I’m here personally because my granddaughter is also here, and I want a livable planet for her and her generation, and, in fact, all living beings,” said Francesca Rheannon of Springs, who is on East Hampton Town’s Energy and Sustainability Advisory Committee.

After two years of silence, the Springs Fire Department has filed updated plans to build a cell tower at its headquarters at 179 Fort Pond Boulevard. It marks the beginning of a new chapter in what has been, at times, an acrimonious battle over the tower. A lot has changed since July 2020, when it was ordered that the previous application for a 185-foot tower, which required 30 variances, needed to undergo an extensive environmental review.