The East Hampton School Board at its meeting Tuesday night rehired Bill McKee to coach the high school’s varsity boys basketball team and brought in Matthew Shimkus to coach the varsity girls tennis team.

An anonymous donor has pledged $54,500 to the Wainscott School so that the cash-strapped district can reinstate "specials," which are classes such as art, music, gym, and technology. Facing an austerity plan after the failure, twice, of a tax-cap-busting budget, Deborah Haab, the district superintendent, said it "will make a tremendous difference in the day-to-day operations, especially for the students, and the school itself."

Better use of the aquifer, and an appreciation of it as an existential resource, could help mitigate the vicissitudes of nature when it comes to the health of our water supply, and the Suffolk County Water Authority is at work on both fronts.

The Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, now predicts a 60-percent chance of between 14 and 21 named storms, of which six to 11 could become hurricanes, and two to five of them major hurricanes. An outlook issued in May predicted just a 30-percent likelihood of an above-average hurricane season.