The flame burning behind the Herrick Park bathrooms in East Hampton Village is not a new pyrotechnics display or art installation. Instead, it's a controlled burn of 400 gallons of propane. Dave Collins, the superintendent of the Public Works Department, said it will take two days to burn off completely.

Reducing food waste is one of the top solutions to reversing climate change. Nearly 40 percent of food is wasted in the United States, according to the hunger-relief organization Feeding America. To mitigate that problem here, East Hampton Town will soon embark on a composting pilot program, an effort aimed at diverting, recovering, and reusing residential food scraps to create compost and return it to the soil.

Now that it's May, one thing is for certain: It's time to get outside.

East Hampton Town saw more reports of identity theft, fraud, larceny, trespassing, and sex crimes last year than it did in 2021, according to Police Chief Michael D. Sarlo's annual report. There were 17 calls about possible drug overdoses among adults, a five-year high, and officers made 41 percent more arrests, issued 49 percent more traffic tickets, and logged a collective 7,249 hours of training, an increase of 25 percent over 2021.