East Hampton Village is exploring creating its own justice court that could be up and running at the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street by next January.

At a 2025 Environmental Roundtable hosted by State Senator Anthony Palumbo in Riverhead last Thursday, where elected officials from across the East End met with environmental interest groups, East Hampton Town Councilwoman Cate Rogers used her time to speak about one of the town’s biggest environmental issues, coastal resilience, and the fear that some projects may no longer get the federal funding that small municipalities rely on.

Growing up with a father well known for documenting the vanishing wildlife of the African continent, it may have been inevitable that Zara Beard would eventually make it her mission to rescue wildlife and protect the natural world. EchoWild, the conservation nonprofit she founded this year, will start locally, with a wildlife trauma unit in East Hampton in partnership with the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center.