The first thing Arthur Beckenstein sees when he steps out of his bedroom every morning is a lush spread of vibrant, earthy color. Maybe it's a textured greenish-brown in the winter, but come spring, summer, and fall, fresh pops of emerald, lime, yellow, purple, and red fill his field of view. It's not a painting. Rather, it's a landscape — a rooftop garden atop a one-story section of his house, visible from the second-floor windows. A green roof, to be exact.

Crews from five volunteer fire departments battled a basement blaze, and two more stood at the ready in case further help was needed, late Thursday night at a house on Ely Brook to Hand's Creek Road in the Northwest Woods section of East Hampton.

On March 27, a previously confidential legal document related to an ongoing complaint by Police Officer Andrea Kess against East Hampton Town and its Police Department became public when it was filed in a federal court as evidence in a new civil rights lawsuit, brought by Lt. Peter Powers of the town police. Lieutenant Powers is charging that the document, known as a “position statement,” has harmed his professional and personal reputation.

In the photo seen here from The Star’s archive, Perle Fine prepares a painting for a show at the Upstairs Gallery on Newtown Lane in the 1970s.