Villages

Visitors to the Montauk Lighthouse may not notice it yet, but a tower restoration expected to cost just shy of $1.1 million is in its early stages this summer, as the Montauk Historical Society committee that oversees the national historic landmark works to raise the money to complete the project by 2021.

Several proposed laws, including one that would prohibit professional landscapers from using gas-powered leaf blowers from June 1 to Labor Day, will be considered by the East Hampton Village Board at hearings on Wednesday at 11 a.m.

Parents who previously opted their children out of routine vaccinations for religious reasons will no longer be able to claim that exemption for school enrollment purposes come September.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, the decorated astrophysicist, author, and host of television shows and podcasts, has been credited with sparking public interest in science — and keeping people’s attention on it — over the last few decades. He will speak at the Spur in East Hampton Friday night.

In its latest round of water testing results for the week of July 15, Concerned Citizens of Montauk identified East Creek at the south end of Lake Montauk as an area of serious concern. Water sampled there showed the highest levels of the bacteria enterococcus of any of the more than two dozen sites monitored by C.C.O.M.

On its mission to transform an empty space in Montauk into a cultural center and community pool, representatives of the Montauk Playhouse Community Center Foundation said this week that they have revamped their plans.

Mumford & Sons, called “one of the most successful acts to come out of the 21st century’s English folk revival,” will give an invitation-only performance at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett on Aug. 25 to benefit USA Warrior Stories.

An East Hampton Town official and a representative of Concerned Citizens of Montauk both confirmed this week that they have received reports of foul odors at Ditch Plain and people experiencing skin, eye, and sinus irritation after taking a dip in the water there in the last two to three weeks.

This year the competition has been named the Mike Diveris Battle of Southampton in honor of one of the founding fathers of the town lifeguard program, who died on June 17 at the age of 72. 

After several beachgoers attempted to free a humpback whale entangled in a fishing net off Town Line Beach in Sagaponack on Monday, the whale, which had been trapped for hours 75 feet from shore, ultimately freed itself.

The National Parks Service, the federal agency that oversees the preservation of historic structures and districts, last week added the Sag Harbor communities of Sag Harbor Hills, Azurest, and Ninevah Subdivisions (known as SANS) to the National Register of Historic Places.

The 15th annual Soldier Ride the Hamptons will return to the South Fork on Saturday with a community bike ride to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. Riders will bike alongside wounded veterans on a 25.6-mile route that starts and finishes at Amagansett Farm and passed through Amagansett and East Hampton Village on the way to Sag Harbor.