The East Hampton Town Trustees have closed Georgica Pond in East Hampton and Wainscott Pond to the harvesting of shellfish, crabs, and other marine species until further notice after detection of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, blooms in both ponds.

The Suffolk County Department of Health alerted the public to these blooms and five others in the county, including in Mill Pond in Water Mill and Lake Agawam in Southampton, on Friday. Exposure to cyanobacteria at high concentrations can cause vomiting, diarrhea, skin, eye, or throat irritation, nausea, allergic reactions, or breathing difficulties.

Blue-green algae levels in Georgica Pond were undetectable through mid-June, but they began to exceed the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's threshold for a bloom in the southern part of the pond, according to Christopher Gobler of Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, who monitors water bodies under trustee jurisdiction. Levels in Georgica Cove and at the north of the pond are elevated, he told the trustees on Friday, but below the D.E.C.'s threshold. Testing for the blue-green algal toxin microcystin was to occur on Friday and Saturday.

Georgica Pond has been plagued by cyanobacteria blooms over the past several summers, when warmer water temperatures and a lack of tidal flushing have promoted the blooms. Excessive nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorous are also blamed. The biannual opening of the pond to the Atlantic Ocean, typically done in the spring and fall, restores salinity levels and the blooms quickly dissipate.

This is the third consecutive year that the trustees have closed the pond, though the previous closures began in late July 2014 and early August 2015. The earlier bloom this year, according to Dr. Gobler, is almost certainly due to the fact that the pond has been closed to the ocean since early spring. He told the the trustees that it has filled it with "nutrient-enriched freshwater and driven the salinity down to levels permissible for blue-green algae."

Dr. Gobler, who is also providing data to the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, a group of property owners working toward restoring its ecological health, added in his message to the trustees that levels of blue-green algae are likely to increase in the coming weeks due to warm temperatures and the pond's continued closure to the ocean.

Blue-green algae, naturally present in many lakes and streams, is harmless at low levels. Excessive algal growth, however, discolors water and produces floating rafts or scum on the surface. Large blooms can dramatically reduce dissolved oxygen, killing fish and other living organisms.

The Health Department has advised the public not to swim or wade in the affected waterways and to keep pets and children away from the area. Clean water should be used immediately to rinse exposed areas if contact does occur, and medical attention sought if any of the aforementioned symptoms are observed.

Ping Edmunds and Aveen Hallissey spent much of their freshman year at East Hampton High School researching something they say many people take for granted: soap.

As part of a project in Joshua Odom’s English class, the two students said they learned that a lack of proper hygiene is the third leading cause of neonatal deaths in the developing world.

“Half of the hygiene-related deaths could be prevented if people had basic knowledge of how important washing your hands is,” Ping said.

That’s what led Ping and Aveen, who will be juniors come September, to launch Soap for Hope, a project in which they recycle used soaps from local hotels and inns.

The process took some trial and error at first, but they have it down to a science now. They first disinfect the used soaps, essentially washing the soap with other soap. Then they shave off a layer using a vegetable peeler, melt all the remaining pieces together, re-mold them into a new bar of soap, and wrap them in wax paper.

From there, they send their soaps to an orphanage in Cambodia, and have plans to send them to other places in need, too, as they expand their soap-making project.

When their first delivery arrived at the orphanage, Aveen said, the caretakers had to teach the children how to properly wash their hands and bodies. “The girls especially really loved having their own soap and their own beauty routine,” she said. “It’s something we don’t even think about.”

“It’s in every store or household in America,” Ping added. “You don’t realize the effect it has on your life when it’s so easily at reach.”

From the first 1,000 bars of discarded soap they collected, they were able to make about 300 fresh ones during their sophomore year. Just about the only disagreement they have had was how to wrap them. “Aveen likes to pack it like a candy-style wrapper, but I like to wrap it like a Christmas present,” Ping said.

Adam Fine, the high school principal, said the administration endorses Soap for Hope. “I am very proud of the work Ping and Aveen have undertaken,” he said in an email. “Their commitment to underprivileged people is very impressive. My hope is that this program continues to grow over the next year. . . . It is great to support student-generated ideas and initiatives.”

So far, businesses such as Gurney’s Inn and the Panoramic View Resort in Montauk have contributed soaps, as have other students and Girl Scout Troop 596 of Amagansett.

The project has given Ping and Aveen a boost of confidence.

“It didn’t feel like it was possible for us when we first started out,” Aveen said. “We thought we didn’t have enough resources, we didn’t know enough people, or because we’re not adults then we couldn’t accomplish this. Then we started thinking in reality. If other kids can do things like this, why couldn’t we?”

The July Fourth weekend was marked by a number of vehicular accidents resulting in charges of drunken driving.

An East Hampton 18-year-old, whose name was withheld because of his age, was charged early Saturday morning with driving while high on drugs, resisting arrest, and possession of a hypodermic needle following a serious accident on Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton. It was the youth’s second such accident. The first was a rollover; in this case there were two passengers in the car.

The case file on his earlier arrest has been sealed, under state law covering those granted youthful offender status. At his arraignment, however, East Hampton Town Justice Lisa R. Rana warned the youth’s lawyer, Stephen Grossman, that if his client does not go into treatment, he will go instead to jail.

A Dodge pickup driven by Joseph J. Valente of Levittown, 55, was in a minor accident on Old Montauk Highway in Montauk around midnight Saturday. The driver’s breath test back at headquarters reportedly produced a reading of .15 of 1 percent. Mr. Valente told the court Sunday morning that he was in the construction industry, and asked Justice Rana if she would grant him a hardship license to enable him to get to work. “I sometimes will, under certain circumstances,” she said, encouraging the man to hire a lawyer as soon as possible, to handle the paperwork involved.

Luis Alfredo Parra-Gomez, 26, of Amagansett, had an accident on Main Street in that hamlet shortly after 8 a.m. on Friday. His arrest was late enough in the day that arraignments were over by the time he was processed, and he had to be held at town police headquarters for 24 hours, until Saturday. His breath test produced a reading of .12, police said. A carpenter by trade, he posted the $500 bail set by the court.

Luis A. Arias, 47, also of Amagansett, had his bail set at $10,000, far and away the highest of the week. He was stopped by police Saturday night on Main Street in the hamlet for an unspecified traffic infraction, and failed roadside sobriety tests, according to police. He told the court the next morning that he was a day laborer.

Mr. Arias has three prior convictions for driving while intoxicated, all occurring between 2000 and 2004. The last charge was a felony. His license has never been restored, so police also charged him with felony unlicensed driving, and he could face permanent revocation of his license.

The district attorney’s office asked bail to be set at $6,000, but after weighing all the factors in the case, Justice Rana raised it to $10,000. “I’ll pay that,” Mr. Arias said through an interpreter, and he did.

Also over the holiday weekend, the East Hampton Village Police Department was the lead agency in an anti-drunken driving sweep, covering the town from Wainscott to Montauk as well as Sag Harbor and Shelter Island. Officers are brought in from other jurisdictions in a sweep; this one ran from 8 p.m. Saturday to 4 a.m. Sunday morning.

The sweep netted four arrests. A Southampton Town officer charged Abby Kay Lauri of Manhasset, 22, after stopping her 2013 Volkswagen Jetta on Montauk Highway in Amagansett at about 10 p.m. Saturday for several alleged moving violations. Ms. Lauri, a college student, had a reported blood-alcohol reading of .13 at the Cedar Street headquarters of the village force. Clearly despondent in court the next morning, she was released without bail, but with an admonition to show up for all her court dates.

A 2012 Mercedes Benz driven by Richard J. Halloran III, 24, was pulled over around midnight Saturday by another task force officer. Mr. Halloran refused to take the breath test, causing Justice Rana to revoke his license, pending a hearing. The defendant told the court he was an internet professional based in Washington, D.C. Bail was set at $500, which was posted.

Michael John Angelo, 25, was stopped on Montauk Highway in Montauk around 1:30 a.m. Sunday after allegedly swerving into the oncoming lane. He told the court he manages a film studio in Bethpage. His breath test produced the highest reading of the night, .26, triggering a raised misdemeanor charge of aggravated drunken driving. “I’m very concerned about the level of that reading,” Justice Rana said to him as she set bail at $500.

Timothy Richard Fried, 33, the final defendant caught in the sweep, was driving a 2014 Mercedes Benz, clocked at 55 miles per hour on Stephen Hand’s Path, where the speed limit is 30 m.p.h., according to the task force officer who made the stop. At headquarters, according to police, his breath test resulted in a reading of .15. Mr. Fried, a transportation consultant who lives in Manhattan, posted the $500 bail set by Justice Rana.

A Montauk man, Richard A. Gibbs, 58, was pulled over on West Lake Drive there early Friday morning for swerving across lane lines. Police said his breath test produced a reading of .13. Mr. Gibbs, the owner of Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Cafe, told the court he has lived in Montauk for 25 years. He was released without bail.

Oscar Neri-Reyes, 30, of Amagansett was arrested early last Thursday morning. According to police, he initially gave a false name and date of birth to the officer who stopped his 1997 Nissan on Amagansett Main Street. Mr. Neri-Reyes’s license had previously been revoked, when, after a prior arrest, he refused to submit to a breath test, making the new unlicensed-driving charge a felony. He was also charged with D.W.I. and false personation, both at the misdemeanor level. Bail was set at $1,000, which was posted.

The lowest blood-alcohol reading of the week was also the final D.W.I. arrest in East Hampton Town. Christian Penafel, 24, an East Hampton resident, was arrested the morning of the Fourth. His reading was said to be .10. He was released without bail, but with a future

date on Justice Rana’s calendar.

The owners of Tiina the Store on Amagansett Main Street submitted a preliminary site plan to the East Hampton Town Planning Board June 22 proposing major changes for the back of the property. The reaction of the board, while not icy, was cool to at least one aspect of the proposal.

The property currently contains a two-story house with a retail store on the ground floor and a three-bedroom apartment upstairs. This building would remain essentially unchanged, at least as seen from the street. A one-story structure behind it, however, would be replaced, along with a back part of the house, which was built in the 1880s and is in the Amagansett Historic District.

The single unified structure that would replace the demolished one-story building and the back part of the house would have cathedral ceilings, and be barn-like in appearance. What bothered board members was its mass and height.

“Why go that high?” Patti Lieber asked. “I’m not sure how you’re using the space.” She said the new portion of the building should be smaller than the old.

Job Potter wondered about the wisdom of moving the property’s four parking spaces from their current position between the two existing buildings to the back of the new structure. “The biggest thing to me is to protect the integrity of the historic district. I’m not sure this is the right way to go from a design point,” he said.

The mass and height of the proposed addition concerned Kathleen Cunningham, as well. “If it changes hands, a second floor could be put in there,” she warned.

“The new addition looks too overpowering,” Nancy Keeshan said. Both Ms. Leber and Ms. Keeshan suggested more of a dormered look, to match the front of the building.

The owners, who were not identified, were represented by two lawyers, Richard M. Hammer and Christopher Kelley. Mr. Hammer thanked the board for their input, which he said would be used to modify the proposal.

An apparently homeless woman charged with two felonies, grand larceny and possession of stolen property, and two misdemeanors, false impersonation and unauthorized use of a vehicle, was sent to jail last Thursday after being accused of stealing an Oklahoma oilman’s Mercedes Benz from in front of his Ocean Avenue, East Hampton, property.

Most recently of the Bronx, the suspect was identified by police as Beverly Deperstein, 41. However, during arraignment on Friday morning, her Legal Aid Society attorney, Brian Francese, told the court her family name is DeLaverstine. The question of her identity was even more complicated because when initially questioned by police, she allegedly produced a driver’s license of a New York woman, Rosanna Segara.

The woman, whom police said is originally from Trinidad, was quoted telling them that she had come to East Hampton about two weeks earlier and been going door to door to “ask people if they wanted someone to clean their house or watch their kids.” On June 28, she reportedly said, she “was stopped by a policeman, who told me somebody had complained about me ringing their doorbell. He told me I can’t do that.”

She told police she was on Ocean Avenue when she saw a 2011 Mercedes Benz station wagon parked on the side of the road. The car belongs to Stephen J. Heyman, managing partner of Nadel and Gussman, an oil and gas drilling company based in Midland, Tex. He was not there at the time, police said.

“I opened the car door, just to peep inside,” she told police, explaining that, seeing the keys, she headed away from Ocean Avenue. She went on to explain that she was tired, the sun was setting, and she wanted to go to sleep, police said. “I was looking for a quiet, shady place, and I parked where you guys found me.”

The car was reported stolen the next day.

Police were able to find the car via its global positioning system, and they found her sleeping in it last Thursday morning behind a vacant building at 350 Pantigo Road, opposite Moby’s.

During her arraignment Friday morning, the question of bail was the main point of discussion between Town Justice Steven Tekulsky and Mr. Francese, who said his client was indigent and could not afford any bail. “I would ask the court for mercy and to release her on her own recognizance,” Mr. Francese said. “I will try to find a way to contact her.”

“I certainly understand if she is indigent, but besides the fact that she has, as a matter of law, no roots in the community and we have no way of getting in touch with her, that in and of itself is troubling to the court,” Justice Tekulsky responded. He went on to say “she has a rather extensive criminal history, including what appears to be at least one felony conviction, and she has at least two bench warrants, and the crimes that she has been involved with all concern larceny or burglary.” 

The district attorney’s office had asked bail to be set at $25,000; Mr. Tekulsky set it at $10,000, and heard her say she would not be able to post it. If no indictment was obtained by the end of yesterday, however, she was to have been released.

“So many things have happened,” the defendant said, softly, as she was being led away.

The Suffolk County Department of Public Works’ Division of Vector Control conducted aerial application of mosquito larvicides at salt marshes on the South Fork including Accabonac Harbor and Napeague yesterday. Weather permitting, the application is to continue today.

Also to be treated yesterday and today were Jagger Lane, Apacuck Point, Moneybogue Bay, Westhampton Dunes, Meadow Lane, North Sea, and Stokes Poges, all in the Town of Southampton. The county is also applying the larvicides at locations in Riverhead, Southold, Brookhaven, Islip, Smithtown, and Babylon.

The vector control division is using helicopters flying at low altitudes to apply methoprene and Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, or Bti. Both are registered by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The county recommends no precautions for the aerial application as the helicopter flies at a low altitude. But the actions have angered some residents who are concerned about potential harm to humans and non-target species.

The East Hampton Town Board adopted a resolution in 2007 opposing the use of methoprene and asking the county to cease using it. In 2014, citing the importance of commercial and recreational fishing to the local economy, the board reiterated its opposition, stating that methoprene “has not been adequately tested and found to be safe in aquatic and marine invertebrates, fish, and zooplankton.”

Methoprene is moderately toxic to some fish and highly toxic to others, according to the National Pesticide Information Center, a cooperative venture of the Environmental Protection Agency and Oregon State University. It can accumulate in fish tissues, according to the center. It is “moderately toxic” to crustaceans such as shrimp, lobsters, and crayfish, the center says, and “very highly toxic” to freshwater invertebrates.

Residents who do not want their property treated for adult mosquito control can join a no-spray registry at the county’s website. The registry does not, however, cover application of larval control.

Current and future notices of vector control actions can be obtained by calling the vector control division at 631-852-4270 Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m

Arson detectives are investigating a fire at an Academy Award-nominated composer's house in Amagansett at the start of the July Fourth weekend. 

East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said town police detectives and the Suffolk Police Department's arson squad responded at the request of the town fire marshal and the Amagansett Fire Department chiefs, who, he said, deemed it suspicious.

Allen Bennett, the Amagansett fire chief, described it as a small deck fire and said that it is still under investigation.

Chief Sarlo said no further information was available. 

The Amagansett Fire Department was called to a report of a structure fire at 39 Marine Boulevard at 1:43 a.m. That address is the home of Carter Burwell, a composer of cinema scores who was nominated this winter for the score for "Carol," and his wife, Christine Sciulli, an artist. He is also a volunteer firefighter.

It's not the first fire on that street in the Beach Hampton neighborhood. On May 15, flames broke out at a house that was unoccupied and under construction across the street from Mr. Burwell and Ms. Sciulli's. In that incident, the Amagansett fire chief said the blaze began in a Dumpster that was four feet away and then climbed up the side of the house. Despite strong winds, firefighters were quickly able to prevent it from spreading. The second-story kitchen, several decks, a staircase, and parts of the roof were damaged. 

For two hours on Thursday, Dylan Eckardt, the self-proclaimed 'Prince of Montauk,' was a wanted man. East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky issued a warrant for his arrest at 12:20 p.m. after he failed to appear in court for a conference.

Mr. Eckardt, 37, had been arrested in Montauk on June 20 on multiple charges, including driving while high on drugs. His lawyer, Trevor Darrell, was seen outside the courthouse making many cellphone calls Thursday. 

"His attorney said he is in Manhattan," Justice Tekulsky said, adding that the $1,000 bail Mr. Eckardt had posted after his arraignment June 21 would be forfeited if he did not appear.

At about 2:20, Mr. Eckardt, a Montauk native who had been working as a real estate broker, burst through the doors of the courthouse and sprinted down the hall to the clerk's window. Justice Tekulsky had apparently agreed with his lawyer that if the defendant made it to the court clerk's window by 2:30, the warrant would be recalled, and it was.

On his way out of the building, Mr. Eckhardt, who was fired from his Nest Seekers job a day or two before his arrest, was overheard on his cellphone telling someone, "Just made it by 10 minutes. Taking a helicopter is so much faster."

His new court date is July 21.

Huge blue billboards promoting New York State's I Love New York campaign popped up Thursday on West Lake Drive in Montauk, prompting backlash from residents and elected officials alike.

The signs are apparently the work of the New York State Department of Transportation, under direction from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, as part of the Empire State Development Corporation's signature tourism campaign. They were installed on county roadways without the knowledge of local officials.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell and New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. on Friday called for the immediate removal of the signs.

"First of all, what a boneheaded idea to put throughway style-and-size signs in the hamlet of Montauk," Mr. Cantwell said by phone. "Two, they didn't ask anybody whether it's a good idea or ask anybody's permission."

"They have to come down," he said. "If the state won't take them down, then we may have to do it ourselves. But they paid to put them up, so they should pay to take them down."

"I think there was a total lack of communication, whether from the governor's office or the state D.O.T.," Mr. Thiele said. "They didn't communicate with anybody else. And the irony of these signs is, the very thing we are promoting on the East End is community character — the aesthetics, the beauty of the region. . . . These signs do nothing but destroy the beauty, so it's counterproductive. In my opinion, they made a mistake, so I hope they correct that mistake."

Mr. Cantwell, who said Suffolk County also knew nothing about the signs before they were erected, counted two large ones and at least six smaller ones in the vicinity of West Lake Drive and Flamingo Avenue. He called them "a total waste of resources" and "one of the stupidest things I've ever seen."

Not long after the signs appeared, residents began sharing similar sentiments on social media.

Governor Cuomo's press office directed a request for comment about the signs to the Empire State Development Corporation. “The goal of the I Love NY road signs are to promote the state's world-renowned tourism attractions and to continue to invest in the success of every region," an Empire State Development spokesperson said. "Tourism generated an economic impact of more than $100 billion across the state, supporting over 870,000 jobs and generating nearly $8 billion in state and local taxes in 2014. E.S.D. will work with state and local officials to ensure any concerns they have are addressed.”

A costly contest to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination to represent New York’s First Congressional District in the House of Representatives remained too close to call after votes were counted in Tuesday’s primary election. The race will come down to absentee ballots; 1,667 were distributed and are to be counted next week.

With 100 percent of machine votes counted shortly after 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Anna Throne-Holst, a former Southampton Town supervisor, maintained a lead of just 29 votes over David Calone, a businessman, former federal prosecutor, and former chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission. Ms. Throne-Holst had 5,446 votes to Mr. Calone’s 5,417. The winner will face Lee Zeldin, a first-term Republican, in the Nov. 8 election.

In a statement issued shortly before midnight, Ms. Throne-Holst said, “We are waiting for all votes to be counted, but are proud to have a lead at the end of election night. We are confident going forward that victory will be ours now and in November.”

Mr. Calone’s campaign released a statement yesterday in which he called the 29-vote margin “a victory of the volunteer grassroots.” He took aim at “Wall Street fund-raisers” for Ms. Throne-Holst, adding that “we did not have $720,000 of SuperPAC funding poured in for us in the last three weeks, but here we are in a virtual tie.”

Despite some $3 million spent on the primary campaign, turnout at the polls was around 9 percent of the district’s 137,695 registered Democrats.

The November election for the First District seat is expected to be close. The Rothenberg and Gonzalez Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter covering political campaigns, calls the race a “tossup/tilt Republican.” The district includes East Hampton, Southampton, Shelter Island, Southold, Riverhead, and Brookhaven Towns, and most of Smithtown.

Mr. Calone has called Mr. Zeldin, the incumbent, “a proud defender of Donald Trump,” the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for president, “who voted to defund Planned Parenthood and voted against prohibiting people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns.” On Tuesday, he continued, “we proved the power a strong volunteer grassroots organization can have against big money, and this is exactly what Democrats will need this November to defeat Lee Zeldin.”

Should Ms. Throne-Holst prevail in the primary and win in November, she would be the first woman to represent the First District, in a year in which Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, would also be a first. Ms. Throne-Holst told The Star earlier this month that she hoped Ms. Clinton’s coattails would be long enough to carry her to victory. “There’s some synergy there,” she said. “I think we have an excellent chance of winning this in November.”

Voting machines must be returned to the county’s Board of Elections and inspected, along with any ballots gathered but not registered at polling stations, an assistant to the board’s commissioner said yesterday. A count of absentee ballots will follow.