Ocean Beach breathed a sigh of relief that Hurricane Irene, downgraded to a tropical storm shortly before it rolled ashore west of Fire Island last month, didn't ruin the prospects of Labor Day weekend once the floodwaters receded. But at their first meeting since the biggest storm in a quarter century hit, village officials wasted no time with plans to shore up the battered beach.

A Cherry Grove man was arrested late on Saturday, Sept. 10, in connection with the rape of a woman on the beach in Cherry Grove over Labor Day weekend.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand attended two fundraisers at the home of Michael Lin and Jim Spencer and another at the Blue Whale while she was in Fire Island Pines on Saturday, Aug. 6. Neither were open to the press, but she spoke to The News in an exclusive interview shortly after she arrived in the Pines.

The towns of Islip and Brookhaven have shellfish seeding programs both to help clean the bay, as mollusks are natural filters, and recreate the quintessential long-lost Long Island job of clam digger. But the results of those and other state and federal efforts are open to debate, along with the future of the bosom that feeds Fire Island.

As seems to be tradition in Ocean Beach, the last village board meeting of the summer was among the most raucous this season, just as the administration laid out plans for a $3 million sidewalk and water system overhaul.