1. send one ship to each nearby player to see if they are active
You can do that through the "neighbours" tab, it tells you when your immediate neighbours were last online. Just pick ones who haven't been on in a few days and send a stream of ships at them, that allows for any defence they might have and if they come online and start to build more fleets.
Is there a way to get it to stop sending you turn reports on e-mail?
Yep, preferences tab at the top.
EDIT: 1 Cruiser left on PeterKaan's home planet, 11 of my Subspacers on his planet with 22 still to land. Hopefully it will fall tomorrow.
