Vineyard Gazette - Top Stories

Islandwide DCPC Voted Over Water; Edgartown Opts Out of One on Land

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission voted without dissent last night to designate the waters around the Vineyard as a district of critical planning concern, cementing a yearlong moratorium on building wind farms in nearshore waters while rules are developed.

Housing Fund Runs Into Money Trouble

Rental assistance subsidies are pulled, leaving scores of Islanders at risk for losing year-round housing

Revealing deep fault lines in its financial affairs, the Island Affordable Housing Fund announced abruptly this week that it can no longer pay for the county rental assistance program, pulling the rug out from under hundreds of Islanders who depend on the program for stable year-round housing.

Flu Hits High School Hard; Clinic Nov. 11

Illness presumed to be swine flu has resulted in the absence of an average of more than 100 students each day of the past week from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

And still there is no indication of when Island health authorities will receive enough vaccine to inoculate all Island school children against the disease, much less the broader population.

Surprise Terminal Teardown

If you happened to be in Oak Bluffs on Tuesday and were surprised to see the Steamship Authority terminal building in the process of being flattened, you were not alone. Also surprised, and dismayed, were town officials.

Town Selectman, Businessman Spar Over Liquor Storage Rules

Sparks flew at the Aquinnah selectmen’s meeting Tuesday night when one board member clashed with a town businessman, claiming that he had knowingly acted outside the law this summer by storing alcohol in a truck on his property.

Hunting for Balance Amid Homes, Deer And Natural Diversity

The deer are everywhere: strolling 30 deep through the pastures off North Road, blithely grazing Nat’s Farm field in West Tisbury, and bounding throughout the Island on streets, driveways and occasionally through windshields. They are gorgeous animals, what biologists delightfully call “charismatic megafauna.” But biologists have another term for the Island’s relationship with deer.

Soldiers Find Solace in Boxes From Islanders

Jason Canha, a 36-year-old special agent with the Air Force, was serving at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan last summer when he received four large boxes from the Vineyard. In that hot and windy place, Mr. Canha said, T-shirts are at a premium, and those boxes were loaded with T-shirts and other items from home.