Islander on aid flotilla to Gaza detained
Ames Simmons, a Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School graduate who grew up as an avid sailor on the Island, was placed in custody in Israel after being detained for a second time. He was part of the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza, a civilian-led maritime mission that aims to break a naval blockade restricting aid…
Taken from Menemsha
After a father and son were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) early this week, a network of Islanders are scrambling to keep them from being sent out of the state to Texas. Rogerio da Silva Lima and his son, Nycolas de Al Varenga Lima, 15, were taken into ICE custody in Woods…
Why does the high school building project cost so much?
The Island is less than two weeks away from voting on its most expensive building project ever. And on the eve of the consequential vote, with only a few more public discussions left on the docket, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) building committee posed a question to themselves, one that many Islanders have…
Fiber-optic cable downed by Bruno’s truck
A Bruno’s roll-off truck struck overhead utility lines on Edgartown–West Tisbury Road, near Waldrons Bottom Road, on Monday afternoon, pulling down the lines, including a key Comcast fiber-optic cable, which caused temporary internet and cellphone disruptions for some Island residents and emergency services. Comcast’s fiber-optic line, which uses a technology that transmits high-speed data over…
Ribbon cut on major affordable housing project
The ribbon was officially cut last week on the largest affordable housing project the Island community’s seen in two decades. It took more than ten years to complete. Around 50 attendees gathered on a rainy Thursday afternoon this month for the ceremony at the Edgartown site, as housing advocates praised the effort to provide affordable…
ISland Life
Voices bySharisse: Who gets to call Martha’s Vineyard home?
Let the season begin
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Environment
Shark-bitten seal washes up at Lucy Vincent
A six-foot dead seal washed up on Lucy Vincent Beach this week with a fatal wound from what experts believe was a great white shark. Andrew Jacobs, laboratory manager and environmental technician for the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe’s Department of Natural Resources, received a call Sunday, May 10, about a stranded seal. Jacobs said he went…
Health
Red House moves into new home
One of the gray-shingled buildings on the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services (MVCS) campus is now decorated with red paint, a homage to the name of the peer-run recovery center that recently set up shop inside. Staff at the Red House, the Island’s substance-use peer recovery support center, where more than 100 people attend meetings, meals,…
Housing
Real estate company facilitates $500,000 in donations
Feiner Real Estate, a company based on Martha’s Vineyard that specializes in vacation rentals and real estate sales, officially surpassed $500,000 in donations to Island nonprofits. Ten years ago, principal broker Jim Feiner created the Client’s Choice Program as an “experiment” that allows buyers and sellers to choose to direct 10 percent of the real…
Education
Tours of high school prior to June 2 vote
The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) Building Committee is holding public tours of the school prior to a district-wide vote on June 2. The MVRHS building project is a proposed full-scale renovation and addition of the structure that school officials say is far below educational standards set by the state. It is the largest…
Politics
Aquinnah voters approve all funding requests
The unofficial results of the Aquinnah annual town election are in. Residents of Aquinnah voted 96–32 in favor of allowing the town to assess an additional $100,000 in real estate and personal property taxes to fund both the department budgets of the Up-Island and Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. They also voted 104–23 to allow…
Cops and Courts
Five people sent to hospital after crash in Edgartown
Five people, including two minors, were hospitalized after a three-vehicle crash on Edgartown–West Tisbury Road Tuesday afternoon. Edgartown Police responded to the crash at around 4:26 pm. While investigations are ongoing, preliminary findings by Edgartown Police indicate a possible mechanical issue that caused a gray Volkswagen Passat to veer into oncoming traffic, resulting in a…
Immigration
Island family stranded in Canada after visa renewal denial
Updated April 17. An Island family, stranded in Canada for the past six weeks due to a denied visa renewal following a family ski trip, has been forced to seek documentation in order to try to return home. The family’s status continues to remain uncertain after federal border officials rejected Michael Freeze’s work visa renewal…
Ferry and transportation
Oak Bluffs welcomes first ferry of the summer
In another sign of the upcoming summer season, the Steamship Authority (SSA) brought a little more fanfare to the annual opening of the Oak Bluffs terminal this year. The SSA hosted its inaugural “First Ferry” event on Thursday, with organizers celebrating as the crew of the ferry Martha’s Vineyard brought Oak Bluffs’ first batch of…
