Awardwinning journalists talk local roots at Islanders Write
Islanders Write, a literary event sponsored by The Martha’s Vineyard Times, showcased insights of various wordsmiths, from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists to bestselling novelists, all of whom share a link to the Island. The free, two-day event kicked off Wednesday night at Featherstone Center for the Arts with a panel discussion called “Writing on the edge:…
A view of the White House from the Vineyard
Attendees nearly filled the red auditorium chairs in the Performing Arts Center at the Martha’s Vineyard High School (MVRHS) on Thursday night to hear Dr. Jill Biden, former first lady, discuss her new book called “View From the East Wing: A Memoir.” The discussion was a part of the Martha’s Vineyard Author Series and part…
Local sailors unite for beloved Vineyard Cup
It was a reunion of seafarers last weekend when the Vineyard Cup Regatta, a great annual sailing race around the Island, celebrated 20 years. Hosted every year by Sail Martha’s Vineyard, many local sailors compete in the Island race that is also a fundraiser for the Tisbury-based nonprofit’s youth sailing groups. Before the races over…
‘Where does that leave our local business?’
Edgartown’s Winter Street was divided into two sides Friday morning. On one side, a long line of mostly visitors awaited their chance to peek inside the pop-up store of the Amazon-affiliated business Shopbop. Right across the road, a group of local business owners and eager activists stood holding signs in protest against the event. The…
Driver in Steamship crash dies
Updated July 16. The 91-year-old woman who crashed her car on the Steamship Authority ferry in Vineyard Haven last week died as a result of the incident, the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office confirmed Wednesday. Massachusetts State Police identified the woman on Thursday as Ann Lees, a resident of Brookline and Chilmark who died…
UPDATED: Father and son in electric dirt bike accident remain in critical condition
Updated July 15. A father and his 6-year-old son riding an electric dirt bike were seriously injured in a collision with a pickup truck on Sea View Avenue in Oak Bluffs. The two were medevaced to a Boston trauma center on July 9, and remain in critical condition. The father and son, named on Saturday…
Across an inner universe
When Julie Taymor was asked to direct the film “Across the Universe” two decades ago, she looked at the script, and knew she wanted to create a movie that was larger than a love story. Now the culmination of that initial vision is scheduled to be shown on the Island, along with two other films.…
West Tisbury town administrator’s retirement plans raises budgetary concerns
After serving West Tisbury for over two decades, Town Administrator Jennifer Rand announced she will be retiring. But with it came concerns about added expenses to the up-Island town. According to a letter from Rand, read by West Tisbury Select Board Chair Skipper Manter during a Wednesday meeting, she plans to retire by July 16,…
Proposed shelter to heal residents through indigenous traditions
Aquinnah, the ancestral home of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head, may become the host of the first native-run shelter in the state for indigenous women who are victims of domestic and sexual violence. The Martha’s Vineyard Commission opened the hearing for Aquinnah Headwaters, a campus on 7.76 acres that would house a program to…
Vintage baseball returning to Oak Bluffs after a century
Seven balls is a walk; a foul ball is not a strike; and if a player gets hit by a pitch, it’s only a ball. This is vintage baseball. The game is played by a very different set of rules compared with modern ball, where batters get three strikes and four balls, a foul is…
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Environment
Hundreds of pounds of litter removed from Senge
The Friends of Sengekontacket and Beach BeFrienders MV announced that their beach cleanup during the holiday weekend, on July 5, removed more than 300 pounds of litter from the Island shoreline. Twenty-two volunteers collected trash and marine debris for over two hours on the shoreline of Sengekontacket Pond in order to alleviate the threats to…
Health
Tisbury Board of Health bans kratom
The Tisbury Board of Health unanimously voted to adopt a regulation banning the local manufacturing, sale, and distribution of kratom during a public hearing on Tuesday. Tisbury follows in the footsteps of Edgartown, which banned kratom sales June 9. Previously available for sale in Tisbury, kratom products are made with ingredients from a tropical Southeast…
Housing
Progress made on affordable duplexes in West Tisbury
At a construction site in West Tisbury, a cluster of duplexes is almost completed in a project by the nonprofit Island Housing Trust (IHT). Shared front porches are still empty, the grass has yet to be planted, construction dust still hangs in the air, and the four buildings still await finished house siding. But for…
Education
Mako shark mascot to make waves next year
Regional high school students will officially begin the upcoming school year with a mascot meant to blow the competition out of the water — or into it. A decisive vote at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) committee meeting on Monday night sealed the deal for students to purchase a mako shark mascot costume,…
Politics
Massachusetts fights for federal emergency funding
Massachusetts’ pursuit of more federal aid was quashed recently after the Trump administration denied the state’s request to approve a major declaration of disaster. But state officials are still fighting to get funding for state residents who were impacted by the February blizzard. Gov. Maura Healey announced the denial of the declaration on July 9,…
Cops and Courts
Woman crashes into parked cars in Edgartown
A motor vehicle accident in Edgartown resulted in one individual being taken to the hospital. A construction van with “Vineyard Remodeling” printed on the side crashed into three parked cars on Edgartown West Tisbury Road, across from the library in Edgartown. The 53-year-old female operator of the vehicle was hauled away on a gurney, according…
Immigration
On fishing and freedom
The father and his son had always been knotted together through a shared love of fishing, a narrative throughline from their homeland in Brazil and throughout their journey as immigrants to America. When his son was just a little boy, the father provided him with a bamboo pole to go for tilapia in the pond…
Ferry and transportation
Heat, flooding, and mayhem
The holiday weekend’s commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence brought packed parades, booming firework displays, and an unrelenting heat wave. Days of soaring temperatures, which felt even hotter due to high humidity, were interrupted by torrents of rain and choppy seas that combined to create flooding on Beach Road and…
Opinion
The public nuisance playbook, Chappy edition
To the Editor: A handful of Cape Poge landowners have deployed a strategy of hindrance in a desperate attempt to deny public access to a public beach. What started as…
Get rid of the deer
To the Editor: Interesting article in the June 24, 2026, Times about Gov. Healey and deer regulations (“Aggressive plan to harvest the herd”). Thank you. Perhaps the governor doesn’t realize…
Thank you for supporting Edgartown library fashion show
To the Editor: The Friends of the Edgartown Public Library would like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who helped make our recent Fashion Show fundraiser at the Carnegie…
