Almost there
As the one-year anniversary of the Island’s first real impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic approaches, we reflect on what’s been a most difficult year. In this issue, we feature some of your stories in...
Time to make the doughnut whole?
Three years after the Oak Bluffs board of selectmen voted to complete a land swap with the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank on a piece of property known as the “doughnut hole,” our reporter Brian...
It’s time to change the conversation around substance use on-Island
As we round the corner on a year of living with COVID, most of us are aware of the impacts of the pandemic on our lives — isolation, anxiety, boredom, depleted savings, depleted tolerance,...
In the weeds
We supported the concept of a combination of synthetic turf and natural grass fields in 2017. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. School officials, with the help of MV@Play,...
Listen to the experts
At their past two meetings, members of the West Tisbury board of selectmen have spent a lot of time talking about a culvert on Tiah’s Cove Road that experts say needs to be replaced.
That’s...
Is this our best shot?
We need to stop talking about the “rollout” of vaccines for COVID-19, at least in Massachusetts. Here, it’s been more of a head-scratching, snail’s pace crawl.
How can it be that we live in a...
Hope with change
Today is the second day of the Biden-Harris administration. There hasn’t been a lot to be hopeful about since the Nov. 3 election, despite the commanding win by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over...
Wrong move, Tisbury
We understand it’s been difficult for the Tisbury School Building Committee to attract parents and taxpayers to in-person meetings because of the ongoing pandemic — and Zoom meetings just haven’t filled the gap.
But the idea...
Capitol crimes
President Donald Trump should be removed from office, either by the 25th Amendment, impeachment, or resignation. He was already a destructive force to our republic long before Wednesday’s insurrection inside the U.S. Capitol, but...
A vision for 2021
Looking back at the previous year and looking ahead to the new year is nothing new, but this year it’s taken on a whole new dimension.
The previous year has left a lot of us...
The year things changed
Leading up to Christmas in 2016, life — as the T-shirt says — was good. Though I was in between full-time jobs after taking a buyout from the Cape Cod Times, I’d landed an interesting gig...
Transparency matters
We’re all ready to purge ourselves of 2020 — the pandemic and the four years of lies coming from the Trump administration. And while we’re all looking toward better times and brighter days, if...
Open magistrates’ hearings
We understand why some clerk magistrate’s hearings are private. Accusations are easy to make. Providing evidence to back up those accusations is more difficult, and you don’t want to sully the reputation of an...
Restaurants need our help
We’ve already lost at least four year-round restaurants to the pandemic — at least temporarily. The Ritz is taking the winter off because it was down to two staff members. Seaweed’s, a new, promising restaurant,...
Lost opportunity
What happened to Danielle Clermont when she was a candidate for a job as a Tisbury Police officer in 2017 was wrong. What happened to her when she was a candidate for a job...
Doesn’t pass sniff test
The owner and managers of the Mansion House Inn — Sherm, Susan, and Josh Goldstein — are dedicated business leaders of the Island community. Let’s get that out there up front.
The town’s select board did them...
A selfish act
Vogue magazine, what were you thinking?
We were flabbergasted when the first reader sent us a link to the Vogue article about a fall wedding on the Vineyard, when it appeared online Nov. 16. Then...
A time for vigilance
A business owner reached out to us on Wednesday, Nov. 11. He had just seen the latest report from Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Thirteen new cases of COVID-19, on top of four, on top of...
Welcome back, commenters
Our comment feature on stories will return on Friday, with some new rules.
We paused the comment feature in August to look at our options, and we asked you to provide your thoughts on the...
Biden, Harris, hope, and healing
Joe Biden is the 46th president of the United States, and Kamala Harris is the first woman to be elected vice president, as well as being the first Black woman, and woman of Asian...