7 Sunset Lane in Aquinnah sold for $1,625,000 on April 8.

Bus service to Boston has been partially suspended and members of the Martha’s Vineyard Tactical Response Team have been called to report to Boston as much of the capital area remains on lockdown during a massive manhunt for one of the suspects in the deadly Boston Marathon bombing attack.

Members of the Island’s tactical team were first called to Boston on Wednesday afternoon for a 12-hour shift, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., Oak Bluffs Lt. Tim Williamson told the Gazette on Wednesday. The team returned Thursday morning, before being called back into service on Friday.

How to preserve the rural character of Chilmark while planning for the future: the question is expected to take center stage when voters consider a proposed bylaw to regulate house size at their annual town meeting Monday night.

After a few years of annual town meetings that were quiet and largely routine, the Chilmark warrant is packed with weighty issues this year, including an $8.1 million operating budget, up nearly five per cent over last year, largely due to increased education costs.

In early April, without any fanfare, the Vineyard lost its only traffic signal.

With the installation of a roundabout now about two weeks away, the two blinking lights at the intersection of Barnes Road and Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road were taken away to the Oak Bluffs highway department, their lights dimmed for the foreseeable future.

April 22, 1970, the very first Earth Day, dawned pure and clear on the Vineyard. “One might almost have thought all the brouhaha about Earth Day was nonsense, and unnecessary . . . but by 5:30 p.m . . . it was evident that the Vineyard was far from unlittered,” a Gazette story said at the time.

Bob Woodruff and a group of about 60 others, including many high school students, collected more than 3,000 pounds of litter that day, hauling Mr. Woodruff’s oxcart along the roads of the Island and picking up all debris and trash in its path.

Eli Dagostino stands out. But it’s not the shock of well-groomed bright red hair. And it’s not the ankle-skimming plum-colored chinos, cream-colored waffle tee and elegantly-tied brown chukka shoes.

It’s his energy.

On the Vineyard everybody knows somebody in Boston. Over the past week, in the aftermath of Monday’s bombing during the 117th Boston Marathon, flags flew at half-mast across the Island in honor of the victims of the attacks as Vineyarders took time both to reflect and to offer help to those in need.

The Vineyarders who participated in the run were unharmed.

It’s that time of year when seasonal businesses are taking down the shutters and the summer workforce is beginning to arrive.

In recent years Eastern Europeans and Jamaicans have been filling a growing share of summer jobs. Foreign workers wait tables, greet guests, pour beers, make hotel beds, bake peanut brittle and fudge, serve lobster rolls and fry quesadillas. About 5,000 people come to the Island to work each year, according to a recent Martha’s Vineyard Commission report on housing needs.

A steep rate hike is in the offing for the only home insurance available to many Vineyard residents.

The FAIR Plan has proposed a rate increase of nearly 10 per cent for the Cape and Islands.

According to information released by the Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association, also known as the FAIR Plan, owner-occupied home insurance rates would increase 9.9 per cent, the maximum increase allowed, on the Cape and Islands. The proposed average increase in the state is seven per cent.

Oak Bluffs voted in favor of catch-and-release shark tournaments, West Tisbury approved a new police station and Edgartown approved two spending projects during annual town elections last week.
Voter turnout was sparse, between nine and 13 per cent, and few races were contested.
Oak Bluffs voters approved a nonbinding referendum that would make shark tournaments in town catch and release only by a margin of 225 to 186.

The annual Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tournament, which offers prizes for the largest shark caught, is held at the Oak Bluffs harbor every summer.