Snow frosted the Boston Common on Monday and the gold dome of the state house glowed beneath a bright January sun on temporary release from cloud cover. Inside, the newly sworn-in freshman Cape and Islands Rep. Tim Madden began his first full week representing his district.

Mr. Madden of Nantucket is the first islander to represent the Cape and Islands in 30 years.

Real Estate Classes

Beginning this month January, Dukes Academy, the Vineyard’s only licensed real estate school, will add to its existing continuing education curriculum in response to the current socioeconomic issues confronting the marketplace. New courses include Foreclosures and Commercial Real Estate Basics, Massachusetts Consumer Protection Law, 93A, Commonly Used Real Estate Forms, Massachusetts Real Estate License Law and Brokerage Relationships.

Slow Food at Détente

Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard is collaborating with Détente Restaurant in Edgartown. Once a month,Détente will host a dinner salon with Island foods and discussions. Each salon will feature a guest speaker to stir discussion, plus five courses with local ingredients.

Sharky’s Helps Sally

Sharky’s Edgartown cantina is hosting a fundraiser on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 9 p.m. to assist Islander Sally Sylvia with her medical expenses. Located at 266 upper Main street, the restaurant is offering food, a cash bar, entertainment and a silent auction. Tickets cost $20 and are available at the door. For details, call 508-627-6565.

Refusing to take no for an answer, proponents of beer and wine sales in Tisbury and two of the three selectmen have opted to again put the town through the referendum process which split voters literally down the middle last year.

The warrant for this year’s annual town meeting will again contain an article seeking a home rule petition which would allow restaurants with a seating capacity of 30 or more — including restaurants in within inns and hotels, to offer alcohol with meals.

An engineering report for Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs concludes that years of soggy conditions and flooding can be traced to failing septic grids, storm water runoff and a poorly functioning irrigation system.

Prepared by the engineering firm of Stearns & Wheler in response to a notice of noncompliance issued by the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Sept. 22, the report was due by Jan. 22. State DEP spokesmen visited the park in late August and found flooding and treated effluent seeping to the surface.

Jan. 5, the day of the annual Christmas Bird Count, was freezing, snowy and windy. Not the sort of day you would expect to find a vagrant from the tropics.

But there on the beach at Squibnocket, Bob Woodruff spotted a species not usually seen north of the tip of Florida. How did it come to be there, dead in the sand thousands of miles north of its usual range?

Alas it may always remain a mystery; the one sure thing is that it didn’t fly. For their find was not a bird at all, but a lump of brain coral, Diploria strigosa, indigenous to the Caribbean.

Neighbor complaints about singing and music classes held at the West Tisbury branch of the Fellowship of Christians and Universities and Schools (FOCUS) could lead to a formal review by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission of whether the youth ministry violated its conditions of approval from 13 years ago.

The program that connects Island residents with affordable health insurance has been forced to cut its staff and operations, as of the start of this year. Facing a shortfall of $80,000, Vineyard Health Care Access program director Sarah Kuh this week appealed to add an article to all town warrants asking taxpayers to make up for losses from shrinking grants.

“We have lost employees and we’re more restricted in the services we can provide,” Ms. Kuh told a panel of town leaders at a meeting of the All-Island Selectmen Wednesday night.

Predicitify, an online feature at the inaugurally feverish Washington Post, can’t yet guess what color tie President Obama will be wearing when he drops the hyphen-elect from his job title (bets favor solid blue). But Washington lawyer and longtime seasonal Islander Cara Grayer Johnson can predict exactly what her husband and father will be wearing around their necks when they hand over tickets to attend the inauguration Tuesday: her own designs.