Samantha Rabin, daughter of Karen and Steven Rabin of Edgartown, has been selected for the Levitt Research Fellows Program at Hamilton College. The program is open to all students who wish to spend the summer working in collaboration with a faculty member on an issue related to public affairs.

Fellows spend 10 weeks intensively researching their issue and provide a written assessment of their work at the completion of the summer. In addition, Levitt Fellows give a public presentation of their research findings to the Hamilton community in the fall semester.

Women Empowered is proud to announce the first Empowered Woman of the Year Award. Nominations are now being accepted for the woman whose attributes and activities improve the lot of others on the Vineyard, either by her deeds or character.

The Trustees of Reservations have a new superintendent for the management of the Chappaquiddick properties of Cape Pogue, Wasque, Mytoi and Norton Point Beach. David Babson of Island Pond, Vt., will assume his duties as of April 20. He is no stranger to Chappaquiddick: his family owns a cottage on Pip’n Road and he has spent part of each summer on Chappy since he was young.

What signals the beginning of spring like butterflies breaking forth into the warm breeze?

While school is out, April 20 to 24, giant butterfly puppets will be hatching out of West Tisbury, as Island puppeteers April Thanhauser and Marsha Wynsrig lead a team of youngsters in a week-long puppet building workshop.

O n April 14, the residents of Tisbury will be asked to vote on the sale of beer and wine in our town. The real question that most of us are wrestling with is: how will the sale of beer and wine served with meals at Vineyard Haven restaurants change our town? To answer this honestly and fairly, we must look beyond our town boundaries and try to understand the big picture.

How and why do people come to Tisbury?

In the past several weeks, comments in Island news papers have questioned the necessity of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission or whether Vineyard town zoning laws are now strong enough to protect the Vineyard.

In 1974, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission legislation was drafted by Vineyard residents and put into law by the state legislature to give an added layer of review and protection for the unique resources of the Vineyard.

An apparently routine amendment to a Tisbury bylaw about keeping dogs on leashes dominated proceedings at a special town meeting Tuesday.

Laurie Clements, Tisbury animal control officer, just wanted to simplify the existing scale of fines for owners who failed to keep their dogs leashed in public. But the debate made it all seem anything but simple.

It took almost 25 minutes, a lot of explaining, a lot of spirited and confused discussion, three amendments and five votes before the meeting finished dealing with the issue.

The Martha’s Vineyard Museum announced this week that executive director Keith Gorman has resigned.

Mr. Gorman, who took over as executive director in January 2008, will stay in his post through the end of the summer, a press release said.

“I will be forever appreciative of the opportunity to lead this organization and to work with such dedicated colleagues,” Mr. Gorman said in the press statement.

Mr. Gorman came to the museum as its first professionally trained archivist in June of 2005.

A little sun, a little rain, temperatures hovering in the upper 40s and the wind blowing hard — it was perfect weather for the opening weekend of Vineyard Youth Soccer’s little-heralded, largely-accomplished and newly expanded travel program on the fields at the West Tisbury School.

The Island’s travel soccer teams kicked off the first round of the season with home openers against several teams from the South Coast Soccer League on Saturday.

Eight Island kids participated in a dance competition Tuesday morning at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square in New York city as a part of the Pimple Blocker Battle, hosted by Clearasil. The competitions pits five dance crews against each other to become the first Clearasil Dance Crew.