Russell Maciel was on the job for 44 years before stepping down as assistant fire chief in Tisbury. Daniel Feeney, a captain in the department, also retired on Dec. 31.

After more than 30 years with the Edgartown police department, including five years at the helm, Edgartown police chief Antone Bettencourt will retire in May.

“It’s time, you know, that’s the bottom line,” Chief Bettencourt said.

On Sunday, as part of the 30th annual Martin Luther King Day membership event, the Martha’s Vineyard chapter of the NAACP will honor two high school students, Olivia Jacobs and Jared Livingston, for their service to the community.

Who will be next in line to lead the Vineyard public schools and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission?

With temperatures bouncing between single digits and the thirties and forties in recent weeks, ice has been the predominant theme of winter so far.

Folks from all over the world came to see Yefim Shubentsov to end their addictions, so four years ago I made my appointment.

The faint Comet Lovejoy continues to appear high in our eastern sky in the evening. It is a beautiful object amid a starry background. Every night offers a slight change in position. Comet Lovejoy appears as a fuzzy ball through a pair of binoculars. The best way to find it is to use a star chart prepared specifically for the nights you are viewing.

In 1965 I had lived for 21 years in Crestwood, N.Y., and 18 years on Martha’s Vineyard. I knew very little about the rest of the world.

Nicholas Freeling was born in London in 1927, known mostly for his series of crime novels that began after three weeks spent in a Dutch prison.

Our landmarks gone.
Rough violent winter
gouged the golden sandhills
collapsed the grassy lookouts
from the top, the wooden benches