Almost six months into his job as president of Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, Paul Falvey said the bank is on solid financial footing and has restructured its staff to adapt to a tighter regulatory environment.

In the last two months, chief operating officer Richard Leonard has retired and the job of senior loan officer, held by Brad Egan, was eliminated and their duties divided among several employees, he said.

At the same time, Tom Sharkey has taken on additional responsibilities as chief financial officer, Mr. Falvey said.

Karen Berube was born 63 years ago in Oak Bluffs. She lived with her family in Edgartown and moved to Vineyard Haven after second grade. It was a time when town pride reigned and you only traveled off-Island to pick out school clothes for next fall. Today, Karen lives in Edgartown with her husband of over 30 years, David. They both agree they were aware of each other in high school but didn’t connect until 1976. Their first date was a clamming trip and they married in 1982.
These days Karen travels from Edgartown to Boston once a week for chemotherapy.

There are two televisions at Tropical restaurant in Vineyard Haven, one tuned to CNN, the other to Brazilian soccer. Construction workers pack the place around noon, load up their plates with veggies from the salad bar and barbecued steak and chicken. Parents bring their kids, who like the idea of deciding what to put on their plate, even with the usual parental guidance.

“I like talking to people,” Tropical co-owner Johnnatans Costa said. “I love my job.”

Edgartown voters made short work of the town’s business Tuesday night, easily approving every spending article on the warrant, passing a bylaw that requires buildings in the historic district to be kept up and voting to take ownership of the Edgartown lighthouse — all in under two hours.
With just a handful of questions and little dissent, the 200 voters who filled the Old Whaling Church approved an annual budget of $29.9 million, a six per cent increase over last year.

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 Thursday’s town elections.

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.

Oak Bluffs voters came out in favor of making the annual shark tournament catch- and-release only, narrowly turned down a temporary moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries and approved extensive repairs for town roads at a lengthy annual town meeting Tuesday.

A light turnout of agreeable West Tisbury voters Tuesday night approved nearly all of the 37 articles at the annual town meeting, including a $2.45 million police station and a $15,000 Mill Pond watershed study. But they would not agree to spend money on two unrelated countywide programs: pest management and an ongoing window replacement project in the county courthouse.

Tisbury voters spent six and a half hours over two nights Tuesday and Wednesday tackling the 56 articles on their annual and special town meeting warrants, agreeing to fund new dredging projects, construct a new leaching facility and rehabilitate the town standpipe, but rejecting $1.3million to build a connector road between Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road and Holmes Hole Road.

Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, with assets in excess of a half billion dollars, net earnings approaching four million dollars and a new, experienced community banker firmly at the helm seems to be on a solid course.

The bank clearly stumbled last year, but the extent, nature and impact of whatever improprieties occurred are still frustratingly unclear.

Monster Shark Tournament organizer and president of the Boston Big Game Fishing Club Steven James will takes steps to control the crowd at the controversial Oak Bluffs event, he told selectmen at a meeting Thursday afternoon.

Mr. James’s visit before the board was a condition of approval for the harbor use permit issued by the selectmen for the event. The event will take place July 18 to 20.