The pastoral sheep pastures and hayfields at Flat Point Farm will be placed into conservation after the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank announced plans to purchase a large piece of the West Tisbury farm.

The land bank is set to purchase 12.9 acres of land and an agricultural preservation restriction on an additional 25 acres of abutting pastures for $3.45 million from the Fischer family, who has owned the property since 1939, land bank director James Lengyel said this week.

The Edgartown conservation commission approved a large, complicated project Wednesday to move a Wasque Point home threatened by erosion. The approval comes after months of discussion during which town boards, experts and residents grappled with the environmental and logistical details of the project while faced with the urgency of a rapidly-eroding coastal bluff.

For the second year in a row Dukes County comes out on top in a statewide health ranking. Islanders, it seems, have low rates of premature death and obesity, and the Vineyard rates high when it comes to recreational facilities and low in fast-food options.
But in some health measures, the picture is not so rosy. Dukes County (which consists of Martha’s Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands) had the highest number of residents reporting excessive drinking, and the highest number of those uninsured.

Elisha R. Smith, an Oak Bluffs farmer for more than three-quarters of a century and for more than two decades the president of the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society, died last Friday at his home in Vineyard Haven at the age of 90. It was thanks to his determination, hard bargaining and skill at dealing with people that, in 1992, the society acquired the land that is the site of today’s Agricultural Hall. The acquisition of that West Tisbury Panhandle property where the annual fair is held was one of the proudest moments of his life, Elisha Smith said.

Anthony Lewis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author who brought his passion for justice and free speech to a career spanning more than a half century, died Monday. A long-time seasonal resident of West Tisbury, he was 85.

Mr. Lewis died of complications of heart and renal failure at his Cambridge home, said his wife, Margaret H. Marshall, former chief justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court. Private services were held Wednesday, the day he would have turned 86.

A memorial service is planned for 3 p.m., May 23, at The Memorial Church at Harvard University.

Cable television customers on the Vineyard are guaranteed Comcast service for the next 10 years as a contract between the giant cable company and the six Island towns is now complete.

After two years of negotiations, the towns of West Tisbury, Oak Bluffs and Chilmark signed new franchise agreements with Comcast at their board of selectmen meetings this week. Edgartown, Tisbury and Aquinnah are expected to sign off early next week.

Spring sports began this week as boys’ tennis and girls’ lacrosse played their first matches of the season on Thursday against Dover-Sherborn. Scores were unavailable at press time.

Boys’ lacrosse takes on Fairhaven today at home at 4 p.m. Track and field hosts Abington in a dual meet beginning at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

What follows is the first in a two-part preview of the spring sports season. Next week will spotlight girls’ tennis, baseball, softball and sailing.

The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank reported revenues of $170,955 for the business week ending on Friday, March 22, 2013. The land bank receives its funds from a two per cent fee charged on many Vineyard real estate transactions.

Assistant brew master Jay Bergantim emerged from behind a thick cloud of steam as he scooped excess grain from the shiny copper mash pot in the brew room.

Up a small ladder, brew master Neil Atkins hovered over his latest creation. Doors and pots clanged. Water bubbled, boiled and popped. From inside the giant kettle, steam steadily rose to the top of the room.

“Last time we forgot to open up the chimney,” Mr. Atkins said. “So honestly this whole place was full of steam. Just a wall of steam.”

After successfully incorporating Island-grown produce into the salad bars and prepared meals in Vineyard schools, high school cafeteria director Bernadette Ms. Cormie turned her attention to local meat.

“I wanted to get meat, somehow, but I wasn’t sure how to do it,” she said.

Last fall Ms. Cormie began her job working for Chartwells, the food service provider at the high school, and bringing local meat into the school “was one of the top ten things I wanted to have happen.”