Lake Tashmoo, which had been closed to shellfishing because of a rare toxic algae bloom, reopened Friday morning.

A press release from the town of Tisbury said that the state notified shellfish constable Danielle Ewart on Friday morning to say that additional testing indicated the pond had been cleared and that it could be reopened to shellfishers immediately.

Ms. Ewart discovered the bright pink algae bloom called prorocentrum lima in the outside flats of Lake Tashmoo a few weeks ago. The algae has been associated with diarrheal shellfish poisoning.

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has levied a heavy fine against an Edgartown contractor who did the work on a Mink Meadows project last year that violated state and local wetlands laws.

In an administrative consent order issued June 29, Steve Handy of Handy Trucking and Bobcat Service was fined $11,000 by the DEP for the unpermitted dredging and filling work. Mr. Handy was ordered by the DEP to pay $4,500; the balance of the $11,000 fine will be suspended for three years as long as there are no further violations.

It was a Chilmark showdown Sunday night: on one side was the noted civil liberties lawyer, law professor and author Alan Dershowitz. On the other was author Peter Beinart, an associate professor of journalism and an editor at the Daily Beast.

The debate centered on Mr. Beinart’s recent book, The Crisis of Zionism, and differing views about the future of Israel. A large crowd at the Chilmark Community Center watched the two spar, sometimes heatedly, in a debate moderated by author Richard North Patterson.

How do you like your Shakespeare? Light and comedic or deeply tragic? The Vineyard Playhouse is offering both this year in its annual summer run of outdoor Shakespeare productions at the Tisbury Amphitheatre. Those who fancy both will have the opportunity to see Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet, which are each running twice a week at the woodsy amphitheatre near the Tashmoo Overlook until August 18.

And this is Shakespeare with a slight gender twist.

Each week the folks at Cinema Circus show a series of short films on Wednesday evenings at the Chilmark Community Center. The films begin at 6 p.m., but at 5 p.m. the circus — complete with jugglers, face painters, stilt walkers, food and music — gets underway.

An advanced screening of the films was arranged. In a world with few certainties, the kid critic is the critic to trust. This week’s reviewers are Ella and Lathrop Keene.

Kitten’s First Full Moon (Dir. Gary McGivney / U.S.A. / 2011 / 9 min.)

This column by Arthur Railton appeared in the Vineyard Gazette in June 1990:

All of a sudden, like the curtain going up at a Broadway musical, the beat has started. Longer lines at checkout counters, bumper-to-bumper along Main street, no place to park. More cars than pickup trucks. It’s that time again. For me, it’s not an easy time. My conscience gets in the way. It’s look-in-the-mirror time. Time to ask myself if I’m still the courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, etc., man that my Scoutmaster told me to be.

How do you get kids to care about a bird that no longer flies to the treetops, nor whistles to greet the day? Appeal to their senses and their incomparable imaginative faculties, says Todd McGrain, artist, arts educator and activist.

Mr. McGrain did just that last week, during his visit to Sense of Wonder Creations summer camp, when he asked children to touch a reproduction heath hen, listen to its call and imagine what it must have looked like.

People in Oak Bluffs late this week won’t be thinking about the next number 13 bus leaving for Edgartown — they’ll be thinking about the legendary Freedom Rides that bused through the Deep South and hostile racism during the Civil Rights movement.

On Thursday and Friday, The Cottagers Inc. of Martha’s Vineyard sponsor the eighth annual African American Cultural Festival, an event packed with free educational programs and culture. The festival takes place in Hartford Park off Massassoit avenue and at Cottagers Corner on Pequot avenue..

Finish off a hard day’s night with some classic Beatles music, performed by The Daytrippers.

The band is performing at the Flatbread Company in Edgartown at 9 p.m. on Thursday, July 26, for the Raise the Roof concert to benefit Habitat for Humanity for Martha’s Vineyard and the Island Housing Trust.

This week, Polly Hill Arboretum continues its legacy of multidisciplinary programming as it invites the public to engage in the topic of landscape history at the arboretum in West Tisbury. The first lecture is by landscape historian Judith Tankard, who will discuss her latest book, Gertrude Jekyll and the Country House Garden. Ms. Jekyll is considered to be one of the most important garden designers of the 20th century. Book signings and light refreshments will follow Ms. Tankard’s talk held today, July 24, at 4 p.m. The cost is $20 or $10 for Polly Hill members.