Artists’ Reception

Ayn Chase turns 85 on Dec. 11 and to celebrate she is thanking Island customers with a 15 per cent discount. On what you may ask? Mrs. Chase is a weaver working over the years on every type of textile good but is perhaps best known for her placemats and lampshades.

She estimates that she has woven over 27,500 placemats and made over 3,600 shades (not counting the tiny ones made for dollhouses) during her career.

There are places in America where it might be a challenge to find 50 people eager to immerse themselves in Civil War history and eminent scholars willing to lead them. The Vineyard is not such a place.

The Vineyard Haven Public Library has already lined up an impressive faculty and is now opening up limited seats for an intensive new seminar series that will start in January and last into the spring.

After nearly two hours of debate at a special town meeting Wednesday night, Aquinnah residents voted to allow Vineyard Power to install 200 solar panels at the town landfill. The one article-warrant passed 29-13.

The 60,000 kilowatt system will power all of the town buildings and street lights.

After nearly two hours of debate at a special town meeting Wednesday night, Aquinnah residents voted to allow Vineyard Power to install 200 solar panels at the town landfill. The one article-warrant passed 29-13.

The 60,000 kilowatt system will power all of the town buildings and street lights.

A scaled down design for a new U.S. Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha is still too tall and too intrusive into the harbor, Chilmark selectmen said at a special presentation Tuesday afternoon.

“The height is still an issue,” said selectman and chairman of the board Frank Fenner. “Everything seems to be growing and we’re trying to contain this a little bit and not get into a position where everyone is up in arms about a mammoth structure.”

Felicia Cheney, director of the Edgartown Free Public Library, will resign from her position at the top of the stacks, she announced at a Monday library trustees meeting.

“It was the right time for me to do it,” Ms. Cheney said when reached by phone Tuesday. The time frame for her last day on the job will be discussed at the Dec. 19 trustees meeting, she said.

Steamship Authority excursion privileges issued to approximately half of all profile numbers will expire on Dec. 31. Island residents with profile numbers ending in an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 ) must renew their excursion registration in order to continue receiving discounted auto rates and preferred booking.

The school committee for Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School unanimously certified the 2013 school budget Monday night, paving the way for Island towns to vote on the school’s budget at their spring town meetings.

The certified budget is $16,910,431.40, a 1.85 per cent increase from Fiscal Year 2012. As he did at a budget hearing last week, Principal Steve Nixon stressed to the school committee that out of six major categories on the budget, spending for two categories dropped, and one increased by .05 percent.

New Year’s fireworks are coming to Edgartown. On Monday the town’s board of selectmen approved the Harbor View Hotel’s proposal to put on a fireworks show in the Edgartown Harbor to usher in the new year.

Representatives from the hotel said they are staging the show for the benefit of the community, and the hotel is working with the Edgartown police and fire departments to sort out logistics for the display.