Island homeowners who already pay some of the highest home insurance rates in the nation received some rare good news last week when the state insurance commissioner rejected a proposed 25 per cent rate hike for the FAIR Plan, the state-backed insurance provider of last resort for most Vineyarders.

In her May 8 decision, insurance commissioner Nonnie Burnes said FAIR plan officials failed to demonstrate a need for the proposed rate hike.

Sales Coordinator

Edgartown resident Teresa Yuan has been named an executive coordinator as an independent distributor for Market America, a product brokerage and Internet marketing company.

Overcast, rainy skies last Saturday morning did little to discourage the Vineyard’s youngest fishing enthusiasts from attending the early morning start of the 34th annual Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club trout tournament.

Scores of young children lined the shoreline of Duarte’s Pond in West Tisbury at first light to catch a fish and win a prize.

Adversity can make us stronger, better people if we continue to set goals, focus on achieving them and live according to our value system, former Boston University hockey player Travis Roy told a rapt audience of 750 students and families in the Performing Arts Center at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School this week.

Mr. Roy, 33, spoke from a wheelchair on Wednesday morning, more than 12 years after a freak accident in his first collegiate hockey game left him a quadriplegic. Mr. Roy has no feeling below his shoulders and limited movement in his right arm.

The former West Tisbury library director who abruptly resigned last March after less than a year on the job pleaded guilty last Thursday in Salem superior court to two counts of rape, stemming from an incident while he was a Boy Scout leader in Haverhill over 20 years ago.

Hello, Kali

Michelle Gulino and Eric Spain of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a daughter, Kali Jo Spain, born April 11 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Kali weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces at birth.

Called the Flower Moon, Monday night’s full moon resides in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius. The moon is one of the southernmost full moons of the year. The moon hangs low in the southern sky all night and is in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius.

Tisbury School Readies

March to the Sea Parade

The Tisbury School March to the Sea Parade will begin at 12:30 p.m. Friday, May 23. Students will march from the school to Owen Park. There will be introductions and a statement of purpose, followed by Taps. Students will then place their flowers in the sea. Following the flower presentation, everyone will assemble at the top of Owen Park. The Pledge of Allegiance will be recited, and the national anthem and America the Beautiful will be sung.

League of Women Voters

Schedules Meeting, Film

The League of Women Voters of Martha’s Vineyard will hold its annual meeting at 1 p.m. Sunday, May 18, in the Baylies Room of the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown. The meeting will be preceded by a potluck luncheon.

Following the annual meeting, the league will screen the film Uncounted, which was recently shown at the Chilmark Film Festival. This film, which deals with voting irregularities, will be shown in the Baylies Room at 2:30 p.m.

Radio Station Wins Award

WCAI, a radio station based in Woods Hole, has won a 2008 regional Edward R. Murrow Award for best radio news series in New England for reporter Sean Corcoran’s 20-part series The Price of Paradise: Working Lives on the Cape and Islands. The series explores the lives of 20 working Cape and Islanders who have chosen to remain in the area despite the financial challenges.