Furloughs Ordered At Family Planning

The latest victim of an economy that is increasingly running on empty, Family Planning of Martha’s Vineyard will close its Vineyard Haven clinic for two days this month in order to meet a mandatory work furlough before the end of the fiscal year.

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Nectar’s Aims to Buy Nightclub With Liquor Store Part of Deal

Nectar’s has begun booking musical shows for the coming summer on the Vineyard, and club owners confirmed this week that they are negotiating to lease and eventually buy the building at the airport that formerly housed the Hot Tin Roof and Outerland.

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Cape Air Owner Runs for State Senate

He is a pilot who became the owner of an airline that became one of the best small business success stories in the country. And now Dan Wolf, the owner of Cape Air, has decided to add politics to his CV. Mr. Wolf has announced he will run for the Cape and Islands seat in the Massachusetts senate that Rob O’Leary will vacate this year, when he makes his own bid for the seat in U.S. Congress that will be vacated by Rep. William Delahunt, who is stepping down.

Wait a minute, who’s on first?

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Director of the E.R. Leaves Unexpectedly

A spokesman for the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital confirmed yesterday that Dr. Timothy Tsai is no longer director of the hospital emergency room, although the hospital could not provide further details about the circumstances that led to his abrupt departure this week.

“Dr. Tsai is on leave from his position as director of emergency medical services,” said hospital spokesman Rachel Vanderhoop. “That is the only statement we are making right now,” she added.

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As Wastewater Inquiry Ends, Felony Charges Sought

A nine-month investigation by state and local police into possible fraud at the Edgartown wastewater treatment plant concluded this week with a criminal complaint against an Island septic hauler, alongside allegations of widespread mismanagement at the sewer plant and possible ethics violations by town employees and elected officials.

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Moshup Trail Lot Denied Permit Due to Lack of Road Frontage

A long-running effort by an Aquinnah property owner to build a house on a lot off Moshup Trail was blocked by the town planning board plan review committee this week, which found the lot lacks adequate road frontage under new zoning rules adopted by the town eight months ago.

After a series of public hearings that began in October, the committee voted 7-0 on Tuesday night to deny a special permit for James Decoulos to build on the two-plus-acre property.

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Land Bank Adds to Aquinnah Headlands

The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank added a small but significant piece of land to its holdings at the scenic Gay Head Cliffs this week with the purchase of a single acre near the historic clay cliffs in the westernmost reaches of the Vineyard. The seller was the Vineyard Open Land Foundation. The purchase price was $225,000.

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Schools Opt Out, Fourth Grade Theatre Project Goes Dark

The fourth grade theatre project, an unusual creative drama enrichment program for Island school children led by the Vineyard Playhouse for the past 17 years, will be suspended this year, playhouse director MJ Bruder Munafo said this week.

Ms. Bruder Munafo said she was surprised and baffled to learn that the Vineyard elementary schools had decided not to participate in the project, which through the years has given some 2,000 fourth graders the hands-on experience of writing, producing, directing, staging and performing an original play.

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In Farm Shuffle, Whippoorwill Will Return to Old County Road with its CSA Program

Whippoorwill Farm, home of the first Community Supported Agriculture program on the Vineyard, will move its operation from Thimble Farm in Oak Bluffs back to Old County Road, farm owner Andrew Woodruff said this week.

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Presidential Retreat For Sale: Blue Heron Goes on Market

Blue Heron Farm, the Chilmark estate that President Obama and his family have rented for the past three summers for their August vacation, has been placed on the market for sale, Wallace and Co. Sotheby’s International Realty announced on Thursday.

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