Ann Smith, the executive director of Featherstone Center for the Arts, was the recipient of the Tourism Award for Martha’s Vineyard.

Chilmark has a new postmaster. But to call Leigh Vanderhoop new may be misleading, as he’s worked for the post office for 27 years.

Vineyard business leaders are showing more than the usual blend of hope and optimism for a profitable summer, as the Island gears up for Memorial Day. But the difficulty in finding seasonal workers is more acute than ever, they say.

With Island ponds suffering from the effects of development, the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group is looking at an old foe in a new light. The shellfish group has been studying the invasive wetland grass phragmites as a possible means for removing nitrogen from coastal ponds.

Funding will end this year for the Tick-Borne Illness Reduction Initiative, an Islandwide program that began about four years ago with a grant from the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. But Island health agents plan to continue the efforts, which include school programs and a series of educational videos.