The Steamship Authority is expected to impose higher fees and new restrictions on the operations of its main competitor, Hy-Line Cruises, when the SSA board meets to consider Hy-Line's new licensing agreement on Tuesday.

A former member of the Oak Bluffs zoning board of appeals who is also an architect was fined $3,000 this week by the Massachusetts Ethics Commission for violating the state conflict of interest law. William (Chuck) Sullivan represented clients on six occasions in front of his own board, the ethics commission found.

Energy Conservation Lagging on Vineyard

By IAN FEIN

Climate change has been at the top of nearly every political agenda this fall.

The Martha's Vineyard Hospital will be fully covered for any decrease in Medicare funding that flows from a proposed affiliation with the giant Partners Health Care group, a gathering of Island residents were promised this week.

The greatest thing about the Vineyard for the Rev. Alden Besse is not the natural beauty - as much as he appreciates it - but the intimacy of the Island community.

As a longtime minister at Grace Episcopal Church in Vineyard Haven, and someone who is involved in numerous nonprofit organizations, he believes that people on the Vineyard have always taken care of one another.