From the start, scientists have viewed the outbreak of tularemia on Martha's Vineyard as an ecological puzzle, never a case of bio-terrorism, despite tularemia's recognized status as a bacteria ideally suited for terrorism.

Steamship Authority Board Interviews Strong Field of Finalists for CEO Position

By JULIA WELLS
Gazette Senior Writer

The key to success for the Steamship Authority, a Coast Guard admiral said yesterday, is to be clear in its own vision.

"I would set the vision for the organization," said Rear Adm. George Naccara. "But I also need to know what the board expects from me - what is your long-term vision?"

When the groundhog awakens from his long winter nap tomorrow at dawn, he will rise from his hole in the ground and think he overslept. If he lived on the Vineyard, he'd think it was already spring.

Forsythia are in bloom, and in the past week there have been sightings of honeybees and, in West Tisbury, a butterfly. Snow drops are in bloom in various places from Edgartown to West Tisbury.

It's probably not what any jail warden expected an art class to look like: inmates wrapping sheets of glass and whole plates in a towel and then smashing them to bits. Depending on how you looked at it, the razorlike shards were either a huge security risk or an innovative art material critical for making mosaics.

Three weeks after a leading surgeon at Martha's Vineyard Hospital submitted his resignation, hospital board trustees devoted an entire press conference to the matter, also releasing new letters, from both the surgeon and a group of doctors, that paint a picture of souring relations between hospital leadership and the medical staff.

State Budget Cuts for Dental Care for Low Income Families Threaten to Shut Down Facility in June