Congratulations are in order for Jack Blake of Sweet Neck Farm in Edgartown, whose Sweet Petites oysters tied for third place in an oyster tasting competition in Providence, R.I., on Monday evening.

“It was real fun, there were a lot of good oysters out there,” Mr. Blake said after the winners were announced. Mr. Blake’s oysters beat out a bevy of bivalves culled from all over the country.

The Dukes County Sheriff’s office expects to see a $620,000 shortfall this year.

The news comes just days after Sheriff Michael A. McCormack learned the state is refusing to send its annual supplementary funding for the county corrections facility.

On April 1, Massachusetts Secretary of Administration and Finance Leslie Kirwan sent Sheriff McCormack a letter of notification. Supplementary funding from the state amounts to nearly 20 per cent of the sheriff’s annual budget.

The Dukes County Charter Study Commission will host three public sessions across the Vineyard this month. The commissioners are inviting members of the Island community to come and participate in their continuing discussion of county government.

In the middle of a neighborhood of strangers sat an empty lot filled with garbage. The lot looked like no place for a garden. But one day, a young girl with a handful of bean seeds and nowhere to plant them took a chance and cleared a small space among the garbage. She dug into the soil and dropped in her seeds.

He has worn many hats over the years: civil engineer, regional health agent, town selectman and legislative liaison.

And soon Russell Smith of Aquinnah will be wearing a new hat: that of county manager.

“I’m looking forward to being involved with the county,” Mr. Smith said in an interview this week as the news of his recent appointment was still sinking in. “I hope my tenure there will be a benefit to all the Island towns,” he said.

The Island Grown Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting locally grown food and its farmers on the Vineyard, has been granted $10,000 to improve and expand its poultry program.

The grant was awarded by Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education from its sustainable community innovation category, which fosters connections between sustainable agriculture and rural communities. Northeast Sustainable is a grants program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.