A public hearing on a plan to increase the height of a Verizon communications tower in Vineyard Haven was closed Thursday after the MVC received written testimony from Island arborists.

A decided chill, no doubt blowing down from the North Pole, caused a festive crowd to bundle up tight for the annual lighting of the Edgartown Light.

On Thursday evening Chris Porterfield was celebrated with the Spirit of the Vineyard Award. The ceremony was held in a place he knows well.

About 70 people attended a volunteer orientation session to staff Houses of Grace, a system of winter homeless shelters.

Leaders at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport said immediate steps are being taken to address hazardous chemicals that have turned up in groundwater monitoring wells and some residential wells near the airport.

The firefighting foam believed to be the cause of well contamination south of the Martha’s Vineyard Airport is a newer version of a foam used for decades to extinguish flammable liquid fires.