News
Lyme disease, the tick-borne illness that has been documented at epidemic levels on the Vineyard, is now the focus of a growing public health initiative that involves Island doctors, boards of health and university researchers.
The initiative, which aims to zero in on prevention, education, and improved data collection, is seen by at least one leading expert as a possible model for the rest of the state.
A rare algal bloom has shut down shellfishing in Lake Tashmoo during a week where other Vineyard swimming spots were closed because of bacteria.
Seth’s Pond, the popular swimming hole in West Tisbury, has been closed to swimmers for more than a week because of high levels of enterococcus bacteria. The same bacteria led to a brief closure of Pay Beach in Oak Bluffs.
Starting Wednesday, Lake Tashmoo was closed to shellfishing because of a toxic algae bloom that some said is rare to Vineyard ponds.
More than a week after a two-car accident on the Fourth of July that proved fatal, two people involved in the accident remain in Boston hospitals.
Seth Jones, 26, of Dummer, N.H., was listed in serious condition at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston on Thursday, a hospital spokesman said. His mother, Margaret Jones, 51, was listed in good condition.
On Saturday, Mr. Jones’ girlfriend, Heather L. Laflamme, 21, died at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston after she was critically injured in the car accident on Barnes Road.
After nearly two days of foundering in the surf near a remote coastline in Aquinnah with hundreds of gallons of fuel on board, the Sherry Ann, a 46-foot offshore lobster boat out of Westport, was freed from her unwanted rocky berth and towed to a nearby salvage barge Thursday afternoon.
The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) yesterday announced its intention to file a lawsuit against Gov. Deval Patrick, and possibly also the town of Aquinnah, to protect its right to build a casino in southeastern Massachusetts and on the Vineyard.
Scott Crowell, a Washington state attorney who represents the Vineyard Wampanoags, said yesterday the tribe will file a lawsuit on Sept. 3 in federal district court.
