Three years ago, with a grant from the Ford Foundation, Charlayne Hunter-Gault began speaking with experts around the country who could shed light on the problem of racism in America. Race Matters, a new PBS NewsHour series that grew out of her efforts since 2012, premiered last Tuesday.

Bill Shipsey, founder of Art for Amnesty, a program of Amnesty International, organized a human chain around the Edgartown Lighthouse last week in advance of a major human chain project in Italy this weekend.

By many accounts, the 70th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby is shaping up for a strong start on Sunday morning. Committee member Amy Coffey said Wednesday that all four derby species — false albacore, bonito, bluefish and striped bass — are biting.

After a 440-mile journey that began in upstate New York in July, an old wooden boat named Majic has found a new home on the Vineyard. The fully restored 1957 Richardson sedan cruiser came to port at Menemsha Harbor on August 6.

Chilmark selectmen last week reaffirmed the town’s decision not to join the Federal Flood Insurance Program, which would require adopting state and community floodplain management regulations.

The discovery of hundreds of lone star tick larvae on Chappaquiddick this summer confirms that the southern species is now breeding on the Vineyard, Island biologist Richard Johnson said.