The Steamship Authority governors Tuesday authorized $2.5 million in repairs for the Oak Bluffs ferry terminal, which was damaged in Hurricane Sandy.

The main pier section of the Oak Bluffs terminal was damaged by rough seas and high waves during the storm. The storm damage repairs have qualified for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the authority will be reimbursed up to 75 per cent of the cost, Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson said.

Thanks to the generosity of a group of Edgartown residents, a new police and fire boat will be floating on Edgartown harbor this summer.

On Monday the Edgartown selectmen accepted a gift of more than $116,000 from the town patrolmen’s association toward outfitting and training for a police and fire boat.

The gift was a result of a fund-raising effort by Tony Chianese, the former owner of Edgartown Marine, and a $70,000 donation by Edgartown resident Ernie Boch Jr.

While the region, with its resort-based economy showed predictable seasonal fluctuations (unemployment higher than the state average in winter and lower in the summer), the report from the state Office of Labor and Workforce Development found that monthly unemployment rates were down for the first 11 months of 2012 when compared with 2011.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission began the new year meeting last Thursday with a round of introductions before getting on to more typical perennial Vineyard topics: affordable housing and seasonal lodging.

It was the first meeting for newly-elected commissioners Madeline Fisher, Joshua Goldstein and Clarence (Trip) Barnes 3rd, and Fred Hancock took over for former chairman Chris Murphy, who along with other members, has left the commission.

Since 1843, the Old Whaling Church, with its familiar white exterior, six grand columns and regal clock tower, has stood watch over Edgartown’s Main street.

But inside the Greek revival church, built during the town’s whaling heyday, was another feature that architect Frederick Baylies viewed as an integral part of the completed project: trompe l’oeil paintings graced the walls and the ceilings, and the church’s interior architecture was built with these sweeping features in mind.

The Edgartown lighthouse, having outlived its mission as a beacon for ships, is on the verge of its next chapter as a town-owned landmark.

Edgartown selectmen signed off Monday on the town’s application to take stewardship of the 1875 lighthouse perched a quarter-mile out in Edgartown harbor.

In May, the town learned that the U.S. General Services Administration, the current owners of the lighthouse, would look for a new owner for the lighthouse, which was deemed no longer critical to the U.S. Coast Guard.