The Westward was towed off rocks on Jan. 9 and was headed to Portland, the Boothbay Register newspaper reported.

The vessel has been a problem for the town, repeatedly breaking loose.

High school basketball is an essential part of island winters. Many times the stands are filled with people representing four generations, some of whom don't even have family on the team. The community becomes very invested in their teams and sometimes that can lead to conflict, hence the hesitation from many people I told about wanting to be a part of the basketball team.

When lobster scientist Diane Cowan heard that friends planned to airlift a box of goodies to her on Friendship Long Island, where she's been stranded since Jan. 30 due to extreme ice conditions, she broke into laughter.

Sitka, Alaska is firmly anchored to the western shore of snow-capped Baranof Island. At just under 9,000 people, it is the fifth largest city in a state of 750,000. Alaska's rural libertarian character echoes Maine's.

Island schools have varying numbers of students of all different ages, making "traditional" activities and games challenging. A new PE project attempts to address varying needs while working to provide another avenue to strengthen the ties between the six schools involved with the Outer Islands Teaching and Learning Collaborative.

Just about every other year my husband and I travel to Southern California to visit his family for Christmas. We leave the island, which is often covered in snow, or if we're less lucky rain, ice or slush, and take the boat to the mainland and drive to Boston and fly out.

Whether it's a wedding, reunion or holiday celebration, photographers often struggle to get all the key family members in their shots. Imagine how hard it was for Miranda Battiste to capture the family that is the island's year-round population.

Voters will be asked at their May 9 annual town meeting to authorize borrowing $3 million to build a broadband Internet network for the island.

Ian Watkins is an Island Fellow, a participant in a two-year service program operated by AmeriCorps and the Island Institute, doing community development work on islands and remote coastal communities. Watkins works on Deer Isle and the Downeast coast with high school students.