Last year, the town contracted with water transportation consultant Charles Norris, of Norris & Norris Associates in Cambridge, Mass., to assist the task force in identifying various combinations of public and private management and operation plans.

Tracie Littlefield Martin (at the time, Tracie Littlefield.) Martin, a Vinalhaven native, began teaching swimming lessons for the Lions Club back in 1980 as a fresh-faced 17-year-old. First, she assisted the Red Cross instructors, and once she was certified she ran the program on her own. With the exception of five or six years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Martin has run the program for the last 35 years.

Flying at 90 miles per hour, we leaned out the door from our strap-in chairs and clicked pictures left and right…

The Maine Coastal Program, part of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, announced on Aug. 4 that it has awarded nearly $250,000 to 11 municipal and county projects. The funds will provide support for the coastal economy through projects that increase public access to the coast, support shellfish harvesting, identify pollution sources that result in coastal beach closures, revitalize coastal downtowns and identify key island transportation assets at risk from rising sea levels.

The state's Maine Coastal Program has awarded nine communities a total of $163,206 in grants covering planning, design and engineering work for a host of improvement projects, some conceptual, some ready to be built.

Ratepayers in the Swan's Island Electric Cooperative voted to authorize the coop's board to further investigate merging with or being acquired by Emera Maine, the utility that provides electricity for much of eastern and northern Maine.

The Washington Chambers, which I am sailing with this summer, probably carries more explosive on board than the entire battle group she services.

A key waterfront property is now controlled by an island-based nonprofit and the local group is crediting the cooperation of Portland city government for the transfer.

Citing the burden of maintenance costs, the town has decided to transfer its ownership of Browns Head Lighthouse to a nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve the historic beacons.