The following animals are available for adoption at the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard.

Trent is a two-year-old neutered black Great Dane who is house-trained and loves people and kids. He is super friendly and just needs a nice big yard where he can run.

Felix is a big black tuxedo cat who loves people and needs to be an indoor cat. He’s neutered and has had all his shots.

Stop by the shelter and see these beautiful animals. The shelter is in the same building as the former MSPCA; the telephone number is still 508-627-8662.

Bait fish that were once plentiful in the waters around the Cape and Islands have grown scarce. And recreational fishermen want Congress to step in to help do something about it.

Menhaden, also called bunker, have all but disappeared. Atlantic mackerel had a weak showing this spring. Even squid are down; the commonwealth has extended the spring fishing season into June to help commercial draggers meet the state quota, but the bigger question is what happened to the squid?

An old house came down in Aquinnah this week, and with it six generations of family history and more memories than anyone could count.

But this is not a trophy house story. The Manning family homestead was razed to make way for two new modest homes that will house the three Manning sisters: June, Judith and Jyl, and their families.

North Road Closes

Beginning Monday, the eastern end of North Road in West Tisbury, from its terminus at State Road to the Chilmark town line, will be closed to through traffic from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. due to paving. The closure is expected to last about three days. For information call the West Tisbury police at 508-693-0020.

The Martha’s Vineyard Magazine last week was a finalist for the 2009 National City and Regional Magazine Awards in two categories: general excellence and ancillary publications for its Home and Garden magazine.

“Martha’s Vineyard succeeds at its mission to capture the character of the Island while focusing on issues for locals and visitors alike. Each issue offers an eclectic mix of features, a bit of history and good service information,” judges wrote in their comments on general excellence.

A state board that controls the sale of alcohol has been keeping an eye on the town of Oak Bluffs this spring, and the result this week was citations to four establishments for selling alcohol to minors.

The most serious violator is The Ritz Cafe, which has been ordered to close its doors for 10 days in July by the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC).

In these tough times, Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson is as eager as anyone else to find some tiny cause for optimism, and thinks he might at last have found one.

The number of people riding the ferries to the Vineyard has ticked up at last, just as the tourist season is starting.

Not by much. The number of passengers carried by SSA ferries rose 0.9 per cent for the month of May, compared with the same month last year. And the number of cars rose 2.4 per cent.

A new report released this week by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission lays out an ambitious plan to fill in the gaps in the network of bike paths that runs through the three up-Island towns to create a continuous loop with better access to downtown areas while avoiding dangerous intersections like Five Corners in Vineyard Haven.

Class of 2009
(PDF)

Good morning! High School commencement ceremonies begin at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs. Read the Tuesday Gazette for full coverage.

Thousands upon thousands of books now line the new shelves of the Bunch of Grapes bookstore, ready for its reopening this Saturday. But one book in particular played a big role in determining the new look of refurbished business.

It is Paco Underhill’s Why We Buy: the Science of Shopping. The wider aisles, the more open look to the place, even the repositioned sales desk, all are down to what owner Dawn Braasch learned from Mr. Underhill