In a boost for the town of Chilmark nearly two years after a devastating fire destroyed the town dock in Menemsha, the Massachusetts Seaport Advisory Council announced on Thursday that it would award $629,026 to the town to put toward the dock rebuilding project in the historic fishing village.

Free cholesterol screenings, eye tests and massage therapy demonstrations are among the events scheduled Saturday at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital Health Fair.

From 8 a.m. until noon, the hospital is offering a variety of inducements to good health, including a variety of health tests as well as goodies and giveaways.

There can be an aura around musicians, an impenetrable mystique. But for Phil daRosa sitting behind the soundboard at his new recording studio, the Print Shop, humming a tune here and there, spitting a beat every so often, there was none of that.

“I’ve never been down with that approach, both [on the Vineyard] and in the industry,” he said. “This facade that’s untouchable and unaccessible – whatever. We’re all doing the same thing, why even have that whole vibe?”

Smoke may be visible over the Vineyard’s south coast throughout the day on Thursday as Vineyard fire officials conduct a controlled burn at Long Point Wildlife Refuge in West Tisbury, owned by The Trustees of Reservations. Working as part of The Martha’s Vineyard Prescribed Fire Partnership, a fire team will closely monitor local weather conditions, such as wind and humidity, and adjust the scheduled burns as needed.

Now a common sight on the Vineyard, especially in the spring, controlled burns are used as a land management tool by Island conservation organizations.

The long trial that pitted Cessna Aircraft Company against a pilot who suffered crippling injuries in a 2005 plane crash at Katama airfield ended abruptly Wednesday in a confidential settlement, lawyers said.

After nearly a month of testimony and on the eve of closing arguments, lawyers conferred during a sidebar with Dukes county superior court Judge Cornelius Moriarty 2nd and Alec Naiman, pilot of the Cessna 172-N plane that crashed on June 23, 2005.

Chilmark selectmen will appeal the U.S. Coast Guard’s denial of the town’s insurance claim for the Menemsha boathouse, the board decided Tuesday night.

Tisbury voters turned out but not quite strongly enough, falling eight shy of a quorum at a special town meeting on Tuesday night. Town moderator Deborah Medders sent the 92 voters home; 100 were needed to conduct the meeting, which has now been rescheduled for the start of next Tuesday’s annual town meeting.

The absence of fast food on the Island rankles some but it may also mean we are healthier. Vineyard residents rank as the healthiest in the state, according to a survey released Tuesday by the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Nantucket ranks second, the report found.

Tisbury voter alert: A special town meeting is scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. in the school gymnasium. Voters will be asked to take action on a 15-article warrant that includes an important spending request for $200,000 for septic system upgrades. If there is no quorum, the meeting will be rescheduled to take place next week just before the annual town meeting, making for an extra long night. So organize an early supper, put down the television remote, gather up your knitting and get out and vote tonight. The quorum requirement in Tisbury is 100 voters.