The U.S. Coast Guard announced this week it would not pay insurance claims for the massive Menemsha boathouse fire, due to the belief the fire started on the town-owned drive-on pier and not on Coast Guard property.

The dismissal, though not unexpected, prompted outrage from town selectmen, who said the Coast Guard’s belief the fire started on the town pier was incorrect.

Navy medical corpsman Matthew Bradley, 33, of West Tisbury, returned home from active duty yesterday amid the celebratory sounds of fire engine horns and police sirens. Mr. Bradley, who is serving in the naval reserve, has been stationed with the U.S. Marine Corps. in Afghanistan since he left the Island last August. He has also served in Iraq.

The noise level at Martha’s Vineyard Airport swelled well before Mr. Bradley stepped out of the Cape Air plane on Thursday afternoon. Flags waved amidst the cheering crowd of more than 100 people.

Seeking to help struggling Vineyard Haven businesses, selectmen voted unanimously on Monday to shift the town’s tax burden away from commercial property owners. But a sharp drop in taxes for businesses will mean a slight uptick for resident and non-resident homeowners alike.

The action, taken at a special meeting following a public hearing on the matter, was intended to give an encouraging economic signal to current Tisbury business owners and make the town more attractive for prospective new businesses.

Corey Kupersmith, the Connecticut-based developer who a decade ago waged a bitter public battle to build a golf course and a development on the largest tract of undeveloped forest in Oak Bluffs, now faces foreclosure on almost all of the property he owns in the Southern Woodlands.

She’s a Maine native who is trying to save much of the Island’s shellfish population. He’s a Vineyard high school student with a passion for sustainability.

From shell recyclers to waste-management aficionados, seven Vineyarders have been named recipients of prestigious Island fellowships, receiving funding for individual educational and professional endeavors. But the entire Island will also benefit from the awards, with the fellows pledging to use their knowledge and experience to better Island sustainability.

A friend told me the other day that she had just enjoyed a sauna in a local health club.

Nowadays, of course, Finnish-style saunas are commonplace in health clubs and spas all over the world, but there are many other national baths that are not. One of those is a hammam, the Moroccan equivalent of a Finnish sauna. Recently, I spent an evening in a hammam in Marrakesh. It turned out to be an experience I won’t soon forget.

For regulars at the Dock Street Coffee Shop, it’s a sight they will have some trouble adjusting to. On a recent Thursday morning Don Patrick sat on the other side of the counter. After almost 30 years manning the griddle, the long time cook and fixture at the Edgartown diner has hung up his apron.

“I’m done. I’m all done. He’s the man now,” Mr. Patrick said, gesturing to his son, Darren, who scraped a heaping mound of eggs, bacon, ham, linguica, toast and homefries off the griddle and handed it to his father.

To her best friends, she is affectionately known as the “Daffodil Lady.”

Dorothy Bangs, 87, of Vineyard Haven is one of the Island’s most celebrated volunteers, and she was out working hard this week on behalf of the American Cancer Society. Mrs. Bangs—a cancer survivor herself—along with friends and followers, distributed close to 11,000 daffodils, each costing $1. Hopefully, when all the money is collected, it amounts to just what they sought—$11,000.

The weakened economy has caused plenty of hardship on the Island, but we’re occasionally reminded that even in healthy periods years ago, the good times weren’t always so good.

According to the calendar, spring officially began on Tuesday. According to reality, it began on Dec. 22, ordinarily the first day of winter, when spring decided to do away with winter this year. A slight snowfall was a freak occurrence and temperatures below freezing as rare as a visit from the propane man.