A taxi owned by Adam Cab crashed into a utility pole on Lagoon Pond Road across from the Tisbury post office early Thursday morning, snarling traffic at the Five Corners intersection for several hours on one of the busiest days of the year. The accident occurred around 7 a.m., just as the early morning boats were arriving to deliver throngs of visitors and seasonal residents for the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend.

A Fourth of July morning fire destroyed Café Moxie restaurant and severely damaged the Bunch of Grapes bookstore in Main Street Vineyard Haven.

The blaze, the biggest on the Island in years, is believed to have started in the basement of the café shortly after 9 a.m.

Owner Austin Racine was the only person in the café at the time. He said he was in the kitchen when he noticed smoke. He had earlier been in the basement, which is used for storage.

The wheels on his bike stopped abruptly on Centre street behind Café Moxie when the pantry chef saw the flames breaking through the roof of the restaurant around 9:40 a.m. today, the Fourth of July. “I guess I don’t have work today,” he said sadly, and rode off.

Cafe Moxie came down this afternoon and weary firefighters worked through
the day to separate the charred
remains of the building from the Bunch of Grapes book store, to prevent
further smoke and fire damage and to allow
fire personnel to enter the building and begin to evaluate the overall
damage.

Speaking from the scene of the fire, with smoke still rising from the
charred support beams and timber, Tisbury
fire chief John Schilling said the priority now is to salvage the adjacent
book store and make sure the fire is
completely extinguished.

Tisbury’s annual street fair will not only go on despite the Independence Day fire, it will go on because of it, to help raise money for those affected.

An emergency meeting of the town selectmen Saturday morning appealed for a big turnout, and for people to come and donate.

An annual celebration of the town’s birthday, the street fair is Tuesday night.

Almost exactly two years after its last defeat in the state legislature, a proposal to impose a one per cent tax on the sale of higher-cost homes to pay for affordable housing on the Vineyard is again set to go before the House.

Two separate bills — one relating to the Vineyard and the other to Nantucket — were approved by the Senate last Tuesday night, giving renewed hope to affordable housing advocates.

The natural resources director of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) told the town selectmen on Friday that the cleanup from oyster aquaculture project gone astray in Menemsha Pond will be finished in five or six weeks.

“We’ll keep at it until we complete it,” Bret Stearns told the Aquinnah selectmen Friday morning.

In the wake of record-high gasoline and diesel prices across the Vineyard, there have been at two reported incidents in recent weeks of fuel being stolen from boats in the Edgartown harbor.

Edgartown harbor master Charles Blair confirmed yesterday that he had received two reports from boat owners that gas had been taken from boats moored or docked in the town harbor. In one instance, someone stole a six-gallon gas tank from a boat, he said.

In another case someone reportedly siphoned fuel from a boat docked at the end of North Water street.

Since Carrie White joined Connect — formerly known as Women’s Support Services — last fall, her focus has been on reducing the client base. “We’re trying to get out there to help change the social norms,” said Ms. White who since coming on as program director has made one full-time hire for preventive work and is cross training the rest of the agency’s five staff to work both with prevention and support. The agency has been working with victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault on the Island for over 20 years.

They were two young sailing misfits at the East Chop Beach Club more than 30 years ago. And through the years they’ve cultivated a friendship that has crossed the sea, built a business and continues to reinvent itself. Todd Alexander, 45, is the Oak Bluffs harbor master. His wife is Kara Gelinas and they have a son, Sebastian, who is three. Capt. John S. Potter, 46, runs the 40-foot charter fishing boat Skipper. He and his wife Susan have two sons, Max, five, and Zak, 10 months. Mr.