Two West Tisbury property owners have agreed to pay $6,760 in fines for violating the state Wetlands Protection Act.

Stephen Rattner and Maureen White, who own property on Obed Daggett Road, were cited by the state Department of Environmental Protection for cutting violations in a vegetated wetland on the North Shore. The DEP issued a press release about the penalties this week.

It’s been more than 30 years since a Vineyard resident represented the Island at the State House. This year, four Vineyard candidates are looking to end that drought.

Daniel Larkosh of Vineyard Haven, Tim Lasker of Chilmark and Roger Wey of Oak Bluffs have announced plans to run in the Democratic primary this September. Jacob Ferreira of Vineyard Haven is running as an unenrolled candidate, which guarantees him a place in the general election.

They join four other candidates from the district, which also covers Gosnold, Nantucket and parts of Falmouth.

Beth Larsen was all dolled up Wednesday night.

If she had only known, she might have worn shorts and running shoes.

The proprietor of The Net Result kept winning Best of the Vineyard awards, one after another.

Mrs. Larsen didn’t get off the stage until she had won four awards for excellence in her business.

Although it took 40 minutes to reach a quorum of Oak Bluffs voters at a special town meeting on Tuesday called to approve more than $200,000 in year-end transfers, the discussion and subsequent vote flew by in flash with no debate, discussion or questions.

By all accounts, the town meeting was the fastest in town history when measured from actual start to finish. However, the scheduled start time of 7 p.m. was delayed when only about 20 voters gathered at the Oak Bluffs School, well short of the required 50 residents needed for a quorum.

The Aquinnah selectmen will meet this morning to decide whether to call a special town meeting this summer to bring back the failed energy bylaw for another vote.

Selectman Camille Rose said this week she hopes to resubmit the bylaw.

“We need to explain the bylaw more simply. We had to use legal verbiage that was overly complicated. The [regulations] may have looked like over-regulation to voters but it’s really an attempt to protect their rights,” she said.

Island voters will not decide whether to make minor modifications to Dukes County government until the fall, but the county commission has already taken the first steps toward change.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries yesterday expanded closed shellfish areas to include the eastern side of Nantucket Sound due to red tide. The closure does not affect fish or shellfish harvested and landed in Vineyard waters.

The agency sent out the notification for the benefit of shellfishermen and fish markets that sell shellfish wholesale and retail. Affected shellfish include surf clams, ocean quahaugs, mussels, carnivorous snails and whole sea scallops. Those scallops are exempt if only the adductor muscle is landed.

The renowned English hospitality was nowhere to be found for one Vineyard man recently, when the laptop computer he was using to store research for a book he is writing about his family history was stolen from a parked car outside his family’s U.K. home.

Warren Arrives

Carolyn Warren and Gregory Cabana of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a son, Warren Byrne Cabana, on June 22 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Warren weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces at birth.

Louisa Gould Gallery opens the Vineyard Painting show today with an artists’ reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at its Main street, Vineyard Haven location. The exhibition features Lynette Goric with seascapes, Christopher Pendergast’s portraits of buoys, seashell paintings on masonite by Donna Blackburn, and, reminding us of inland Island moments, Caryn King’s farm animals