With the need for affordable housing on the Vineyard still acute, selectman Warren Doty has proposed a five-year initiative to provide 10 more homesites in his town.

Facing an unexpected budget shortfall, Aquinnah town leaders will call a special town meeting early next month to decide how to balance the budget. Town officials have discovered a $101,564 deficit.

With all six Island towns in a revaluation year for property assessments, tax rates have been slow to arrive this year. Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, and Tisbury all saw increases in total valuation.

Oak Bluffs got an early Christmas present this week from the state, which has awarded $225,000 to fund design work to protect the eroding bluff. The bluff underlies the scenic but endangered East Chop Drive.

West Tisbury, a town which has only qualified for housing rehabilitation and child care funds every three years, is now eligible every year. But in neighboring Chilmark, it's a different story.

Can severe erosion be slowed at the easternmost tip of Chappaquiddick? Mal Jones of West Tisbury has a concept he believes will work, by sinking a 190-foot barge in the water offshore.