Town officials for and against the project to restore part of the crumbling coastal bank in Oak Bluffs squared off for a final time Thursday night. A vote is expected Jan. 7.

Beginning in January, seven nights a week, three churches will provide shelter and meals to men, women and families who need a place to get in out of the cold.

Throughout her life Carly Simon has been a dutiful diarist, and so the whole of her life was just an arm’s length away waiting to be reborn.

Attorneys in the district court have found a loophole for challenging old drunken driving cases because a procedure to advise defendants of their rights may not have been followed.

With fall coming to an end, winter moths have laid their eggs, but the males can still be seen fluttering around headlights and street lamps across the Island. Many anticipate another wave of defoliation next spring.

The all-Island school committee this week grappled with the question of how the superintendent’s budget is split among Island elementary schools. Discussion was heated at times.