Edgartown’s venerable landmark hotel, the Harbor View Hotel, will close later this month for extensive renovations, probably not to reopen until late spring next year.

Work on the kitchen, restaurant and rooms is expected to cost around $25 million and be done by May. It is the first phase of a two-year, $77 million project to refurbish and expand the hotel, which first opened in 1891.

Driven by 23 foreclosures in Vineyard Haven during the first half of 2007, Island home foreclosure activity rose from 17 in 2006 to 40 for the same period in 2007, an increase of 235 per cent.

Some evidence suggests the increase has ties to subprime lending, where lenders do business with borrowers who can’t obtain conventional mortgage financing and charge them higher costs.

While Edgartown, Menemsha and nearby Cuttyhunk harbors have experienced average business so far this summer, Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs harbors are tentatively reporting their busiest - and most lucrative - boating seasons ever.

"The beginning of August was the busiest I've ever seen the harbor. It was absolutely crazy," Oak Bluffs harbor master Todd Alexander said. "I think the whole Island was busier."

Study Released by Youth Task Force Shows Drinking Remains Prevalent, but Fewer Teens Smoke Cigarettes

Survey results released this week about risky behavior among Island middle school and high school students reveal few surprises about drug and alcohol use.

Dr. Joseph E. Murray chooses to live a simple life and at 88 he remains full of awe and wonder at the world.

Two months of warm, sunny weather and a modest but not overwhelming increase in visitors over last year combined to make a rosy end-of-season busin