Democracy at the ground level — in a grammar school gym, a town hall and a performing arts center — arrives today when a trio of town meetings opens the political season on the Vineyard.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on April 2 greenlighted New England Wind's plans for 129 turbines in an area about 20 nautical miles south of the Island.

They gathered at libraries, schools, on the Main streets of towns and in backyards. They huddled on beach chairs, stood at the Aquinnah Cliffs, the Big Bridge and anywhere else that offered prime viewing spots. And in Edgartown, a couple were married at town hall.

Hundreds of people crowded into the regional high school gym Sunday afternoon, filling the bleachers and sidelines for the memorial scholarship basketball tournament in honor of Waylon Madison Sauer.

The Vineyard will have mostly clear skies for much of today but some clouds are predicted to roll in later in the day during the historic solar eclipse.

A plaque commemorating Rebecca Amos has gone missing from its home at the Great Rock Bight Preserve in Chilmark.

Robert Sawyer came to the Martha's Vineyard Commission Thursday seeking permission to knock down a historic home to make way for a new 8-unit housing complex. The MVC said it needed more information before it could decide.

Megan Farrell told parents this week that she will retire at the end of the school year, joining three other Island principals who are planning to step down before next fall.

Chilmark select board candidates Jeffrey Maida and William Meegan weighed on the community center's tennis program, housing and other issues at a candidates forum.

The U.S. Coast Guard transported a patient to an off-Island hospital Thursday, touching down and taking off with a helicopter from Alley Waban Park in Oak Bluffs.