The Dukes County Commission heard this week from members of the Eastville Beach committee that they would like to disband.

Eastville Beach is located on the Vineyard Haven Harbor near Lagoon Pond and spans Tisbury and Oak Bluffs. The county owns 5.3 acres of the beach, which includes a shorebird habitat, while Tisbury owns half an acre and Oak Bluffs owns just over three-quarters of an acre.

Incumbent Cong. William Keating fought off a primary challenger Sept. 6 to secure a spot on the November ballot for ninth district, while a Plymouth businessman was finally named the winner in a narrow GOP contest.

The results of the Democratic primary race for the governor’s council are still up in the air, with a recount underway.

The Secretary of State certified Christopher Sheldon, 34, as the winner of last Thursday’s primary, with Mr. Sheldon defeating Adam Chaprales, 28, of Barnstable, by 79 votes. The final tally was 11,046 to 10,967.

As the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) presses ahead on various fronts to win the right to build a casino in Massachusetts, a federal judge in Boston has set next Wednesday as the date for briefs to be filed in a complicated case that now involves the state and its gaming commission, a commercial casino developer and the Vineyard tribe.

More than a year after an Islandwide contract with the cable television giant Comcast expired, a proposed new contract that includes service to Chappaquiddick has come before the six-town negotiating committee.A final proposal from Comcast was sent to the Vineyard cable advisory committee on Sept. 6. After months of keeping its cards close to the vest on the subject of service to Chappaquiddick, Comcast is now proposing a $1.58 million project to bring cable service to the small island that is part of the town of Edgartown. Under the proposal, subscribers and the cable company would share the cost of installing conduit.

The commercial Northeast groundfish fishery Thursday was formally declared a disaster for the coming year by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, paving the way for financial assistance for fishermen who are facing depleted stocks and drastic cuts to catch shares.

The disaster declaration comes less than a month after Gov. Deval Patrick and other elected officials wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce asking for federal disaster relief, citing a preliminary report predicting extreme cuts in catch limits for the 2013 fishing season, which begins in May 2013.

Three men were rescued from the waters off Aquinnah on Monday afternoon after the boat they were in sank in heavy seas. The rescuers were three derby fishermen.

Caleb D. Nicholson, 37, of Oak Bluffs was out fishing with two friends when they spotted three men clinging to a cooler in chilly, rough seas.

The dramatic rescue took place at about 3:30 p.m., three miles northwest of the Gay Head cliffs. Mr. Nicholson and his fishing colleagues transported the three men, all suffering from exposure, to the Menemsha dock where they were met by police, EMTs and the Coast Guard. Mr. Nicholson said he believes the three were from New Bedford. Only one spoke English.

It is a spectacular feeling to be in the midst of a large flock of thousands of tree swallows! The birds are flying gracefully around you, making aerial acrobatics to snatch bugs out of the air. They can fly so close to you that you can hear their wings beating the air.

Felix Neck Welcome
Josey Kirkland has been named the new Education Coordinator and day camp director at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary. Ms. Kirkland is originally from Carlisle and graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S. in environmental sciences, with a wildlife focus. She is familiar with island-living having spent summers on a small island in Casco Bay, Me. for over 20 years.

Ms. Kirkland will be coordinating all aspects of environmental education programs at Felix Neck and overseeing Felix Neck’s Fern and Feather Natural History Day camp.

To become an All-Ireland music champion is no easy feat. Ireland may be a small country, but it takes its traditional music very seriously. Throw a rock, or better yet an empty pint of Guiness, and surely you will hit a musician, and not just a part-time dabbler, but a real pro. Now gather this large assortment of musicians in your head, filter out the merely good and great to pit the outstanding against the outstanding, and finally, crown the best of the best.

Tivoli Day is upon us again, for the 35th year in a row. The day is the Oak Bluffs answer for what to do at the end of summer. Celebrate!

The party rolls from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15. The town closes down Circuit avenue to traffic of the motorized kind and lets the pedestrians get full right of way.

There will be music; BallyHoo, Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, Phil DaRosa and DCLA.

There will be food; outdoor dining, no less.

There will be frolic; a climbing wall, crafts, raffles and Flying Horses ring catching contest.