Jaime Billings of Oak Bluffs, Jillian Grzesiuk of Edgartown and Abigail Larsen of Chilmark were named to the dean’s list at Roger Williams University for the spring 2012 semester.

With a shark tournament, a local festival and summer crowds in town, Oak Bluffs police had a busy weekend: Friday through Sunday, the department made 21 arrests, placed four people in protective custody, and responded to 140 incidents.

According to the police weekend log, there were 10 charges of disorderly conduct and three incidents of minors possessing or attempting to procure alcohol. Most of the activity happened on Saturday night, when there were nine arrests between 10:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

There’s a new crop of conservationists on the Island ­­— albeit of an unexpected sort. Three students from Boston Green Academy, who have never spent much time outside the city, let alone gotten up close and personal with worms and frogs, have traveled to the Island for a paid monthlong internship with the Nature Conservancy.

An increase in Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding could spell more money available for a wider range of projects for Vineyard towns.

Last week, Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation that will allocate $25 million from the fiscal year 2013 state budget surplus to the CPA trust fund.

When state Agriculture Commissioner Greg Watson made his swing through a series of Vineyard farms last week, there was detailed discussion about what constitutes organic farming.

Against that backdrop, two Vineyard farms are now federally certified as organic.

With the July sun setting over the Katama Plains and a sliver crescent moon rising as cows grazed in the vast fields, the pastoral scene was set naturally for the Farm Institute’s annual Meals in the Meadow fundraiser Saturday night.

I woke up early the other morning to perfect conditions for kayaking. The brackish water of Stonewall, Quitsa and Menemsha ponds was so still it looked solid until, that is, I made that first push from shore. Below me I could see sidling crabs and the eelgrass yielding to the direction of the outgoing tide. The surface of the water reflected the detail of every wisp of cloud so I felt as if I was floating and flying. The top half of a boat mooring that rose above the water was reflected in an optical illusion suggesting a perfectly round ball sitting on top of the water.

Big, blue snowballs of hydrangeas backed by a white picket fence are a summer staple on the Vineyard. While the mophead flowers of bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) are the most popular with tourists, there is a whole world of hydrangeas for gardeners to explore. On a seed-collecting expedition to Japan in 2005, I encountered three other hydrangea species that are valuable ornamentals: the panicle hydrangea, (Hydrangea paniculata), the mountain hydrangea (Hydrangea serrata), and involucre hydrangea (Hydrangea involucrata).

State and federal environmental officials have formally designated the waters surrounding Martha’s Vineyard and south of Cape Cod off limits for the discharging of boat effluent. The designation means that nearly 95 per cent of state waters around Massachusetts are closed to effluent discharge. State Energy and Environmental Affairs and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials made the announcement on Friday at a gathering at Aselton Park in Hyannis.

The West Tisbury Library’s Tuesdays at Twilight concert series continues on June 24 with a 7:30 p.m. concert by the Flying Elbows string band, folk artist Jemima James, poet/songwriter Dan Waters and jazz guitarist Al Schackman at the Grange Hall. The series benefits the library’s much-needed expansion and renovation efforts. Doors open at 7. Admission is $15,