When Cole Bilodeau went on a two-year Mormon missionary trip to Albania and Kosovo, his mother couldn’t send letters or call him. She had to make do with a weekly email and Skype sessions.

Cole began his mission when he was 19 and he returned to the Vineyard two weeks ago.

The Island Grown Initiative has named Keith Wilda as its executive director as the growing nonprofit undergoes a reorganization this fall. IGI was founded in 2005 by Ali Berlow who was its first executive director.

Muppets, queens, fairies and even a scary skeleton attended a Halloween Festival and Nancy Luce Birthday Party on the grounds of the future Martha’s Vineyard Museum site on Sunday afternoon.

On Thursday night at the regional high school, two Island women, Lynn Ditchfield and Rebecca McCarthy, gave a presentation on their recent journey to the Artesia Detention Center in New Mexico to help Central American refugees seeking asylum from violence in their home countries.

After a period of dormancy, the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust has resurfaced with a renewed mission to support commercial fishermen.

The winds are rising and the temperatures are dropping, telling Holmes Hole sailors that they don't have much more time on the water. One by one skippers are calling in to say that they have put up sails and are done for the season.

As leading state environmental officials look to the Island’s offshore resources to further wind energy goals and mine sand for beach fill, a small but vocal crowd of Vineyarders are airing their concerns about tapping these resources to the detriment of the fisheries and other sea life.

For Trudy Taylor, Patricia Bennett and friends, a Sunday breakfast tradition has continued without interruption for 12 years, or nearly 700 breakfasts. They call themselves the breakfast mafia.

By all accounts, the 69th Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby was a major success with records all around. But the number of striped bass was dramatically lower, with only 288 weighed in.

With a week left in regular season play, records are falling, players are earning statewide recognition and one team is already making its mark in the state tournament.