The long trial that pitted Cessna Aircraft Company against a pilot who suffered crippling injuries in a 2005 plane crash at Katama airfield ended abruptly Wednesday in a confidential settlement, lawyers said.

After nearly a month of testimony and on the eve of closing arguments, lawyers conferred during a sidebar with Dukes county superior court Judge Cornelius Moriarty 2nd and Alec Naiman, pilot of the Cessna 172-N plane that crashed on June 23, 2005.

Chilmark selectmen will appeal the U.S. Coast Guard’s denial of the town’s insurance claim for the Menemsha boathouse, the board decided Tuesday night.

Tisbury voters turned out but not quite strongly enough, falling eight shy of a quorum at a special town meeting on Tuesday night. Town moderator Deborah Medders sent the 92 voters home; 100 were needed to conduct the meeting, which has now been rescheduled for the start of next Tuesday’s annual town meeting.

The absence of fast food on the Island rankles some but it may also mean we are healthier. Vineyard residents rank as the healthiest in the state, according to a survey released Tuesday by the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Nantucket ranks second, the report found.

Tisbury voter alert: A special town meeting is scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. in the school gymnasium. Voters will be asked to take action on a 15-article warrant that includes an important spending request for $200,000 for septic system upgrades. If there is no quorum, the meeting will be rescheduled to take place next week just before the annual town meeting, making for an extra long night. So organize an early supper, put down the television remote, gather up your knitting and get out and vote tonight. The quorum requirement in Tisbury is 100 voters.

Two safes containing minimal amounts of money were stolen early Monday morning from the Martha’s Vineyard Chowder Company in Oak Bluffs, restaurant owner J.B. Blau confirmed. Mr. Blau said he reported the incident to the Oak Bluffs police and added that he has video evidence of the break-in. Mr. Blau said he is “99 per cent confident” that the case will be resolved “in the near future. We’re following leads.”

The Vineyard Gazette and Martha’s Vineyard Magazine are now part of Our Island Club, which offers discounts to Islanders on a wide array of consumer goods. Members of the Island Club will receive 20 per cent off a new subscription to the Gazette and/or the Martha’s Vineyard Magazine. Call the Gazette at 508-627-4311, extension 125, and say you are member of Our Island Club to get your discount. Sorry, only new subscribers are eligible for this special promotion.

Jeffrey and Jessica Willoughby, two of the plaintiffs suing Cessna Aircraft Company in a civil trial over a 2005 plane crash at Katama Airfield, have settled with the company and are no longer involved in the trial that has been underway in Edgartown for the past three weeks.

This weekend, the Island Community Chorus, under the direction of Peter Boak, will present two performances of its spring 2012 concert program, Beethoven and Friends, at the Performing Arts Center of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

The chorus is made up of one hundred singers who have been rehearsing weekly since Jan. 9.

The concerts are at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 1.