Aerial surveys conducted last week spotted a large group of North Atlantic right whales in the ocean south of the Vineyard. Mariners are asked to use caution while the critically endangered whales are present.

Boston celebrated (or bemoaned) a record amount of snow this year. And while the Vineyard hasn’t broken the record snowfall of 67 inches, it has come close at 52.8 inches, as measured at the Edgartown cooperative weather station. This is more than twice the Island’s average snowfall amount.

Affordable housing is perhaps the biggest and most obvious challenge to life on the Vineyard. But food security is another problem here, and one that Betty Burton has tackled head-on over the last 23 years.

Less than six months after beginning their search, Chilmark officials have zeroed in on a possible site for a new public safety building. The selectmen said this week that the town hopes to purchase the Santander Bank building on South Road.

After a cold February kept Edgartown bay scallopers indoors, the town is looking to extend the season by two weeks. Pending approval from the state division of marine fisheries, the scallop season would end on April 17, instead of April 1.