The Vineyard Gazette, the family-owned weekly newspaper that has been a prominent, much-decorated and enduring chronicle of Island life for 164 years, will be sold to new owners, the newspaper’s publisher Richard Reston announced today.

A three-man sail from Vineyard waters earlier this month ended in tragedy; a loss of a sailor’s life, a dismasting of a two-masted sailboat which was later abandoned, and a dramatic rescue of two in the high seas.

Captain Dennis White, 63, of the 41-foot ketch Emma Goldman, had left the Vineyard on Saturday, Nov. 6 with a crew of two: the captain’s longtime friend William (Willie) Thorns, 64, of Mashpee and his 25-year-old daughter, Amanda Thorns.

Emily Bramhall’s many labors for Islanders has earned her this year’s Spirit of the Vineyard Award. The honor, sponsored by Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, thanks volunteers who have put their hearts and souls into service to their community.

Let’s be honest, not everything gets better with age. But fortunately for Islanders, Mermaid Farm’s feta cheese does. The flavor gets richer, the texture softer, and if it’s covered in brine, the feta can last up to a year.

Farm owner Allen Healy and cheese maker Jackee Foster are showing people the way real feta is supposed to taste.

“We’re trying to change people’s perception of what feta traditionally is,” Ms. Foster said, taking a break from pouring brine into the pints containing perfect prism shapes.

On Oct. 9, 2010, a glorious, sun-filled October day, John Walker (Nino) McCoubrey and Leslie Dale (Lee) Polychron were married on Keith Farm, Chilmark, just down the road from the McCoubrey house on Little Oak Lane.