Martha's Vineyard in 60 Seconds: Swine Flu, Nick Jonas and Bernie Madoff's Prison Gangs

Good morning, Capitolists Vineyardians! It's Monday for the Obamas in paradise, so grab your clam diggers, your SPF 50 and the "Complete Guide to Sailing Knots." Here's what's making news on the island today:

* If President Obama had hoped to escape the headlines by escaping Washington, he'll be sorely disappointed. The Martha's Vineyard Times reports a Vineyard man has died of swine flu, the town of Oak Bluffs has a half-million-dollar budget deficit, and the topic of the day at the Times topic forum tomorrow will be health care reform.

* For reporters still left in Washington today, the youngest Jo-Bro, Nick Jonas, speaks at the National Press Club about juvenile diabetes.

* Guess who gave a talk on racial equality at the Martha's Vineyard Whaling Church last week? Henry Louis Gates Jr., who thanked friends for helping him get to his beer date with President Obama last month despite foggy weather on the island. "How bad would that have been?" Gates said. "Officer James Crowley had been there and we'd have been up here at the Inkwell, sipping chardonnay, covered by Fox News. That was not going to be too good," according to the Martha's Vineyard Gazette.

* The New York Post somehow has found sources inside the Butner, N.C., prison where Bernie Madoff is serving his 150-year sentence. Sources say various prison gangs are trying to recruit the fraudster; he has been participating in Native American healing sessions that require him to go shirtless into a "sweat lodge" on the prison grounds; and that he may have cancer. Yikes.

* Today is the very last day to junk your clunker. "Cash for Clunkers" ends tonight at 8.

* And finally, back on the Vineyard, if you're not invited to Ted Danson's house this week, worry not, entertainment seekers. The movie of the week at the Vineyard Hebrew Center is the critically acclaimed "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg."

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