Lower Cape News Podcast

9 August 2024 — CAPE COD, MA — Cape Cod's Visiting Nurses Association has been in contract negotiations since February with the union of their registered nurses in the field. On Tuesday, the union decided to hold a strike authorization vote. We caught up with some VNA nurses about the crisis in home healthcare across the peninsula.

9 August 2024 — YARMOUTH, MA — The nonprofit Friends of Bass River received a $4.75 M grant this spring to help restore the longest river on the Cape Cod. In our ongoing coverage of ecological restoration on the Cape, this episode explores work underway to return 52 acres of retired cranberry bogs to natural wetlands and replace the bridge at Crab Creek - both key steps in addressing the high nitr...

01 August 2024 — HYANNIS, MA — With its newest $14.6M federal grant, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) reaches a new milestone: more than half the buses on Cape Cod produce low to no emissions.

2 August, 2024 – CAPE COD, MA – Scarce days off, low pay and relying on the mercy of Mother Nature make the agricultural community vulnerable to mental health challenges such as overwhelm, anxiety and depression. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources found a mental health support model fitting for the farming community – a Peer Support Network – because no one understands farmers...

30 July 2024 — HYANNIS, MA — After 11 months and 30,000 hours of collecting, cleaning, shoveling, building, teaching, and more, the 25th year of AmeriCorps Cape Cod came to a close last week. In the graduation ceremony, which honored 18 graduates and several service partners, almost all speakers touched on the strong sense of community among AmeriCorps members and with the places they serve. We sp...

02 August 2024 — EASTHAM, MA — The season's first powerful hurricane, Beryl, rolled across the Caribbean into Texas, at times packing category 5 power over the Atlantic.  Experts say this could be the first of many - and many more powerful - storms this season. We visited with Danielle and Matt Noyes from 1° Outside and Chip Rielly from Barnstable County to learn more about what to expect.

23 July 2024 — BREWSTER, MA — Chefs Izabelle and Rob Crisanti are preparing to take on the iconic cones, clams and community at Kate's Seafood and Ice Cream, a Brewster staple. This summer, they're learning the ropes from John and Kate Ohman, who founded Kate's 39 years ago, and they hope to bring their own flavors to the clam shack next year. We spoke with the two couples about the past, present...

26 July, 2024 – EASTHAM, MA – Over 200 Cape Codders attended the public information session at the Sheraton in Eastham, July 17, called by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The presentation about the leasing process and the environmental assessment was cut short to give more time to the public's comments and questions. BOEM is proposing lease sales of 1 million acres, some of it 20 miles outs...

19 July 2024 — ORLEANS — Orleans released a draft of its digital equity plan this week for public comment. Spanning 64 pages, a vast array of findings, and 18 different recommendations, the plan features a lot of information. We sat down with Steven Tupper, Deputy Director of the Cape Cod Commission, and Mike Solitro, Assistant Town Manager for Orleans, to discuss what exactly the plan is saying a...

12 July 2024 — EASTHAM, MA — Indira Venkat, senior vice president AT AARP Research visits with Lower Cape TV to share results from a new study that raises an economic red flag for the near future. The vast majority of Americans over age of 50 believe they don't have enough saved to support themselves in retirement -- and 26 percent say this means they will probably never be able to retire.

19 July 2024 – WELLFLEET, MA – In late June, Wellfleet saw the biggest mass stranding of dolphins in U.S. history. It was uncharted waters even for the experienced rescue teams. In the wake of the stranding the rescue team is trying to answer the question of why it happened and why there is a steady annual increase of these events on Cape Cod. Unprecedented in numbers it made headlines wide and fa...

July 05 2024 — EASTHAM, MA — From data that shows a 60% increase in housing prices to zoning that allows just 2% of the Cape open for multi-family house, the new Cape Cod Commission housing strategy plan puts a stake in the ground with both data and actionable tools. It also brings forth potential regional solutions including from zoning and permitting changes,  funding and financing program, and...

12 July 2024 — How has Cape Cod's various plastic bans impacted local business? Two regional hospitality brands, Wellfleet Harbor Seafood Company, and The Knack, share how they've adapted and what sustainability means for both culture and bottom line.

11 July 2024 — BREWSTER, MA — In Massachusetts, 37% of Massachusetts housing is rentals. In Brewster, it's only 17% — but that's about to change with Spring Rock Village, a new affordable housing development which just received $6.7 million in state funding. Preservation of Affordable Housing and the Housing Assistance Corporation are leasing the Millstone Road property from the town to create 45...

3 JULY, 2024 — ORLEANS, MA — Welcome to the dog days of summer here in Orleans. Two restaurants in town, La Bella Vita and Three Fools, have gotten variances to the health code that allows them to seat dogs in designated outdoor spaces. We spoke with restaurant owners and the health department about what exactly this means.

5 July 2024 — EASTHAM, MA — Starting July 01, parking at Eastham's two oceanside beaches requires a new beach sticker. Nauset Light Beach and Coastguard Beach are operated by the National Seashore, who, as per an agreement with the Town of Eastham, offers designated parking spaces for Eastham taxpayers. The only valid proof of identification is from now on the new ocean beach specific sticker.

27 June 2024 - CAPE COD, MA -  Holtec, the company holding the contract to manage Plymouth's Pilgrim nuclear power shuttering - has put tritium on the table. It says letting radioactive water evaporate or releasing it into Cape Cod Bay are "standard practice" - but not everyone agrees.

28 June 2024 – CAPE COD, MA – The Cape Crushers, the regional high school mountain bike team, is getting into gear to represent Cape Cod in the national series in Pennsylvania in mid July. For these young bicyclists, obstacles in the way mean opportunities for progress.

21 JUNE 2024 - ORLEANS, MA - "It's in Orleans" has become a popular slogan for Orleans' Chamber of Commerce. This will now ring even truer on the first Friday of each month this summer, when one can find food, drink, music and shopping throughout Orleans from 5 to 8 p.m. as part of the town's new First Friday initiative. First Fridays extend the evening hours of many businesses and aim to bring th...

21 JUNE 2024 — BREWSTER, MA — After more than three decades of hitting the right notes as a music teacher at two of the Nauset District's elementary schools, Eddy and Orleans Elementary School Director of Instrumental Music Leah Belliveau is retiring. She'll leave behind a legacy of inspired students and colleagues, but will continue producing KidNews, the Lower Cape TV program that features repor...

JUNE 21, 2024 — BREWSTER, MA — Brewster held the first town celebration of Juneteenth on the Lower Cape this week, which included live music, a reading of the emancipation proclamation, tours of the windmill and blacksmith building in Drummer Boy park, and educational programming. Assistant Director of Brewster Ladies Library Devon Evans, who helped organize the event, said this Juneteenth celebra...

14 June 2024 — EASTHAM, MA — The Lower Cape's animal rehabilitation center just got a little bit bigger. Wild Care, a nonprofit animal care organization in Eastham, cut the ribbon Friday for a much-needed expansion to its center. A culmination of five years and almost a million dollars, the new building will help Wild Care volunteers treat animals and inform the community more efficiently.

14 June 2024 — CAPE COD, MA — During Cape Cod Coastal Resilience week, the Coastal Zone Management department of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shared ways that citizen science - through the  My Coast App - can help inform policy and trained people in how to make best use of it.

14 June 2024 — BREWSTER, MA — On your marks, get set, swim! Last weekend, the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition held its 25th annual "Against the Tide" Nickerson State Park, a swim race event where participants raise money for the organization's community programming. With informative speakers, music, and of course, swimming, dozens of people helped MBCC in its mission to spread awareness abou...

06 June 2024 — EASTHAM, MA — Ospreys love choosing utility poles — and other human structures — for nest sites but it turns out this might not be the best real estate match.  Eastham's Wild Care has begun working with Eversouce as a sort of real estate relocation expert to help eggs find a safer home.