Lower Cape News Podcast

Brewster celebrates the completion of its first season running the first and only municipally-owned pool on Cape Cod and shares lessons learned and plans for next season, including possible extended hours.

In this episode, Sen. Julian Cyr discusses recent legilature and how it impacts the Cape, including: Increased progressive tax credits and breaks for families, waste-water upgrades, and affordable housing. Health care on Cape Cod including the "I am" bill His work on exposing dark money in town meetings  

Brewster's special fall town meeting on November 13 brings the town articles on capital investment, the long-planned Millstone Road work, pond management, and amending accessory dwelling unit by-laws, as well as two citizen petitions addressing short-term rentals. Lower Cape News sat down with Town Manager Peter Lombardi for more insight into agenda topics.

More than 300 people gathered in Hyannis to actively plan and take action to address the shrinking and increasingly expensive year-round housing options on Cape Cod and the Islands. This marks the second year of the summit, which Housing Assistance Corporation CEO Alisa Magnotta says draws on collective efforts to build solutions for an issue that impacts all aspects of the region's ability functi...

Massachusetts' campaign finance laws turn 50 this November - and two state elected officials from Cape Cod want to close a surprising loophole that left political activity at Town Meetings out of the financial disclosure requirements. Triggered in part by the surge in PAC-style funding driving warrant article lobbying, State Sen. Julian Cyr from Truro and State Rep. Dylan Fernandes from Falmouth h...

As Orleans gets ready to vote on a home rule petition to reduce pesticide use, some younger citizens have taken the lessons of local government to heart, using the political process to work for a change that directly impacts their future The petition appears as an article on the October 16 special Town Meeting and would enable Orleans to set its own guidelines for pesticides rather than defaulting...

The National Seashore's Beech Tree Forest in Provincetown just joined a very special group. In October, it was inducted into the national Old-Growth Forest Network, a selection that recognizes the forest's role as the only remaining old growth forest in Barnstable County. The ceremony included a blessing by Toodie Coombs of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and a trail tour and Q&A with Cape Cod Nationa...

his fall AmeriCorps celebrated its 30th birthday ... and enrolled its 25th Cape Cod cohort. The program's 579 Cape alumni say the program changed them, while community partners say the work done by AmeriCorps members impacts the Cape in positive and long-term ways. The national service program brings young people to the Cape for 11 months of natural resources, community, and environmental projects...

In a growing trend toward twice yearly town meetings, on October 16 Orleans residents have a chance to vote on 33 articles, including investment in the fire department, several energy and environment decisions, and a home rule petition addressing pesticide use.   Orleans, like many other municipalities, needs a fall town meeting to address issues and budget items that have come up since the Annual...

Brewster Fire Department brought in close to $250K in grants to help train new firefighters and implement new tools and techniques. The multiple FEMA grants address training and development needs triggered by short staffing and new recruitment efforts.

Scientists at the Cape Cod National Seashore shared results from their projects - ranging from eel grass to pine beetles - which impact the both seashore and the surrounding Cape.

In this episode of Legislative Update, State Sen. Julian Cyr talks about budget, priorities, and wins for Cape Cod.  

With both Cape Cod Canal bridges ready for replacement, this fall's effort focuses on completing an environmental impact statement and funding Phase 1 construction at the Sagamore Bridge. Lower Cape News caught up with John Bechard, Deputy Chief Engineer for Project Development at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to learn the latest on the project. Click to Watch the Full Story  

Firefighters sit at an elevated risk for skin cancer, says Dr. Christine Kannler, who lost her firefighter brother at age 36 to occupational-related cancer. She has been working with fire departments - including the Brewster Fire Department - to educate and screen for skin cancer risk.   Click to Watch the Full Story

Jim Reese from We Need a Vacation says it's not lower visitor levels that lay behind the reported vacancies. Reese also discusses the outlook for this fall.

On Eastham's bay side beaches, routine beach monitoring identified high counts of enterococcus bacteria - but none of the usual suspects such as animal waste, septic, or runoff accounted for it.   Click to Watch the Full Story

Sean Parker, educator and owner of Vanguard Table Top Gaming discusses his experience within the gaming community, different ways to play, and how a game shop offers so much more than just supplies. Click to Watch the Full Story

Take a trip through the imagination and 50 year career of visual artist and illustrator Bob Staake, who is having a retrospective at the Cape Cod Museum of Art from July 12 - October 15th.  

A red nun is a cone-shaped metal buoy that marks the right side of a channel when traveling upstream. Red Nun Talks is a show about the individual experience of navigating Cape Cod's past, present, and future. In this episode join host Teresa Martin to learn about jazz on Cape Cod, the Jazz Jam, Jazz in the Schools, and the Provincetown Jazz Fest with musician and Provincetown Jazz Fest founder Ba...

Nearly 60 public beaches in Massachusetts are closed for swimming from unsafe levels of bacteria and posted with signs for "bacterial exceedence." Shuttered sands include several beaches in Chatham, Eastham and Bourne. We learned more about the closures from representatives from the Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment. For most updated beach closings, see the Commonwealth's clos...

A new program from nonprofit CapeMediation equips teens with peer mediation skills. Through Pathways to Peace, young people learn - and apply - conflict resolution. CapeMediation Executive Director Anne Tessier and Youth Program Coordinator Maura Smith Stein share the ways students at Nauset High School put mediation skills to use.

The Eastham Climate Action and Recycling Committees offered a free educational workshop at the Eastham Library on Thursday, June 15: Home Composting 101. Residents learned about various home composting methods, including open-pile, bins, vermiculture, electric composers and town landfill sites.

Brewster dives into a regional first - the first municipal swimming pool on Cape Cod. On June 25, the town of Brewster cut the ribbon for Brewster's first community swimming pool at the site of the former Sea Camps. During its first year in operation, the pool is open to Brewster residents only. Pass holders can visit the pool 11 hours per week, seven days a week, for the whole summer.

The Cape Cod Baseball League celebrates its 100-year anniversary in 2023 and the new season features a number of notable changes to league operations. Aside from centenary celebrations, the 2023 Cape League season introduces pace-of-play regulations, new extra inning rules and a video livestreaming partnership with D1Baseball.com.

Eastham Recycling Committee Chair Gretchen Stiers talks compost: the new food waste composting facility at the Eastham Town Landfill, the kinds of waste that can be composted at the site, and what the new program means for residents and the environment.