A day-long snowstorm left about four inches on the ground Tuesday.  Plunging temperatures made roads slick, causing numerous accidents throughout the area. SEE A GALLERY OF SNOW PHOTOS HERE

CHATHAM – Construction activity continued at a brisk pace last year. While the number of building permits increased by only 3 percent, the total construction value of the permits jumped 15 percent. While most building numbers were up over last year, building activity hasn't yet caught up with 2015, which saw the town's highest-recorded permit values as well as a number of new homes. That year 49 new houses wer...

CHATHAMPORT — Thanks to the generosity of local philanthropists, 10 Lower Cape organizations are sharing $30,000 in grants to enhance the quality of life in Chatham. The grants were announced at a reception last week held by the Cape Cod Foundation, which manages the Chatham Fund endowment. Recipients gathered at the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center to share their stories. Theresa Malone of Monomoy Communi...

CHATHAM — When it comes to encouraging young working families to stay in Chatham, the town’s economic development committee has voiced some creative ideas. Last week, selectmen said they’re listening. The committee has raised the need for more affordable child care, and the need to control water rates, as two ways to ease the financial burden on working families. Selectmen last week agreed to schedule discus...

CHATHAM — With two worthy candidates nominated to have parts of the community center named after them, selectmen have decided that the town needs a policy on the naming of town facilities. At their Dec. 5 meeting, the parks and recreation commission voted unanimously to support naming the community center gymnasium after the late Gary Anderson; they also unanimously favored naming the lobby in honor of the l...

CHATHAM — Depending on your point of view, a proposed change to the town’s zoning bylaw would either create new housing opportunities for working families or open the town to an untamed avalanche of residential development. The zoning amendment would allow property owners to build “accessory dwelling units” on their properties by right. It aims to replace a bylaw provision designed to encourage the developme...

When the weather cleared on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 1978, local residents emerged from their homes to find that the area's shoreline had been significantly rearranged – in some cases more or less permanently. While the Blizzard of '78 paralyzed many areas of Southern New England with several feet of snow, trapping people in vehicles and ultimately accounting for 54 deaths in Massachusetts alone, the snow wasn't the n...

HARWICH — The Monomoy Regional School District's proposed FY19 budget of $39,908,354, a 4.7 percent increase, is money well spent, Superintendent Scott Carpenter told members of the board of selectmen and finance committee Monday night. He based the statement on student growth percentiles from MCAS testing between 2011 and 2017, with only one area in the 2017 tests where the score was below the state average. ...

HARWICH — Selectmen sent a message to the community preservation committee last week that they are looking for the committee to be part of a team seeking to address the important needs of the community that cannot be funded through the town budget. CPA funds are raised through a 3 percent surcharge on property taxes and a match from the commonwealth to assist with housing, historic preservation, open space and...

HARWICH — Former interim town administrator Robert Lawton was on the job once again on Monday, this time serving as an interim assistant town administrator. Lawton will serve in that capacity through the annual town meeting. Town Administrator Christopher Clark said bringing Lawton in to serve as his assistant will allow Assistant Town Administrator Charleen Greenhalgh to focus on her new position as town plan...

HARWICH — If ever there was an icon who deserved the recognition of “Town Father,” James Marceline is that person. He served his country; had great respect for Democratic institutions; always put community first, especially the education of children; and assisted families in need of housing long before government adopted the term “affordable housing.” Word of his passing early on Sunday morning spread fast, wi...

HARWICH — The planning board is recommending two marijuana-related zoning amendments be placed before town meeting this spring, one extending the moratorium on the sale of recreational marijuana and the other permanently banning the retail sale of pot. The board's recommendations came in a public hearing last week in which Police Chief David Guillemette emphasized the town's public safety community is very con...

EASTHAM ─ It was a victory for the ages at Nauset High School last Friday when the Warriors clawed their way back to hand the Falmouth Clippers only their second loss of the season in a thrilling 65-64 victory that came down to a well-placed pair of free throws and one timely intercepted pass. In the final moments of the Jan. 27 game, with seconds left on the clock and the Warriors still trailing by four, Je...

Unless you've been hiding out in some kind of vast wilderness area with no internet, you know that Feb. 4 is Super Bowl Sunday, and that once again, our beloved New England team is competing. Or at least Tom Brady is. Major media seems to forget that one man does not comprise an entire team. Not in the NFL and not in high school sports, either. It can be easy to forget that, especially when it seems that all t...

A homeless woman was so touched that she cried when she was given one of the beautiful blankets knit by volunteers during A Great Yarn’s knit-a-thon last year. “People have been just blown away,” says Laura Reckford, director of community relations for the non-profit Housing Assistance Corporation on Cape Cod (HAC) in Hyannis. Speaking of the blankets, she says, “they’re beautiful. They have this wonderful aur...

HARWICH ─ A unique art and history class collaboration allowed students at Monomoy Regional High School to travel back in time while remembering one of the country's, and Cape Cod's, beloved political figures: John F. Kennedy. Working with the JFK Museum in Hyannis, students in David Alexander's Kennedy Years history class and Deb Donovan's Portfolio I art class learned about the influential 35 th president...