ORLEANS – In-person programming is expected to resume at the senior center tomorrow after a spike in positive COVID-19 cases among staff and patrons led to the suspension of programs late last month. The center's director, Judi Wilson, said the facility recently saw its biggest spike in COVID cases since the start of the pandemic more than two and a half years ago. "We have program participants, staff, volu...

ORLEANS – Subcontractor bids are in for the Nauset Regional High School renovation project, and they're millions of dollars higher than expected. Now Orleans officials are bracing for the possibility that voters in the four Nauset towns may have to vote again to authorize more money for the project. Ron Collins, the town's facilities manager, told the select board Sept. 28 that subcontractor bids for the pr...

ORLEANS – Town officials believe that pinpointing the economic value of Rock Harbor will be key when it comes to funding various projects and initiatives in the coming years. Voters at the special town meeting on Oct. 17 will be asked to authorize spending $15,000 to fund a study to figure how much money the harbor contributes to the local economy. In addition to Rock Harbor, the study, outlined in Article 11 ...

ORLEANS – Debra Dickinson can tell you there's more to an oil painting than meets the common eye. As an art conservator, the Wellfleet resident has made a career out of carefully analyzing and treating portraits for their imperfections, down to the slightest details. So when the Orleans Cultural Council needed help with a portrait of its own, Dickinson spent two years restoring and stabilizing it to mirror ...

ORLEANS – John Kelly is expected to leave his long-time post as town administrator at the end of the year. Mark Mathison of the select board said Kelly, who has been town administrator in Orleans since 1996, told the board he planned to retire on March 6. But he said the board anticipates that Kelly will use his remaining nine weeks of unused vacation time ahead of that date. "The expectation is his last da...

ORLEANS – The developer behind a plan to bring more than 40 units of housing to the site of the former Underground Mall off Route 6A hopes to break ground on the project by spring. With approval from the town's Old King's Highway Historic District Committee earlier this month, Chris DeSisto of Maple Hurst Builders will next bring the proposed 42-unit rental development before the Cape Cod Commission for review...

ORLEANS – Captain John Mead has been fishing the waters off Rock Harbor for almost 50 years, all aboard the same boat. He began working for his uncle as a mate aboard the Flying Mist in 1975, and has been captaining the boat full time since 2004. Charter fishing is a tradition that goes back generations in Mead's family, and it's one he hopes to keep alive. But with a local charter fleet that's dealing with ri...

ORLEANS – Flagging programming. Staffing issues. Miscommunication. Overlong and indecipherable reports. The disorganization facing recreation in Orleans has been a sore spot for the town's recreation advisory committee in recent years, and committee members said earlier this month that a lack of leadership is leaving them with little hope of any kind of turnaround. At their Sept. 14 meeting, recreation comm...

ORLEANS – Normally members of the Orleans Fire Department have to go to Barnstable once a year for training. This year, the regional fire academy came to them. The department held live fire training at the site of the town's former public works headquarters on Bay Ridge Lane last week. The Barnstable County Fire Academy brought its 53-foot training trailer to the site for all of the department members to use. ...

ORLEANS – The board of health may be warming up to the idea of bringing a pay as you throw program to Orleans, but town officials say there are still questions that need answering before anything can be rolled out. By charging residents according to what they throw out and recycle, the select board hopes pay as you throw can help curb the amount of solid waste handled by the town's transfer station operation, ...

ORLEANS – Inside the Church of the Holy Spirit on Monument Road, volunteers busied themselves once again this summer preparing and delivering meals to those who most need them. For the 10th year, free meals were provided to participants in youth recreation programs from Harwich to Provincetown through Food 4 Kids Cape Cod, a summer meals program based in Orleans that's funded in part by the U.S. Department of ...

ORLEANS – In the parking lot between the Nauset school administration building and Nauset Regional Middle School, a large solar canopy stands covering a fleet of school buses. By year's end, the structure will start saving the school district considerably on its energy costs. After fits and starts, the canopy is expected to go live by Thanksgiving, if not sooner, according to Jim Nowack, assistant director of ...