EAST HARWICH — While they’ll be taking steps to keep themselves healthy during the pandemic, a group of dedicated volunteers will be protecting the health of local waterways once again this summer. This week, a coalition of groups led by the Pleasant Bay Alliance held a training session for volunteers who will be sampling local waterways several times this summer to help paint a picture of water quality trends...

Graduation at Monomoy Regional High School might have looked a little different than in the past, but when the Class of 2020 was celebrated Tuesday evening, it was clear that in spite of a surreal senior year, the graduates still had much to celebrate. “We are an unprecedented class built for unprecedented times,” said Valedictorian Lillian Ryan as a blanket of fog swirled throughout Monomoy’s athletic turf be...

HARWICH — Due to the high cost of moving and rehabilitating a Victorian house that once served as the rectory and later the thrift shop at Holy Trinity Church, the affordable housing trust has decided not to pursue the building as affordable housing. The Roman Catholic Diocese has plans to remove the building, constructed in 1914 on the west side of the church on Route 28 in West Harwich. The structure has bee...

HARWICH — The need for rental assistance is more and more evident in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several organizations are seeking to raise funds to keep people in housing, and the affordable housing trust is looking at assisting the local housing authority. Affordable Housing Trust Chairman Donald Howell told members he has had discussions with David Nixon, chairman of the community preservation commit...

More than 25,000 free meals have been distributed by the Monomoy Regional School District since classes shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Nauset district has also been distributing free meals daily for all school-aged kids in the community over the past several months. Concerned about students continuing to receive the nutritional benefits the food provides after school ends next week, the Monomoy ...

HARWICH — The attorney for The Port and Ember restaurants in Harwich Port has asked the town to preserve evidence and produce records relating to alleged violations of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission’s advisory regarding the sale of beer and wine and on-premise consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. Attorney Raymond Tomlinson, representing the restaurants, said in his notice to the town that...

HARWICH — Remote sections of the town often draw unwanted activities, and conservation lands seem to take the brunt of such spoils. That seems to be the case on land just north of Robbins Pond in North Harwich. The conservation commission is calling for enhanced enforcement in the 16-plus-acre area, including a former cranberry bog and other parcels nearby. Trash has been dumped in the area, dirt bikes roam fr...

HARWICH —The town's summer recreation programs are being put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recreation Department Director Eric Beebe said the summer playground program and the swimming and tennis programs were being canceled, at least for the beginning of the season. He'll be keeping a close eye on what will be allowed in the third phases of Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening of Massachusetts. “There ar...

HARWICH — Fundraising to preserve open space always takes a winding trail of commitments from the community. Perhaps no group has walked that trail more than the Harwich Conservation Trust, which is looking for more of those commitments to purchase a 6.65-acre parcel that will complete a 70-acre conservation puzzle along the Herring River corridor. HCT Executive Director Michael Lach said the path to the purch...

HARWICH – On May 25, for eight minutes and 46 seconds, George Floyd cried out for help, calling for his mother, a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck until Floyd’s life ended on the street of the Minnesota city. On June 6, an estimated 1,000 peaceful protesters kneeled in silence in Brooks Park for eight minutes and 46 seconds in Floyd’s honor, the only sounds the chirping of birds in nearby trees ...

WELLFLEET – Members of the Cape Tech Class of 2020 might have been the last class to graduate from the soon-to-be demolished school building on Pleasant Lake Avenue, but they were the first to hold their graduation at the Wellfleet Drive-In, and while the venue was born of necessity due to the COVID pandemic, the event was one to remember. Graduates and their families rolled into the theater lot on June 4 with...

Data from some surprising sources, including town water departments, indicates that seasonal homeowners came to Cape Cod earlier than normal this spring — but there’s no evidence showing that they brought the coronavirus with them, State Senator Julian Cyr said last week. Speaking for the Cape Cod Reopening Task Force, Cyr said the group was seeking to learn how many people had come to Cape Cod in the earlier ...