CHATHAM — Forget Halloween. For regional tourism officials, the most frightening part of 2020 happened in the spring, when it seemed that the high season for visitors might not happen at all. But the summer season turned out to be not as bad as feared, thanks in part to cooperation between businesses and all levels of government. That was one message Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Wendy Nort...

CHATHAM – The best part of working for the housing authority, said retiring executive director John Stewart, is getting to know the residents. “We've had some very colorful characters,” he said. “I don't mean that in a bad way. People have very interesting histories. It was nice to know people that way.” Tomorrow will be Stewart's last day as director of both the Chatham and Harwich housing authorities, a t...

Early in-person voting for the Nov. 3 presidential election ends tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 30) after a two-week period that brought a large percentage of voters to the polls. Election officials expect a busy but manageable election day thanks to the high number of pre-election ballots being cast. As of Monday, 1,268 people had voted early in Chatham, 20 percent of the town's 6,153 registered voters. The number is...

It’s not news that nutrients, mainly from residential septic systems, are responsible for water quality problems on the coastline and in the Cape’s lakes and ponds. What’s new is that the problem appears to be getting worse. This week, t he Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC) released its second annual State of the Waters: Cape Cod report, which showed an increase from last year in the percentage of...

Emily Yerby works for The Greater Boston Food Bank and came home from an “insanely” hard day at work too exhausted to cook dinner. So she threw some haddock chowder on the stove, the same chowder that has been offered at pantries across the state. “It was perfect,” she said. “This for me has been a silver lining during all this chaos.” The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance's new haddock chowder first...

CHATHAM – A half century ago, while working for Bell Labs, Michael Tompsett invented an image sensor chip that became the world's first digital camera. The first-ever digital photo was a picture of his wife, Margaret, which ended up on the cover of the January 1973 edition of Electronics Magazine. Last week Tompsett was honored for his achievements, which included work to reduce the size of bulky television ca...

CHATHAM – As the Chatham Children's Fund prepares for the holiday season, a local business has stepped up to help meet what is anticipated to be a higher than usual demand for assistance to local families. Broad Reach Healthcare has offered to match up to $500 in gift card donations to the organization. Due to the pandemic, rather than shopping for clothing and holiday gifts for local families, the Children's ...

CHATHAM – The replacement of sidewalks in the west end of the downtown business district begins Monday, Oct. 26, and the concurrent repaving of Cross Street will limit pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the area through mid-December. Sidewalks will be replaced from the rotary to Library Lane on the north side and Cross Street on the south side. The work began at Library Lane; crews will work west to the rotar...

CHATHAM – A piece of Chatham history that was thought to be lost may be returning to town. The Coast Guard boathouse that stood on the shores of Stage Harbor from 1936 until 2009, when it was taken by barge to Quincy and later moved to Hull, was slated to be auctioned Thursday. But a local resident who had previously headed an effort to keep the structure in town was able to convince the current owner to pull ...

CHATHAM – Selectmen last week rejected an allegation that the signing of a federal airport grant contract by the town manager violated the Open Meeting Law, but agreed that greater transparency was appropriate for some ad hoc committees that had previously not complied with the law's requirements. The Open Meeting Law complaint was filed by James Fulton, who alleged that the law was violated when Town Manager ...

CHATHAM – For Dan Meservey and other West Chatham business owners, it's deja vu all over again. A decade ago, businesses struggled through several seasons as sewers were installed along Route 28, limiting and sometimes shutting down access completely. Last week, major construction began on the West Chatham Roadway Project, and although the road is ostensibly open to traffic, long delays and the torn-up surface...

Chatham First In Mass. With This Requirement CHATHAM — Though it’s not required by state law, Chatham restaurants reporting positive cases of COVID-19 among staff, patrons or vendors must now notify the public by placing announcements near entrances and by posting the information on their websites or social media accounts. The emergency order passed by the board of health took effect last Thursday, and ap...