ORLEANS — Like many, she stayed close to home the last few months. She picked up a lot of information about Deep Pond, and made sure to get as much sun as she could. Now she’s taking a break before moving to Pleasant Bay for the summer and fall. She (that’s how her creators refer to her) is PEARL, aka Platform for Expanding AUV exploRation to Longer ranges (“Auv” stands for autonomous underwater vehicles). C...

ORLEANS — England and America have been called “two countries divided by a common language.” One might say Chatham and Orleans are two towns divided by a common beach. Geography has made Orleans the gatekeeper for Chatham’s North Beach, aka the southern reach of Nauset Beach, and that has led to disagreements over administration and finances. Each town sells resident oversand vehicle stickers to its own citi...

ORLEANS — Pending contract negotiations, Nashoba Regional School District Superintendent Brooke Clenchy will serve as interim superintendent of the Nauset Regional School District for the 2021-22 school year. She has extensive experience as superintendent of several other systems and was one of two senior associate commissioners of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Clenchy...

After eight years as executive director of the 300-plus member Orleans Chamber of Commerce, Noëlle Pina has announced she is moving on to other pursuits. Pina will join longtime associate and former chamber chair Brian Junkins in a marketing position at Friends' Marketplace. Pina worked in retail marketing in Nassau, Bahamas before moving to Cape Cod in 2010, having studied public relations at Florida Sou...

ORLEANS — The new owner of the former Academy of Performing Arts building at 5 Giddiah Hill Rd. is taking steps to restore the dance studios there. Meanwhile, across town at the Academy Playhouse’s performance space, a new dance studio/classroom is being prepared in what was the Academy’s original dance studio before it acquired the Giddiah Hill building decades ago. “We have been holding online classes all ...

ORLEANS - Pending contract negotiations, Nashoba Regional School District Superintendent Brooke Clenchy will serve as interim superintendent of the Nauset Regional School District. She has extensive experience as superintendent of several other systems and was senior associate commissioner of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.   Clenchy was one of three finalists interviewed Monday ...

ORLEANS — The select board and the finance committee are recommending that the town buy the Governor Prence Inn properties for $2.8 million and kick in another $125,000 for maintenance, insurance, and design services for demolition. "The basic message is to secure the property," Select Board Chair Kevin Galligan said. "It's so important we control this so we can plan for the property in an inclusive way t...

ORLEANS — Both affordable housing developments have been in the news for years. One was poised to receive a comprehensive permit from the zoning board of appeals last night (April 7), while the other is a few months away from identifying a developer and a plan. Both the former (Pennrose, LLC’s plan for 62 rental units at the former Cape Cod 5 operations center on West Road) and the latter (ongoing work to cr...

ORLEANS — When the town says transfer station stickers are on sale, they really mean it. The stickers aren’t just available. Until July 1, you might even say they’re being offered at a discount. It’s proposed that the basic sticker price will go up from $140 to $165 as of July 1. But most stickers are sold each year well before that date, so anyone buying a sticker before then can lock in a lower price fo...

The $131,825,665 renovation and expansion of Nauset Regional High School was approved by all four district towns in a special election Tuesday. Each town approved two separate questions, one authorizing the regional school committee to borrow the cost of the project, the other exempting each town's share from Proposition 2½. “The voters of the Nauset Region have spoken, resoundingly,” Christopher Easley, ch...

ORLEANS – Orleans has a broad array of dining options likely to suit most any culinary craving. But one thing that’s been missing around here is Japanese cuisine. That will change with the arrival of Ten Yen, mainly a sushi bar but also serving a limited number of ramen bowls each day, according to owner-chef Michael Jacek. “We’re hoping to open in early- to mid-May,” Jacek said, explaining that renovations...

NORTH CHATHAM — A just-published study led by researcher Megan Winton of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy concludes that white sharks in local waters spend nearly half of their time in waters 15 feet deep or shallower. The research signals that, while rare, encounters between white sharks and people are a regular possibility. “These sharks are here and they spend a lot of time in shallow water when they ...