Latest Stories

BOOK BANS

CHATHAM — A cloud of worry hung over the group of librarians gathered on Jan. 24 at the Eldredge Public Library for the CLAMS network’s annual legislative luncheon. Staff from […]

IMMIGRATION

PROVINCETOWN — Despite a Jan. 21 memo from the federal Dept. of Justice directing U.S. attorneys to crack down on state and local officials seen as uncooperative with immigration enforcement, […]

TURNOVER

TRURO — Town Manager Darrin Tangeman has resigned effective April 8 after four years on the job and with two years remaining on his three-year contract. Assistant Town Manager Kelly […]

GUT PUNCH

WELLFLEET — The massive house on the edge of the eroding bluff at 1440 Chequessett Neck Road is a cliff-hanger in more than one way. In January, the town’s conservation […]

TOWN MEETING

PROVINCETOWN — At the April 7 town meeting, voters will decide on a proposed $1.4-million operating override that would expand the leadership ranks of the fire dept. and pay for […]

CLIMATE SCIENCE

WOODS HOLE — With the federal government following a blueprint to deter climate research at agencies like the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic […]

CUTTING CARE

Editor’s note: Because of a production error, the last section of this article did not appear in the print version of the Feb. 13 edition. The full text of the […]

MORNING FLIGHT

Though winter’s grip has not loosened on the Outer Cape, the birds are already signaling the changing season. Chickadees, song sparrows, and house finches are beginning to sing more frequently, […]

A PROPOSAL

When I was growing up in Mississippi, it was common for folks to talk about young women in terms of their marriage prospects. Despite any number of role models out […]

MEET THE MAKER

Sitting at a workbench in the basement of his Wellfleet house, Alan Hight runs a hand over a glittering pile of dozens of silver spoons and forks. He’s searching for […]

CULTURAL EXCHANGE

ORLEANS — In her youth, Amy Burke’s family welcomed an exchange student from Spain into their Connecticut home. Ever since, she has wanted to host an exchange student in a […]

DANCE

Paulette Durazo started taking dance lessons when she was five years old, and since then her explorations have spanned dance traditions from around the world. She grew up in a […]

READING ROOM

A yellow bus is a familiar sight parked outside the Truro Public Library — and a fond one, to be sure. Besides taking them to school, a yellow schoolbus delivers […]

SPORTIF

PROVINCETOWN — For some, there were reasons other than football to spend a Sunday watching the Super Bowl. Over 60 people braved a frosty night to watch America’s most-watched sports […]

AD MELIORA

EASTHAM — Skylar Baker, a Nauset Regional High School senior, is reading part of Ovid’s first-century magnum opus, Metamorphoses. It’s an enormous collection, but he’s focused on book one, the […]

WARRIORS WATCH: HOCKEY

ORLEANS — The Charles Moore Arena is always packed when Nauset plays, and Wednesday, Feb. 5 was no exception. The fans who arrived early enough to find seats drummed on […]

NATURAL SELECTION

There’s a lone specimen of rough cocklebur on the edge of the low marsh at the Audubon Sanctuary in Wellfleet that’s just waiting to be bumped into. The burrs of […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Feb. 11 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

ASTRAL PROJECTIONS

So long Aquarius and hello Pisces. As the Sun transits from one to the next, you’ll notice a shift away from the power of the thinking mind to that of […]

PROVINCETOWN: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Most meetings in Provincetown are held in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a […]

TRURO: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings in Truro are often held remotely. Go to Truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for an agenda and details on how to join. […]

WELLFLEET: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead  Most meetings in Wellfleet are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you are interested in on the calendar at wellfleet-ma.gov for details. All […]

EASTHAM: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead  Most meetings in Eastham are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you are interested in on the calendar at eastham-ma.gov for details. All […]

PHOTOGRAPHY

Rachel Brown remembers arriving on the Outer Cape as a child in 1944. Her family had moved from New York and rented a cottage on Slough Pond in Truro. “It […]

UGLY TRUTHS

Jiaqi Kang doesn’t like to call their longtime habit — waking in the morning and scribbling recollections of dreams — a “practice,” because that word is “hoity-toity.” But one morning […]

HISTORY REDUX

For weeks, Samuel Tager and a small team have been unwrapping, sorting, and cataloguing a vast collection of Provincetown memorabilia donated to the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum by Sal […]

POETRY

You waited for me before you knew my name. Until I was held in that wash of sunshine, which lent us its final beams before sailing south for winter. Wind […]

RADIO

When Indira Ganesan was a WOMR DJ in the 1980s, she was reprimanded by the program director for playing tracks that he deemed too raucous. “All the early morning shows […]

BIG PICTURE

Kelly Knight is a Providence-based mixed-media artist. She’s spending time in Wellfleet this winter creating abstract images that record her experience of the landscape. Walking through and observing places is […]

A Junior-Size Sondheim Musical After three years of teaching middle- and high-school students in her advanced acting class, Academy Playhouse Artistic Director Judy Hamer knew that her students were ready […]

VIGNETTE

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STEAMERS

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DISSENT

I’ve been mulling why it is that The Brutalist has captivated film critics. At three and a half hours, it’s a weighty film, and much was clearly invested in the […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

As I read news reports about the team of young engineers and computer scientists deployed by Elon Musk to take over the financial systems of the U.S. Dept. of the […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Defending the Rule of Law To the editor: For this child of a family that survived the 1930s and ’40s in Central Europe, the new Leader in Washington, D.C. and […]

OBITUARY

The Rev. John Wiley Nelson of Provincetown died peacefully on Feb. 7, 2025 at Cape Cod Hospital, surrounded by his family. A WOMR station manager and disc jockey known as […]

OBITUARY

Mary V. Martinez, who lived a quiet life dedicated to caring for her parents, children, and grandchildren, died at Royal Falmouth Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Jan. 13, 2025 after […]

TIDE CHART

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Recorded at th­­e Barnstable C­ounty Registry of Deeds from Feb. 3 to Feb. 7, 2025.  PROVINCETOWN Feb. 7. Bernard L. Langeluttig Revocable Living Trust (Northern Trust Co., trustee [Kerrin LeClair, […]

CLASSIFIEDS

FREE LOVE Lellie, I can still see the candles sparkling in your blue eyes on our first date. Now it’s the full moon sparkling in them as it rises over […]

Thieves in Love (Thursday, Feb. 13) The Thief of Bagdad [sic], Raoul Walsh’s 1924 silent adventure film starring Douglas Fairbanks, screens at WOMR Davis Space (494 Commercial St., Provincetown) on […]

Town of Wellfleet ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS Public Hearing February 27, 2025 Pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 40-A, Section 11 and Wellfleet Section 235, the ZBA will hold public […]

Town of Truro NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS LAND LEASE FOR SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC PROJECTS AT TOWN-OWNED LOCATIONS JANUARY 24, 2025 The Town of Truro seeks proposals from qualified vendors to […]

Town of Provincetown SELECT BOARD 2024 GROWTH MANAGEMENT REPORT Public Hearing February 24, 2025 The Provincetown Select Board will hold a public hearing on Monday, February 24, 2025, at 7:00 […]

Town of Eastham SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR LONG-TERM LEASE OF PUBLIC PROPERTY FOR CELL TOWER PURPOSES February 5, 2025 The Town of Eastham seeks proposals from qualified telecommunications providers for a […]

SCENES

EASTHAM — The Chapel in the Pines was a lively scene on the evening of Feb. 1 as seniors arrived from across Cape Cod bringing with them enough walnut and […]

POWER OF THE PURSE

PROVINCETOWN — In the second week of the new Trump administration, the Office of Management and Budget sent out a memo announcing a “temporary pause” in the “disbursement of all […]

CLIMATE OF FEAR

PROVINCETOWN — In response to the Trump administration’s decision on Jan. 21 to lift restrictions barring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from making arrests in “sensitive locations” including […]

RADIOACTIVITY

PLYMOUTH — The 62 concrete-and-steel casks storing more than 4,000 radioactive spent fuel assemblies from the former Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station’s 47 years of operation still sit on the site, […]

H5N1

WELLFLEET — If you feel like you’ve been noticing a lot of dead birds lately, you’re not alone. According to State Ornithologist Andrew Vitz, we are in the midst of […]

LONG TIMELINE

WELLFLEET — On his inauguration day, President Donald Trump signed an executive order meant to start fulfilling his campaign promise to kill offshore wind development “on day one.” The executive […]

WELLFLEET MARINA

WELLFLEET — A Jan. 18 notice from the harbormaster raised eyebrows among shellfishermen here. Winter dockage fees for use of the pier, due on Jan. 31, were being increased dramatically […]

NAUSET SCHOOLS

ORLEANS — The Nauset Regional School Committee and members of the four town elementary school committees that make up the Nauset district voted unanimously last week to offer the superintendent’s […]

HOMECOMING

EASTHAM — Nearly two years after Brait Builders got to work in February 2023, every component of the first phase of Nauset Regional High School’s $170-million reconstruction project is complete. […]

LOCAL JOURNALISM PROJECT

PROVINCETOWN — At the bar at Mac’s on Feb. 2, Tyler Jager ate his first Wellfleet oyster with a bright squeeze of lemon. He had his second with nothing at […]

LOCAL JOURNALISM PROJECT

PROVNCETOWN — Harwich native Brian Zayatz left Cape Cod after he graduated from Nauset High School in 2015. He majored in Black studies at Amherst College, spent some time working […]

D.I.Y.

I fell in love with my hot water bottle when I was in college. And I’m not your granny’s age — I’m talking about last year. I had moved into […]

FOOD MEMORIES

I grew up in 1980s Poland, where my mother and father took an old-school approach to parenting — meaning tough love and a lot of faith in our abilities. This […]

LOVE NOTES

When I was a child, Valentine’s Day was one of my favorite holidays. But I’m not sure I understood that the theme was primarily about people in love. I was […]

GROWING WILD

The bounty of our native flora, with all its beauty and ecological benefit, is available to home gardeners at quite an inexpensive price — if we can just figure out […]

DISNEY DISPATCH

Tourists flock around the shoreline, snapping photographs of rowboats and lobster traps. “Youkoso, Keipukoddo e,” a restaurant worker shouts: Welcome to Cape Cod. But I’m not on Cape Cod: I’m […]

GIRLS HOCKEY

SPRINGFIELD — “Looks like we are a little more consistent today,” Coach Zach Wells of the Nauset-Monomoy Warriors remarked to a bystander with a slight grin as he approached the […]

NATURAL SELECTION

You can spot plenty of native gray birch trees in the brush next to Bound Brook and Pole Dike roads in Wellfleet: just look for the chalky bark with the […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Feb. 4 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

GIRLS BASKETBALL

EASTHAM — All you need to know about the Nauset Regional High School girls basketball team’s heart can be summed up by the reaction to Kendall Faley’s three-pointer at the […]

MIGRANTS

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GRAVEYARD SHIFT

The Shank Painter Pond Wildlife Sanctuary, part of Provincetown’s freshwater ecosystem, is, in a sense, a way back in time. As the heart of winter takes hold, a stillness envelops […]

ASTRAL PROJECTIONS

This week will likely be one full of insights and realizations, especially about your relationships with those around you. The planet Mercury will cazimi the Sun this week in Aquarius. […]

PROVINCETOWN: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Most meetings in Provincetown are held in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a […]

TRURO: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings in Truro are often held remotely. Go to Truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for an agenda and details on how to join. […]

WELLFLEET: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead  Most meetings in Wellfleet are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you are interested in on the calendar at wellfleet-ma.gov for details. All meetings are […]

EASTHAM: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead  Most meetings in Eastham are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you are interested in on the calendar at eastham-ma.gov for details. All […]

EXCURSIONS

Grace Hopkins’s photographs are easily mistaken for abstract expressionist paintings, but she doesn’t use paint and brushes to create the splashes of color and gestural swirls in what she refers […]

BIG PICTURE

Grace Emmet is both an artist and curator of community education at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. She’s a close observer of nature and maintains an ecologically sustainable art […]

INDIE SCREEN

Given the state of transphobia and xenophobia today, I’m not sure that having a trans lead in Emilia Pérez who starts out as a Mexican drug cartel boss is going […]

THEATER

BREWSTER — Rehearsal starts with a circle. It’s Tuesday evening, and 20 teenagers from the Cape Rep Theatre’s Young Company face each other on the stage. Though they’re empty-handed, they […]

GRACE NOTES

In Wellfleet Elementary School’s basement music room, five adults sit strumming guitars, led by their teacher, Austin Smith. “Was anyone able to get a little practice in this week?” Smith […]

A Musical Pirate Adventure In Melina Long’s 2003 children’s book How I Became a Pirate, young Jeremy Jacob is playing on a beach when he is enlisted by Capt. Braid […]

VIGNETTE

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STEAMERS

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THE YEAR-ROUNDER

January 21 was a brutally cold day. Driving down Route 6, late for an appointment, I noticed not one but two vehicles with giant American flags billowing behind them. Of […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Following the Jan. 29 collision of a jet and an Army helicopter in Washington, D.C. that killed 67 people, the president blamed hiring practices at the Federal Aviation Administration for […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

‘Premature’ Regulations To the editor: Re “Wellfleet Adopts New Septic Regulations” [Jan. 30, front page]: Your article on Wellfleet’s wastewater planning failed to mention a critical issue: the board of […]

OBITUARY

Lewis B. Davis of Provincetown, known to his friends as Lewie, died on Jan. 22, 2025 at the Lily House in Wellfleet, comforted by family and friends. He was 77. […]

OBITUARY

For his family and friends, Francis Iacono embodied the best of Provincetown: he was an artist, the owner of two much-loved restaurants, and an old-school lobster diver. He was also […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats. This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

CLASSIFIEDS

SERVICES  Wallpaper installation by Peter Burnetter, master painter and paperhanger. Full-service contractor. Interiors and exteriors. Please call 508-349-0161. [4-24]  Driver available for long-distance rides to the Boston area, Providence, in-between, […]

Visions of Home (Thursday, Feb. 6) Cape Cod Museum of Art (60 Hope Lane, Dennis) celebrates “Why Cape Cod?,” a juried members’ exhibition curated by Laura Shabott, with a reception […]

Town of Wellfleet Select Board Public Hearing February 18, 2025 Notice is hereby given that the Wellfleet Selectboard will hold a public hearing on TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2025, AT 6:00 […]

Town of Truro SELECT BOARD RENEWAL OF AQUACULTURE LICENSE In accordance MGL Chapter 130 § 60 with an application filed on January 2, 2025 by Douglas Grey, 8 Blackfish Road, […]

  Town of Provincetown Community Preservation Committee Public Hearing February 13, 2025 Community Preservation Act The Provincetown Community Preservation Committee will conduct a hybrid public hearing on Thursday, February 13, […]

Town of Eastham Planning Board Public Hearing February 19, 2025 The Town of Eastham Planning Board will hold a public hearing at 5:00 PM ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2025, in […]

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

This article was updated on Jan. 30, 2025. WELLFLEET — With young families finding the Outer Cape increasingly unaffordable, elementary school enrollment has plunged by about 30 percent since the […]

ENVIRONMENT

WELLFLEET — The board of health approved a new set of septic system regulations at its Jan. 22 meeting. The rules are an essential part of the town’s Targeted Watershed […]

ON THE WATERFRONT

PROVINCETOWN — Every year, about a quarter-million passengers arrive or depart from the ferry terminal at the tip of Provincetown’s MacMillan Pier. Meanwhile, a fleet of commercial fishing vessels unload […]

TRURO PUBLIC WORKS

TRURO — Three months before town meeting, the effort to replace Truro’s Dept. of Public Works (DPW) facility is gaining momentum. The ad hoc building committee, tasked with recommending a […]

STORM DEFENSE

PROVINCETOWN — The owners of 599 Commercial St. and two adjacent pathways that belong to properties across the street — one numbered 597A Commercial and one that is part of […]

FISCAL DUTIES

WELLFLEET — Town Administrator Tom Guerino is even busier than usual, says his executive assistant, as Wellfleet embarks on a new kind of financial review. For the first time, a […]

OPPORTUNITY ZONE

EASTHAM — It hardly looks like the Eastham so many of us know. Locals chat on benches edged with flowers, while visitors dine under red umbrellas at the sidewalk’s edge. […]

REAL ESTATE

ORLEANS — Software entrepreneurs Patricia and Thomas R. Kennedy, who live in Miami Beach, Fla. but own properties in Brewster and Harwich, have purchased the mortgage note for the financially […]