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☀️ Sandwich Professor Advised Moon Mission

☀️ Sandwich Professor Advised Moon Mission

Plus: Beloved Swap Shop on the move

Cape Coddah
April 03, 2026

Presented by:

Good morning Cape Cod and Happy Easter weekend. However you're celebrating, a big family dinner, quiet sunrise service, or just enjoying a long weekend, hope it's a good one. Thanks for being here. 🌸

In this week’s Cape Coddah:

Highland Lighthouse warns boaters
4.6M fine after fatal cave-in
Events and live music

Let’s get to it.

💧 Joint Base PFAS Cleanup on Hold

Joint Base Cape Cod cleanup of PFAS contamination and military munitions will be on hold for two years due to funding shortages, contractors told the base cleanup team on March 25, though the program's federal congressional allotment wasn't cut.

A $300M shortfall in Air Force extra allotments means there's no money to cover expanded cleanup requirements due to better understanding of environmental impacts at airfields nationwide, said Carl Champion, Air Force restoration program manager.

Work on hold includes cleanup of contaminated sludge at the old base landfill and study of groundwater flows across the base. However, groundwater extraction wells will be installed at Ashumet Pond next year to stop PFAS flow from the fire training area.

Advisories warn against eating fish from Johns and Ashumet ponds, though swimming is safe. Read more»

🐋 Highland Light Warns Boats

Truro's Highland Lighthouse is hosting StationKeeper, a marine safety device that sends alerts to mariners on their existing AIS (Automatic Identification System) when North Atlantic right whales are in their path or when they're speeding in federally designated slow zones.

Created by Moses Calouro of Cape Cod-based Motion Info, the technology solves the "gap between knowing where a whale is and telling the mariner where it is," sending repeated alerts until vessels leave the area or slow down.

With only about 380 North Atlantic right whales left, including just 70 breeding females, the goal is to install boxes on lighthouses and tall structures along the entire East Coast by year's end. A single station like Highland Light can reach 15-20 miles beyond shipping lanes, covering recreational and commercial traffic. Read more»

SPONSORED BY: CAPE SZN

☀️ Life Happens. The Cape Helps.

Bad day? The Cape helps. Good day? The Cape makes it better. Somewhere in between? You guessed it, the Cape helps.

This sweatshirt captures what everyone who loves this place already knows: there's something healing about being here. Whether it's the ocean views, the slower pace, or just being somewhere that feels like home, the Cape has a way of fixing what's broken.

Wear it as a mantra, a mood, or just a really comfortable reminder that you've got the right priorities.

🚧 $4.6M Fine After Fatal Yarmouth Cave-In

The U.S. Department of Labor cited Revoli Construction Co. Inc. with seven willful, 33 repeat, and 17 serious violations after a November 18, 2025 trench collapse in Yarmouth killed one worker and seriously injured another, assessing $4,699,362 in proposed penalties.

OSHA's investigation found workers were removing sandy soil and installing steel plates outside a trench when backfilled sand collapsed and trapped two workers inside, with one fatally engulfed.

Violations included failing to provide safe trench exits, lack of cave-in protection, unsupported underground utilities, spoil piles within two feet of excavation, failure to install shoring system per design, using damaged protective systems, and exposing workers to electrical and fall hazards.

The employer has 15 business days to comply, request an informal conference, or contest the findings. Read more»

📸 @tbradlee |📍Harborview Beach

Tag @thecapecoddah to get your photos in the Coddah!

🌖 E. Sandwich Professor Advised Moon Mission

East Sandwich resident James Head, a Brown University professor who worked on Apollo landing site selection, astronaut training, and mission operations, advised NASA's Artemis II mission that launched Wednesday at 6:24 PM, carrying humans around the moon for the first time in nearly 60 years.

Head is currently co-investigator on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission, gathering data for Artemis landing site selection. He sees the moon as "a preserved archive of Earth's past" where "the earliest geologic history is still preserved."

The 10-day mission is testing the Orion spacecraft before future lunar landings, similar to how Apollo 8, 9, and 10 preceded Apollo 11's 1969 landing. Recently retired astronaut Sunita Williams, speaking in Woods Hole in February, called Artemis II "a crucial step toward a sustainable return to the moon." Read more»

Local preservationists are trying to save a historic A&P tile mosaic in Art Deco style embedded in the ground outside 631 Main Street before Lilly Pulitzer moves into the building.

Cape and Islands United Way is hosting annual Community Baby Showers on May 9 on Martha's Vineyard, May 17 on Cape Cod, and May 28 on Nantucket to provide essential baby supplies for low-income expectant families.

Nic Chad, owner of Cape Cod Trivia, runs trivia games at four different restaurants plus occasional weekend private parties, having started nearly four years ago while bartending alongside his full-time job as a senior banker.

Chatham's select board voted to raise the short-term rental registration fee from $50 to $200 to cover hiring a new building inspector for annual inspections of 939 registered STRs required under the state's building code.

🛒 Swap Shop Gets New Home

Wellfleet's beloved swap shop, housed in a 24-by-20-foot rickety shed with a leaking roof since 1992, will move this summer into a new metal building nearly three times larger at the transfer station.

Volunteer coordinator Roland Blair oversees 162 volunteers at the free community trading post where residents donate, borrow, and browse eclectic items, but the main draw is the social scene. "It's important to the social network of this town," volunteer Ben Stewart said. "They just gab. Most of the time, they're in the way."

The original shed was donated by Dan Silverman and Janice Gray, who dismantled it at their home and moved it in pieces on March 1, 1992. Blair hopes to salvage a piece—"the door or the window"—as a facade on the new shop, which could open as early as June 1. Read more»

Nantucket issued a cease-and-desist order to ACK Natural dispensary to halt cannabis deliveries citing a 2017 local zoning bylaw prohibiting delivery, though the dispensary's attorney argues state law allowing delivery supersedes the local bylaw.

Verizon sued Chilmark in federal court after the select board unanimously rejected its proposal to install small cell wireless antennas on utility poles, alleging the town's denial was "arbitrary and capricious."

Nantucket's commercial scalloping season ended Tuesday with an estimated 7,500 to 8,000 bushels landed, a 20-25% decline from last season's 10,000+ bushels but close to the decade's average.

The Steamship Authority board approved charter boat company Helen H to run inter-Island service between the Vineyard and Nantucket on April 4 and May 3 for high school sporting events.

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⚖️ Nantucket Man Sentenced to 15 Years

Jossue Ovidio Tejada, 31, a Nantucket resident who worked in plumbing and HVAC, was sentenced last Tuesday to 15 years in prison followed by lifetime supervised release for transporting child sexual abuse material after Customs and Border Patrol discovered thousands of files on his phone during inspection at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on March 1, 2024, when he returned from the Dominican Republic.

Forensic examination revealed 4,162 files of child sexual abuse material, including 418 depicting abuse of infants or toddlers. "This is about as serious an offense as it gets," Judge Kenneth D. Bell said during sentencing. "What is depicted in those videos actually happened."

Tejada must register as a sex offender and pay $79,300 in restitution, and remains in custody pending placement at a federal facility. Read more»

👋 Meet: Augustus
🐾 Dachshund
🎂 12 years old
♀︎ Male
Available to adopt at MSCPA-Cape Cod

Explore Peru with purpose

See Peru through the eyes of the women who call it home on Intrepid’s new Women’s Expedition. Travel with an expert female leader and a small group of like-minded women - trek the Andes, take part in a traditional textile workshop and join a female shaman’s spiritual practice on this immersive 8-day adventure.

Explore the new trips

SUNDAY - APRIL 5

Mary Macavoy @ Love Farms | 1 PM
Rose Clancy @ Chatham Squire | 5 PM
Sean Brennan @ Margaritaville | 7 PM

_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. We'll let you know when something's sponsored.}

Friday

53 🌡️ 49 | 🌧️ | 💧 45% | 💨 SSW 13 mph

Saturday

53 🌡️ 39 | ⛅️ | 💧 2% | 💨 NNE 12 mph

Sunday

58 🌡️ 42 | 🌧️ | 💧 84% | 💨 SSW 18 mph

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 40ºF

320 Long Pond Road, Marstons Mills
Asking $1.098M
3 🛏️
2.5 🛁
3,223 sqft
1.25 acre lot

_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. We'll always let you know when something's sponsored.}

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