The Cape Coddah
Posts
☀️ He hated lobstering, now he owns 300 traps

☀️ He hated lobstering, now he owns 300 traps

Plus: The airport restaurant you don't need a ticket for

Cape Coddah
January 09, 2026

Together with:

Good morning Cape Cod. January on Cape Cod feels like when year-rounders transform from 'smile and wave at tourists' mode into 'make direct eye contact with other locals and silently acknowledge our shared survival. 🙂

In this week’s Cape Coddah:

Toxic algae in Falmouth ponds
Hangar B turns 15
Events and live music

Let’s get to it.

🚧 Sagamore Bridge Heads Toward Bids

The $2.1B Sagamore Bridge replacement is moving towards major milestones with the state planning to solicit construction bids this spring and issue requests for proposals in the fall, according to MegaProjects Delivery Office Executive Director Luisa Paiewonsky.

Contractors could receive notice to proceed by late 2027, with the first bridge completion targeted for 2033.

The project has secured over $1.2B in federal funding, $350M from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and $750M from Massachusetts. Major steps ahead include completing environmental permits and starting eminent domain proceedings affecting more than a dozen Sagamore homeowners.

The separate $2.4B Bourne Bridge replacement has no secured funding yet. Both will be twin tied-arch structures built approximately 10 feet apart. Read more»

⚠️ Toxic Algae Warnings Triple in Falmouth

Falmouth's Board of Health heard an urgent plea to take action on toxic cyanobacteria blooms choking local ponds. Kim Comart of the Falmouth Ponds Coalition presented data showing bloom warnings jumped from three in 2021 to eight in 2025, driven by excessive nutrients from fertilizers, septic systems, and road runoff.

The health impacts are real. Mashpee resident Audrey Kelleher told the board she got an eye infection and skin rash after pulling her dog from Ashumet Pond during a bloom. Toxic algae can cause everything from skin irritation to liver damage if ingested.

Comart urged the board to enforce Falmouth's nitrogen bylaw, support urine diversion technologies, and pressure the Department of Public Works to maintain storm drains near ponds. Board member George Heufelder captured the frustration: "I shake my head every time I see a green lawn right next to a pond." Read more»

SPONSORED BY CHATHAM HARVESTERS

Seafood isn’t just something you buy. It’s something you can know.

Weekly updates on what’s landing on Cape Cod
Fish share news & seasonal availability
Cooking tips and recipes
Stories from the local fishermen behind your catch

Fresh, local, and transparent, just like our seafood.

Sign Up• Stay in the Know

💔 Attleboro Pilot Killed in P-town Crash

Christopher Burroughs, a 60-year-old private pilot from Attleboro, died when his single-engine Cessna 172 crashed and caught fire at Provincetown Municipal Airport on January 4 at approximately 3:15 PM. He was the only person aboard.

Burroughs had departed Taunton Airport, briefly landed in Marshfield for just three minutes, then headed across Cape Cod Bay toward Provincetown. He maintained a low altitude—never above 1,800 feet—likely due to cloud cover. Flight data showed the plane traveling at 62 knots at 325 feet during its final approach, facing a challenging 15-knot northwest crosswind gusting to 18 knots.

Provincetown firefighters extinguished the blaze within 15 minutes. The airport remained closed for two days while the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration investigated, reopened Tuesday evening. It was the airport's 11th fatal accident since opening in 1949. Read more»

📸 @color_me_by_the_sea |📍Popponesset Beach

Tag @thecapecoddah to get your photos in the Coddah!

🦞 He hated lobstering. Now he owns 300 traps.

Glenn Svenningsen used to hate lobstering—he'd get seasick riding along with his dad. But a neighbor's enthusiasm changed everything. Before eighth grade, he got 25 lobster pots and a student permit. At 18, the Cape Cod Tech senior now owns two boats, 300 traps, and wakes up at 4:15 AM without complaint. "When I have to work on land I hate getting up, but on the ocean it's no problem," he said.

He's also handy—bought a $500 truck wreck and welded it back together, earning the nickname "bungie man" from friends. He and his dad have been rebuilding one of his boats, the Hex, replacing gunnels, the doghouse, deck, and transom. "I have so much debt," Glenn admitted. "You will make it back if you work hard enough."

Then new federal V-notching regulations hit, forcing Outer Cape lobstermen to throw back nearly a quarter of their catch. "It devalues my permit," he said. Still, he's showing up to meetings and learning the business. Read more»

Chatham firefighters rescued a 4-year-old Golden Retriever named Goose from thin ice at Goose Pond in just two minutes after her owner called 911 instead of attempting a dangerous self-rescue.

Brewster's select board approved expanding the town's oyster grant program by eight new half-acre plots to address a 25-person waitlist that hasn't moved in years, doubling the current number of commercial aquaculture sites.

The Harwich Planning Board expressed strong support for a revised 28-unit rental housing project at the beloved Sundae School ice cream shop site after developers scaled back plans.

🛩️ This isn't Airport Food. This is Hangar B.

Tucked inside Chatham Airport, Hangar B is celebrating 15 years of proving airport food doesn't have to be sad packaged sandwiches and stale pretzels. Owner Tracy Shields says most customers "are just coming to the restaurant," with summer crowds hitting 300 people daily and wait times stretching to two hours.

The small operation isn't your typical airport food. Everything's made fresh in-house—jams, soups, and those popular potato buttermilk doughnuts. Shields brings a dinner-restaurant mindset to breakfast, using "unusual ingredients" like panko-crusted eggplant with poached eggs and fried Brussels sprouts. "Sometimes with breakfast, people just phone it in," she said. "We wanted to focus on bringing the same attention to detail."

The four-person staff operates year-round, currently open Thursday through Sunday, 8 AM to 1 PM. Read more»

Nantucket's historic 1812 bronze bell at the Unitarian Church rang again Tuesday after an 18-month, $55,000 restoration that replaced its massive yoke and will return hourly chimes to downtown streets.

More than 700 Islanders gathered at the Portuguese-American Club to remember Patricia Bergeron, 69, a 47-year hospital veteran and decade-long club president, and Roy Scheffer, 77, a legendary fisherman, who died together in a New Year's Day scalloping accident off Edgartown.

Construction began this week on Nantucket's largest affordable housing project, a $59M, 64-unit development that took a decade to finance and will serve people and families earning between 30 and 120 percent of the island's median income.

The Red House, Martha's Vineyard's only peer recovery center serving 200 to 300 people weekly, will relocate this spring to the MVCS campus after the hospital declined to renew its 10-year lease.

This newsletter is 100% free to read, independently owned, and locally operated.

Your contributions go toward keeping the newsletter going so we can have more fun and build more community. We appreciate any and all support my dear friends!

Already a supporter? Thank you so much. 🙏

🚨 Hyannis Man Held on Drug Charges

Barnstable Police and the DEA arrested 41-year-old Liam Bassett after a month-long investigation into cocaine and fentanyl trafficking from his Hyannis apartment.

A January 2 raid at 27 Parkway Place uncovered approximately 65.5 grams of crack cocaine, 35 grams of fentanyl packaged in "quarter stick" baggies with purple tint suggesting xylazine adulterant, 40 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, Adderall pills, and $2,550 in cash.

Bassett faces multiple trafficking charges and is being held on $25,000 bail pending a January 12 dangerousness hearing. The bust underscores ongoing efforts to combat deadly fentanyl mixtures contributing to Cape Cod's overdose crisis. Read more»

👋 Meet: Max
🐾 Labrador Retriever
🎂 9 years old
♀︎ Male
Available to adopt at MSCPA-Cape Cod

FRIDAY - JANUARY 9

Toddler Town @ Wellfleet Library | 10:30 AM
Museum Tour @ P-town Art Assoc. | 12 PM
Sewing Bees @ Brewster Ladies Library | 1 PM
Free Fridays @ Fine Art Works Center | 5 PM
Dance Lessons @ W. Falmouth Library | 6 PM
Don’t Dress for Dinner @ Barn. Comedy | 7:30
Paperback Comedy Show @ Red Nun | 8 PM

SATURDAY - JANUARY 10

Hike @ Great Island Trail (Wellfleet) | 9 AM
Off Season Tours @ Museums on the Green | 10
Hike @ Little Cliff & Higgins Pond | 10 AM
Knitters Guild @ Centerville Library | 11 AM
Make a Succulent Bowl @ Mahoney’s Garden | 2
Lego Club @ Hyannis Library | 2 PM
Ducky Day Crafts @ S. Yarmouth Library | 2 PM
Winter Poetry & Speed Friending @ O'Playsis | 7
Don’t Dress for Dinner @ Barn. Comedy | 7:30

SUNDAY - JANUARY 11

Mahjong @ Dennis Library | 12:30 PM
Stranger Things Paint & Pour @ Naukabout | 1
Remembering Camp Wellfleet @ Salt Pond | 1
Anne-Marie Runfola Talk @ Cult. Cent. of CC | 2
Don’t Dress for Dinner @ Barn. Comedy | 2:30

SUNDAY - JANUARY 11

Players' Olenellus @ W. Falmouth Library | 4 PM
Rose Clancy @ Chatham Squire | 5 PM
David Garden @ Margaritaville | 7 PM

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

Friday

48 🌡️ 41 | ☁️ | 💧 4% | 💨 S 13 mph

Saturday

45 🌡️ 38 | 🌧️ | 💧 71% | 💨 N 7 mph

Sunday

42🌡️ 28 | 🌧️ | 💧 75% | 💨 WSW 7 mph

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 35ºF

9 Thistlemore Road, Provincetown
Asking $2.495M
3 🛏️
2.5 🛁
1,635 sqft
8,712 sqft lot

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

Thanks for reading The Cape Coddah today. If you found something useful or entertaining, please share it with someone who goes to the airport just for the food. 🙂