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☀️ Cape teen first to receive new gene therapy

☀️ Cape teen first to receive new gene therapy

Plus: Vegas is coming to Cape Cod (sort of)

Cape Coddah
November 14, 2025

Together with:

Good morning Cape Cod. This is The Cape Coddah, the newsletter that sends you Cape news and events, so you’re always the most interesting one in the group chat.

In this week’s Cape Coddah:

P-town to enforce Commercial St. rules
Fight over Cape Cod Country Club intensifies
Events and live music

Let’s get to it.

⚕️ Teen First to Receive CRISPR Gene Therapy

Jayden Wilsey, 15, a Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe member from Falmouth, was released from Boston Children's Hospital on September 15th after spending a year fighting sickle cell disease and becoming the hospital's first patient to receive FDA-approved CRISPR-based gene therapy.

Diagnosed at birth with sickle cell beta thalassemia, Jayden had been hospitalized since August 2024 with chronic pain and lung complications. Doctors gave him only a 50/50 chance of surviving the procedure, but the therapy worked beyond all expectations.

"This is the best his health has ever been since he was a baby," said father Aubrey "A.J." Wilsey. Jayden hasn't needed a single blood transfusion since treatment, and his previously failing lungs, which absorbed only 43% oxygen and required a transplant, have recovered miraculously.

He's now back at Mashpee Middle-High School, with checkups every six months for 15 years. Read more»

🗳️ Battle Over Country Club Heats Up Before Meeting

With Town Meeting approaching, competing campaigns are intensifying over three articles that will determine whether the Cape Cod Country Club becomes a 43,056-panel solar farm or remains preserved.

Articles 12 and 13 would allow PureSky Energy to donate 137 acres to the town, lease back 82 acres for solar development, and permanently conserve 55 acres. Article 14, backed by Friends of the Cape Cod Country Club, would remove the golf course from the town's solar overlay district, though town counsel says it would have "zero impact" since the Planning Board's October 28th approval already froze zoning for three years.

Owner David Friel originally explored selling to developers for 240 homes before negotiating with PureSky starting in 2019. PureSky's counsel warned that rejecting the solar project would likely result in residential development instead.

The Friends group has gathered 3,693 petition signatures while both sides run full-page newspaper ads. Read more»

SPONSORED BY CAPE SZN

🎄 Deck the Halls, Cape Cod Style

There's something magical about the holidays on Cape Cod, the festive downtown strolls, the cozy feeling of being exactly where you want to be. This sweatshirt captures it all with a little Cape twist on the classic Christmas trees.

Soft, festive, and made for everything from tree lightings to lazy mornings with hot cocoa. Whether you're holiday shopping or hosting friends at your place, it's the perfect blend of comfort and Cape Christmas cheer.

Want to see your business here? Contact us.

🚦 P-town Serious About Commercial St. Safety

Provincetown's select board approved a bunch of safety measures for Commercial Street at its November 10th meeting, hoping to get most changes in place before next summer.

Police Chief Greg Hennick proposed giving summer community service officers the power to actually enforce traffic rules, like stopping wrong-way bicycles and electric scooters and writing tickets. The board loved this idea after years of asking the previous chief for stronger enforcement with no luck.

Board members also want stricter pedicab regulations including mandatory driver orientation, higher insurance requirements, set rates to stop price haggling with tourists, and possibly capping the number of licenses. Town Manager Alex Morse suggested lowering speed limits, banning pedicab electric motors in certain spots, limiting rental scooter numbers, and hiring consultants to redesign parts of the street.

The board also approved traffic calming measures for Bradford Street and new 14-day parking limits for most municipal lots. Read more»

📸 @nick_haveran | 📍Crosby Landing

Tag @thecapecoddah to get your photos in the Coddah!

🏠 Chatham Buys Home for Affordable Resale

Chatham is believed to be the first Cape Cod town to purchase a single-family home and resell it with deed restrictions as affordable housing.

The Chatham Affordable Housing Trust bought a three-bedroom house at 558 Crowell Road for $430K, and will sell it by lottery for $385K to a family earning up to 100% of area median income.

Housing Director Gloria McPherson said the deal only worked because altruistic homeowners sold at a steep discount. "If the trust were to purchase a property at market value, and then deed restrict it and sell it, the cost would be astronomical."

While some towns have purchased land to develop affordable housing, buying existing single-family homes is unprecedented on the Cape and could become a model for other communities.

Lottery applications are due December 15th through Housing Assistance Corporation.
Read more»

Cape Cod Potato Chips faces a class action lawsuit claiming the brand falsely advertises "No Artificial Colors, Flavors or Preservatives" on packaging while using synthetic citric acid.

Sharks are still actively hunting seals off Cape Cod, with one recently spotted attacking a seal at Marconi Beach in Orleans. Researchers mourned the death of "Danny," an 11-foot male great white tagged in 2019.

Monomoy Community Services received a $500K state grant to support construction of a 1,000-square-foot addition and renovations to its 120-year-old Depot Road youth and family center in Chatham.

🍿 Vegas Coming to Cape Cod (Sort Of)

Bill Hanney is transforming the former Regal Cinema at Cape Cod Mall into a $7-8M multi-entertainment complex called Bill Hanney's Entertainment Experience, scheduled to open by May.

The project converts 12 movie theaters into eight luxury cinemas with reclining seats, a 700-seat auditorium for Broadway shows with IMAX, a 300-seat live performance room, and a cabaret club/restaurant featuring jazz, blues, comedy, and events like weddings.

Early shows include "Grease" and "The Shark Is Broken," a play about the actors from Jaws. Hanney is working to book Wayne Newton and plans a children's theater. The lobby will feature a mezzanine with a piano player and bar, plus outdoor seating extending toward the pond.

"I wanted to do big shows on Cape Cod where I live. I wanted it to be a gathering place, like Las Vegas," said Hanney, who's operated 30 entertainment venues over his career. Read more»

About 100 people gathered at Sunset Lake in Oak Bluffs Saturday for the unveiling of a osprey statue by artist Barney Zeitz honoring beloved Island naturalist Gus Ben David.

The Steamship Authority's Board of Governors voted 4-1 to offer the general manager position to Alex Kryska, a California maritime executive and current COO of PROP ferry company in San Francisco.

MV has the highest suicide rate of any MA county at 18.2 per 100,000 people, according to a new community health needs assessment that also found severe shortages in primary care and mental health providers.

Nantucket homeowners must offer their existing structures for free to anyone willing to move them before demolishing, a practice rooted in a 1997 bylaw that saves landfill space and provides cheaper housing options.

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⚖️ Dennis Man Convicted for Threatening State Rep. Xiarhos

James Spence, 63, of Dennis was convicted by a Barnstable jury for threatening State Representative Steve Xiarhos on social media, warning him to "reel it in or the people will burn your house, office and tar and feather you in the streets of Hyannis."

Spence made the threat on February 25, 2025, in response to a social media post by Representative Xiarhos, adding "I will not support you or your Trumpism. This is a warning of what the people are saying." Barnstable Police investigated and Spence admitted to making the threat.

On November 12th, a jury found Spence guilty of threat to commit a crime (arson). He received a six-month suspended sentence with 18 months probation, must stay away from Xiarhos, and attend mental health counseling.

District Attorney Robert Galibois said public officials should be able to do their jobs without fear for their safety or their families. Read more»

👋 Meet: Snoopy
🐾 Treeing Walker Coonhound
🎂 10 months old
♀︎ Female
Available to adopt at MSCPA-Cape Cod

FRIDAY - NOVEMBER 14

T-Rex Tea Party @ Centerville Library | 11 AM
Wild Wreaths Workshop @ Cahoon Museum | 1
Shell Decoupage @ Creative Arts Center | 1 PM
Owl Prowl @ Long Pasture | 3:45 PM
Bricks & Brews @ Aquatic Brewing | 6 PM
Trivia Night @ Bad Martha (Falmouth) | 6:45 PM

SATURDAY - NOVEMBER 15

Ruth Pond Hike @ Fisherman’s Landing | 10 AM
Oyster Decor Wrkshp @ Chatham Bars Inn | 11
Sea, Sip & Shop @ Hyannis Yacht Club | 11 AM
Life of a PI @ Osterville Village Library | 1 PM
Wampanoag Nation @ Eastham Library | 1:30
Corrine Demas @ Wellfleet Library | 3 PM
CC Ballroom Dancers @ FCC Falmouth | 6:15
Morton Dean @ Nauset Middle School | 7 PM
Ken Rogerson @ Sea Crest Beach Resort | 7 PM
The William Tell @ P-town Theater | 7 PM

SUNDAY - NOVEMBER 16

Clam Jam @ Mashpee Farmer’s Market | 11 AM
Fleet Moves Dance @ Wellfleet Pres. Hall | 3 PM
Bonsai Workshop @ Dan’l Webster Inn | 6:30 PM

SUNDAY - NOVEMBER 16

Dan Felix @ CC Beer | 3 PM
Ruth & Ben String Band @ Thacher Hall | 4 PM
Laszlo Gardony @ W. Falmouth Library | 4 PM
Rose Clancy @ Chatham Squire | 5 PM
Karaoke @ Knockout Pizza | 6 PM

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

Friday

46 🌡️ 36 | 🌤️ | 💧8% | 💨 NW 12 mph

Saturday

46 🌡️ 40 | 🌤️ | 💧 0% | 💨 W 9 mph

Sunday

55🌡️ 33 | 🌥️ | 💧 25% | 💨 W 22 mph

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 51ºF

718 Cedar Street, Barnstable
Asking $795,000
2 🛏️
1.5 🛁
2,196 sqft
1.04 acre lot

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

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