EXTRA...

Woods Hole gets $97.7M grant; Rental room tax revenue; Stellwagen Bank in jeopardy?

Woods Hole gets $97.7 million US grant
Ocean observation system to be built

A team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has won a $97.7 million research grant from the National Science Foundation to build an ocean observation system of buoys and robotic underwater vehicles off Cape Cod.

The award, which will be matched by a $10 million state grant, is the largest in the institution's history and comes nearly a year after Woods Hole was forced to cut jobs because of a falloff in federal money.

The institution will lead a team that includes the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego and the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. They will build and operate the coastal and global components of the National Science Foundation's $331 million Ocean Observatories Initiative.  ...  Boston Globe
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Cape Cod lawmakers want rooms tax on vacation rentals

BOSTON - Summer vacation rentals are a tradition in Southeastern Massachusetts, offering sand and sunshine, and no small measure of freedom from workaday worries.  Traditionally, Massachusetts vacation renters also have been free from taxes. While people who stay at hotels and motels pay a 5.7 percent room occupancy tax, those who rent homes, cottages or condos for a vacation or a few months are exempt from the levy.

A proposal by some Cape Cod lawmakers to impose the state's room occupancy tax on the rental market is stirring controversy in the hot summer air, both on the Cape and at the Statehouse.  Rep. Cleon Turner, D-Dennis filed legislation this year that would give cities and towns in Massachusetts a local option to charge the room tax on private rentals of 90 days or less, including on time share units that are rented out. It's an idea that has been championed by the Cape's hotel industry and by Brewster Selectman Edward Lewis.

Sen. Robert O'Leary, D-Barnstable, and Reps. Matthew Patrick, D-Falmouth, and Sarah Peake, D-Provincetown, have signed on as co-sponsors.  ...  SouthCoastToday.com
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Sometimes in life, three is not a crowd

It was a hot, bright morning, and Antonia Bellanca, the creator of the 22-year-old fragrance Antonia's Flowers - an indie scent with a cult following as far away as Japan - was walking backward past the clapboard houses on Nantucket Sound, leading a small crowd of women on their daily four-mile constitutional. The pace was somewhere between a stroll and a stride, with lots of stopping for emphasis. Conversation is the heart of this exercise.

"Isn't this just blessed?" Ms. Bellanca said, gazing fondly at the women. (There were five that day.) "Girls in the 'hood!"

Ms. Bellanca has been in this Cape Cod 'hood for 10 years, and while she has not had the smoothest of decades, she has much to celebrate. She has developed a new fragrance, Sogni del Mare (Dreams of the Sea), that smells like Osterville on a summer day - like rhubarb, blackberries and something fizzy and oceanic.  ...   New York Times
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Kayaker raising awareness of fragile marine sanctuary
Some say Stellwagen Bank in jeopardy

BOSTON -  Many people know it as the perfect place to whale watch, but Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary might be in trouble.  NewsCenter 5's David Brown reported that some people said the area is too polluted, over-fished and in jeopardy.

Dick Wheeler, 77, is a kayaker trying to raise awareness of the one-of-a-kind marine sanctuary.  Wheeler said he treasures every day on the water, as much as he treasures the water itself. Wheeler was gearing up for a three-day, 78-mile kayak trek from Provincetown to Gloucester to teach people about Stellwagen Bank.  ... WCVB5
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Slots fever up North

With its promises of glitz and gobs of money, casino gambling is tantalizing Massachusetts again.  Call it the summer of slot machines on Beacon Hill, where several events have combined to reignite interest in Las Vegas-style resorts in a state with Puritan roots.

The renewed possibility is being watched by New England's casino duopoly of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, which rely each day on thousands of visitors from Massachusetts.  ...  courant.com
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Commuter rail to Wareham up for discussion

WAREHAM - A second informal meeting to discuss potential station locations for a Wareham commuter rail stop is scheduled for 7 to 8 tonight in the second-floor auditorium at Town Hall.

In February, the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization released a study of the proposed commuter rail line extension between Middleboro-Lakeville and Buzzards Bay. The study concluded that restoring rail service to Wareham and Buzzards Bay would be feasible but costly.  It estimated that the extension could attract more than 2,000 inbound riders a day and would cost $82 million to $104 million.  ...  SouthCoastToday.com