EXTRA...

Hellish ride home; Ptown re-brands - no "Bear Week" yet; Wind competes with coal; CPN sends SOS; Changes at flyover

   ^{Motorists crawl past exit 6 over Shoot Flying Hill on Route 6 at Route 132 in Hyannis Monday. CWN photo}

Dream ride to Cape, but a nightmare driving home

For thousands of visitors, going to Cape Cod over Memorial Day weekend was much easier and more pleasant than heading home. The new $60 million flyover, which erased the hated rotary at the base of the Sagamore Bridge, smoothed Cape-bound travel on Friday and Saturday. But drivers returning from the Cape Monday found themselves in a worse-than-usual traffic nightmare, with backups that stretched as far as 17 miles to Yarmouth at midafternoon.

To avoid a repeat this summer, state transportation officials said yesterday they plan to install electronic signs urging vacationers to stagger their departure from the Cape as well as their arrival. Officials said they will also look at possible changes to the roadways around Exit 1, where Route 6A merges into Route 6 at the base of the bridge.

The merge is on the other side of the bridge from the flyover, the two-year project completed in October that replaced the roundabout at the intersection of Routes 3 and 6, which traditionally tied up Cape-bound traffic... Read the Globe story here.    Leave a comment 
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State mulling over changes at flyover
May route traffic through Mass. Military Reservation

State transportation officials are saying they are planning changes. They will be adding electronic signs encouraging Cape visitors to stagger arrival and departure times. They may also change the roadway around Exit 1 on the other side of the Sagamore Bridge, where Route 6a merges into Route 6.

They will also be looking at the emergency traffic plan to be updated next month. It calls for routing traffic through the Massachusetts Military Reservation to avoid congestion at Exit 1.    Read the WCVB story and see the video of problem here.  Leave a comment

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It's a rebrand-new world

By Alex Beam, Globe Columnist

BU president Bob Brown is test-driving the slogan "Boston's University" for his sprawling institution of higher learning. The new moniker may be the centerpiece of a campaign to rebrand what Brown's predecessor called, none too convincingly, "the third great university on the Charles"...

Cape Cod's gay mecca, Provincetown, has dipped its toe in the rebranding pool. P-town "has hired a Boston public relations firm, Focus Communications, to contact travel writers about a rebranded Provincetown," the Globe reported. "One where the Pilgrims landed before sailing on to Plymouth, where pirates and writers lived, and where pristine beaches and sand dunes add up to spectacular natural beauty."

What? No mention of Bear Week (a bear is a gay man who eschews shaving or waxing body hair), Mates Leather Weekend, or the 21st Annual Golden Threads Celebration for Older Lesbians? We wouldn't want visitors to get the wrong impression, would we? Read the rest of this column in the Globe here.  Leave a comment
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Alternatives are available to polluting coal-fired power plant
Wind now competitive with coal - no CO2

The Post and Courier recently reported Santee Cooper plans to build a 600 megawatt, coal-fired power plant in the next decade in Florence County at a cost of $1 billion. It is estimated the plant will emit four to five million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually.

Given the undeniable scientific evidence that man- made emissions of greenhouse gasses are accelerating global warming, such a decision is irresponsible. The South Carolina Legislature should put a moratorium on building any more coal-fired power plants until we have the technology to effectively capture and sequester the carbon dioxide...

It is interesting to note the "Cape Wind" project, which calls for the installation of 130 wind turbines off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, will generate 468 megawatts of power at a cost of $900 million, very similar to the cost per megawatt of Santee Cooper's proposed coal plant. And of course wind turbines do not emit any carbon dioxide...  Read the rest of thgis Chaleston Post Courier story here.  Leave a comment
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Sustaining the wind power debate

The Cape Cod Youth Council on Sustainability will host a wind energy forum “for youth, by youth” June 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Cape Cod Community College.  “Come learn from experts on both sides of the issue what’s the deal with the Nantucket Wind Farm,” reads the invitation.

CPN sends SOS

The Cape citizens group Clean Power Now, vocal in its support of the wind farm, is sounding the alarm about proposed federal legislation it says would hold up approval of projects such as Cape Wind until the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issues new rules...  Read the rest of WINDSOCK in The Patriot here.

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Stellwagen Bank is a sanctuary in name only; Cape's hurricane escape routes explained

Humans a threat to ocean preserve
Stellwagen Bank deemed at risk

SCITUATE -- Just off the Massachusetts coast is one of the richest marine habitats in the United States, an arc of shallow ocean called Stellwagen Bank, where whales, tuna, cod, and dozens of other species have dined on an underwater smorgasbord for thousands of years. Recognizing the critical importance of Stellwagen Bank in 1992, Congress designated the area a national marine sanctuary, a nature preserve where sea life and habitat would be protected while allowing compatible commercial uses such as fishing and whale watching.

PHOTO _{^{(courtesy of Stellwagen Bank)}}; Heavy fishing nets scrape the sea bottom, shipping lanes near Humpback whales, ar5e the biggest dangers.

But today Stellwagen Bank is a sanctuary in name only, according to conservationists and other observers.  Instead of creating an underwater park, critics said, its protectors have allowed the bank to become an industrial zone, where heavy fishing nets scrape the sea bottom to disrupt habitat for fish that are struggling to recover from overfishing. The nets can also tear apart historic shipwrecks resting on the sea bottom. Whales that feed in Stellwagen are in danger of being struck by tankers and other large ships that pass through its waters or of being harassed by some of the more than 1 million whale watchers who visit each year...  Read the rest of this Globe story here.  
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State Police Lay Out Emergency Evacuation Route Off The Cape

The state police are laying out an emergency evacuation Route off Cape Cod in the event of a hurricane. Kathy Curran reports .

Police think they can evacuate 300,000 people using just four lanes of traffic in 24 hours. 

  See the Yahoo Video here.  

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Tribe doesn't need permission to open casino; Let's not fold a strong hand

Tribe could open casino alone;
But would need state's OK to upgrade its game offerings

BOSTON - The Mashpee Wampanoags had more to celebrate than their official federal recognition as a tribe, which took effect on Thursday: now the Cape Cod-based tribe can move ahead with plans to open a casino as early as 2010. The tribe already holds options on land in Middleboro and is also considering a site in New Bedford.

The tribe can now seek federal approval of a casino offering the types of gambling that are already allowed in the state, or state approval for a more lucrative, full-fledged Foxwoods-style casino.  The possibility of the Wampanoags opening a tax-exempt casino - completely cutting the state out of the action - prompted Treasurer Timothy Cahill to say last week that the state should consider joining with the tribe on a destination casino... 

Quincy Sen. Michael Morrissey, chairman of a legislative committee that considers gaming bills, also believes the tribe will open a Class II casino unless the state gets involved. He points to a Seminole Indian-operated Hard Rock Cafe and Casino outside of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as an example.  ‘‘The Class II games that are out there now almost look and act like a slot machine,’’ Morrissey said...  Read the rest of this Patriot Ledeger story here.   Leave a comment
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Let's not fold a strong hand

The casino debate is over! It is just a question of location and how much revenue the state can squeeze from the Indians.

Last month the Mashpee Wampanoags bought 350 acres in the town of Middleborough to start the process of building a casino complex like Connecticut's Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. The clock is ticking for this idyllic community. Will the residents be forced to trade in their legacy as the Cranberry Capital of the World for the Casino Capital of Massachusetts? Bogs for slots?

Locally the reaction has been harsh. They are seeing red in Middleborough - and it's not cranberries, it's in the municipal budget.

Three selectmen are being threatened with a recall petition.

Trading in the town's character to pay bills has residents seeing red too... Read the rest iof this Herald Op Ed here.

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Flyover kudos; Something about Martha; Rachel remembered

For holiday, no rotary, no problem

BOURNE -- The Sagamore flyover was billed as the asphalt answer to the infamous backups at the Sagamore Rotary that delayed the start of countless Cape Cod vacations. And for much of yesterday, in its first real test in the heat of summer traffic, it was.

As temperatures soared to record highs and as motorists hauling bicycles, fishing rods, and surfboards flocked to the Cape and Islands for the summer's traditional kickoff weekend, the $60 million flyover eased some of the area's notorious traffic.

Read the rest of the Boston Globe story here.

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Salute to a great weekend

Memorial Day weekend is shaping up to be one for the books, with forecasters calling for balmy weather and a new system of traffic ramps in place to ease congestion at the Sagamore Bridge - a welcome relief for those hitting the pristine beaches of Cape Cod.

After areas across the region coped with record-breaking temperatures in the mid-90s yesterday, holiday revelers can expect relief from the intense heat today, with high temperatures near the mid-80s, according to the National Weather Service. Temperatures will continue to cool, dropping to the mid-70s tomorrow while remaining mostly sunny.

Read the rest of the Boston Herald story here.

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USA special: something about Martha
Such a lovely sounding place, Martha's Vineyard. The reality is even better for writer and comedian David Baddiel

In my second novel there is a character who, on her first trip to London, cannot afford a guidebook, so instead just uses an old A-Z, choosing to visit those streets that sound enticing: Lamb's Heart Yard, Golden Square, Old Seacoal Lane - anywhere with a name that suggests that William Blake might once have walked there. She is often disappointed, discovering that however romantic the street name might be, the reality now is less Dickensian gables and cobbled streets and more Costa Coffees and NCPs.

This might seem to be a salutary lesson in "what's in a name-ism", based on the realisation that what a place is called is unlikely to have any bearing, at least with the passing of time, on its pleasantness. However, that salutary lesson seems not to have been learnt by me, suggesting as I did last autumn that our family went on holiday to Martha's Vineyard: a place I knew next to nothing about, but have always thought sounded very nice.

Read the rest of the TimesOnline story here.

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Rachel Carson remembered

Living on Earth commemorates the life and legacy of Rachel Carson, the science writer who inspired the modern environmental movement in America. Carson would have turned 100 years old this week. Her landmark book "Silent Spring," in which she warned of the dangers of DDT and other synthetic pesticides, is widely considered one of the most important books of the 20th century. Living on Earth's Bruce Gellerman visited the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History as curators were preparing the nation's largest exhibit celebrating Carson's centennial.

Read, download or listen to the rest of the Living on Earth story here.

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New labs bring sea of change to Woods Hole

 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's multi-disciplinary facilities successfully reinvent a leading research center.

Ocean science was still in its infancy when the first laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., was completed in the summer of 1931. Later named for the first director, Henry Bigelow, the building was an important first step in what would become one of the world's leading non-profit research centers.

As techniques for studying the ocean have advanced, so has the work environment for researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Two new laboratories, the Stanley Watson Laboratory, also known as the Biogeochemistry (BGC) Research Building, and the marine Research Facility (MRF) represent an innovative design miles ahead of what existed before. For this achievement, R&D Magazine has recognized WHOI's new labs with High Honors in the 2007 Lab of the Year competition.

Read the rest of the R&D story here.

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Patrick wants more wind farms; Private casino developers dampens talks, Dune dwellers out

No bets taken on casino action
Plan for private developers dampens talks

BOSTON— The casino gambling debate heated up yesterday when Gov. Deval L. Patrick made a surprise appearance at a Mashpee Wampanoag celebration on Cape Cod, hours after Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill proposed the state enlist private developers to build one or more resort casinos.

But House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi — the only one of the three who controls votes needed to expand gambling in Massachusetts — dampened casino talk with a blunt evaluation of Cahill’s plan.

“At first blush, I don’t think the treasurer has put forward a particularly new, unique or financially sound proposal,” DiMasi said in a statement...  Read the rest of this Telegram story here.    
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Mayor Menino, others back Cahill's casino plan

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill's proposal to have the state auction rights to build luxury gambling resorts won some key allies yesterday, with Mayor Thomas M. Menino, several state senators, business leaders, and a financial watchdog group praising the plan.  "I've seen it work in other places," said Menino, who has been aggressively lobbying Beacon Hill for new revenue sources. "It should be able to work in Boston."

Senator Michael Morrissey and Senate President Therese Murray also backed Cahill, who yesterday unveiled details of his proposal to have the state beat the Mashpee Wampanoags into the casino business and launch a search for developers for one or more casinos.  The plan would face stiff resistance in the Legislature, with opponents including House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi still against it...   Read the rest of this  Globe report here.  
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Cape Cod 'dune dwellers' lose bid for special status

BOSTON - A group of "dune dwellers" who live in the Cape Cod shacks where writers such as Jack Kerouac and Norman Mailer sought solitude have lost their bid for a special cultural designation usually reserved for American Indian tribes.  The residents applied for a "traditional cultural property" designation given by the National Park Service to communities with shared values and historically significant cultural traditions.

The dune dwellers believed the status would protect them from getting kicked out of their 19 cottages, which are built on a two-mile strip of dunes in Truro and Provincetown at the far end of the Cape...  To be designated a traditional cultural property, the same community must have existed historically and continue to the present...  Read the rest of this CNN report here.  
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State looks at Cape Cod sites for possible wind-energy plant

BARNSTABLE - The state is looking at various sites off the coast of Cape Cod to build an wind-energy plant beyond the privately financed project proposed for Nantucket Sound, Gov. Deval Patrick says.  The aim to is to make Massachusetts a world leader in renewable energy technology, Patrick told The Cape Cod Times on Thursday.

"It's not just the wind farms," he said. "It's the companies that build the turbines and consult on the conservation strategies and install the solar panels. It's the whole integrated industry, which I think can have a place in Massachusetts if we steward it."  Read the rest of this Telegram story here. 

 

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WSJ, Times, Herald review "Cape Wind - the book", PBS Reports

Tilting at windmills Cape elites' fave sport
"The sight of them bothers me," Sen. Kennedy

Memorial Day weekend is upon us and all the Muffys and Buffys sipping cocktails on their Cape and Islands verandas are crying in their G&Ts. "Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound" has hit the shelves...

"The more we learned, the more research we did, the more we discovered that the people fueling the opposition are a small but incredibly rich, arrogant, smug group. The opposition was, in effect, being run from the Wianno Club and Oyster Harbors," said Robert Whitcomb, the editorial page editor of the Providence Journalwho co-wrote the book with Wendy Williams.

"It was quite shocking to me how separate these people are from the rest of the Cape and how arrogant they are." The list of opponents is a regular lawn party, starting with our own senior senator - and alleged ardent environmentalist - Ted Kennedy. His nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , who has made a career out of tree-hugging is also violently opposed... " The sight of them bothers me," Sen. Kennedy is quoted as telling retired utility exec - and wind farm supporter - Jim Leidell...  Read the rest of this very funny Herald story here. Leave a comment
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You're Blocking My View
How things work, or don't, in Massachusetts

Behind much of the modern environmental movement lies the "do as I say, not as I do" sensibility of an aristocracy. It's not surprising when a bunch of enviro-aristos line up opposition to a new road or a shopping mall or some other development that offends them. But there is something delicious about such obstructionists raising environmental concerns -- almost all of them bogus -- to try to prevent a wind farm, one of the cleanest sources of electricity we have, from being built in sight of their summer homes.

...Remarkably, the folks who can afford to summer in these places and who are accustomed to getting their way seem to have lost the fight. Their friends in Congress overplayed their hand and provoked a turf war with the Senate Energy Committee, whose leaders blocked the 2005 energy bill until it lost the riders that would have killed the Cape Wind project...  The real outrage here is the agonizing delay in gaining approval for Cape Wind -- all too typical, alas, of how things work, or don't, in Massachusetts....  Read the rest of this Wall Street Journal review here.  Leave a comment
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Regulatory Questions Continue to Plague Cape Wind Project
   
For six years, Cape Wind -- a proposed 130 turbine wind energy project in Nantucket Sound -- has polarized residents of Cape Cod and mobilized advocacy groups both for and against what would be the nation's first offshore wind energy project.  In March, Massachusetts Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles ruled that the project complies with the state's Environmental Policy Act, allowing Energy Management Inc. -- the company developing Cape Wind -- to pursue state permits.

But Cape Wind is still waiting for a go-ahead from the federal government. Horseshoe Shoal, the shallow bank where the turbines and transformer platform would be located, is federally controlled. To lease that land, EMI has had to submit an extensive environmental impact study, detailing every stage of the project from construction to decommissioning.  The Minerals Management Service, the lead federal agency responsible for assessing Cape Wind's environmental impact, is set to release its draft report later this summer, delaying the federal permitting process until at least 2008.

The lag is due in part to the groundbreaking nature of Cape Wind. Maureen Bornholdt, head of the MMS Outer Continental Shelf Alternative Energy and Alternate Use program, explained...   Read the rest of the PBS Newshour report here.  Leave a comment
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Gone With the Windmill Farms,
or, a Cape Cod Cautionary Tale

Every so often a purely local dispute rises above its station and assumes national importance. This was the case with the Cape Wind project, a proposed wind farm that seemed to have everything going for it: It would deliver badly needed additional electric power to energy-hungry New England, reduce utility bills for everyone and cut down on air pollution. There was just one little problem. The spinning windmills would be located in Nantucket Sound, within view of some very expensive homes and some very wealthy and powerful citizens...

This is a story that seems to have everything: waterfront mansions, yachts, a tenacious blue-collar entrepreneur, bare-knuckled political infighting at the state level and high-stakes political poker in Congress. It offers the delicious spectacle of self-described environmentalists, infatuated with the idea of alternative energy, tying themselves into knots trying to explain why a wind farm would be a splendid idea anywhere but in Nantucket Sound. Throw in a few Kennedys and you have the ingredients for a first-rate politico-eco drama...   Read the rest of the NY Times review here. 

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State finesses Tribe; McCain warns on casinos; New Lobster Law in effect

Treasurer looks to beat tribe with casino deal
Says plan could provide more money to state

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill is to unveil a plan today to beat the Mashpee Wampanoags into the casino business by launching a state-sponsored search for a developer who would build a luxury gambling mecca sooner and with much greater financial benefit to the state's coffers, according to officials familiar with the plan.  Cahill has long expressed concern that an Indian-run casino would drain money from the state lottery, while providing the state only a limited amount of revenue, subject to negotiations with the tribe. By orchestrating its own deal to establish a casino in Massachusetts, Cahill will argue today, the state would gain far more from gambling than Connecticut has from its two Indian casinos.

The Mashpee Wampanoags, who today are celebrating their official recognition by the federal government, have announced plans to open a casino by 2010, but must first go through the time-consuming process of putting land into federal trust. The tribe must also negotiate a compact with the state, which would allow the tribe to open a casino with a level of gambling not now permitted elsewhere in Massachusetts. In other states, tribes have often agreed to pay a certain percentage of revenues in lieu of taxes...  Read the rest of this Globe story here.  Leave a comment
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McCain: ‘Scandal’ in cards as gaming takes off

With a debate raging over expanded gambling in Massachusetts, 2008 presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain warned that the explosion of casinos nationwide could erupt into scandal and corruption.  “I am concerned about the oversight and regulation of gaming,” McCain (R-Arizona) said in a conference call with reporters yesterday. “You really need extremely strong oversight and that’s what they have in Nevada. I think this is an issue that Congress needs to revisit.”

He added that lax enforcement of gaming laws could lead to “scandal” and “abuses” as gambling palaces pop up nationwide...  McCain’s comments come as the Wampanoag Indians unveil plans for a mammoth casino and hotel on 300 acres the tribe recently optioned in Middleboro. The tribe, which officially celebrates its new federal recognition today, met with Middleboro residents earlier this week and outlined preliminary plans for a five-star hotel and conference center and a casino with 4,000 slot machines, 125 gaming tables, shops, restaurants and an indoor water park...  Read the rest of this Herald story here.  Leave a comment
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Size limit set for lobster catch
Maine rule now applies around East

BANGOR, Maine — Maine fishery officials are commending new regulations that will give large lobsters along most of the East Coast similar protections as those in Maine.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved new rules this month that include a maximum size limit for lobsters caught from Canada to North Carolina. The regulations aim to rebuild lobster stocks in southern New England, where the harvest fell by half between 1999 and 2003.

Until now, Maine has been the only state with a maximum size limit for lobsters. Scientists say that one 5-pound female lobster can produce 14 times as many eggs as a 1-pounder...  The new limits are scheduled to go into effect June 30, 2008. Only a relatively small area due east of Cape Cod will have no maximum limit...  Read the rest of this Portsmouth Herald story here.  

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Recognition time tonight ; The "Casino Creep"; Northeast Resorts buy New Bedford waterfront 14 acres

   ^{Northeast Resorts, a company owned by developer Leon Dragone of East Longmeadow and Steven Norton of Las Vegas, has bought an option on the Revere Copper Products Inc., on the New Bedford waterfront. Click map for close-up.}

New Bedford draws more casino interest
Northeast Resorts buys 14 acre waterfront site

BOSTON - The Mashpee Wampanoag Indians could have competition if they select New Bedford as a location for a casino, after a separate casino developer bought control of some waterfront property. The tribe is considering New Bedford, Middleborough and other southeast Massachusetts communities as a location for a resort casino. It has already scooped up 325 acres in Middleborough, but is still in talks with New Bedford officials.

Northeast Resorts, a company owned by developer Leon Dragone of East Longmeadow and Steven Norton of Las Vegas, has bought an option on the Revere Copper Products Inc., a metal working company founded by Paul Revere. The waterfront plant is closing. Northeast Resorts, which also owns 152 acres in the western Massachusetts town of Palmer, purchased an option, for an undisclosed amount, on the nearly 14-acre site, Dragone said, and can now block offers for the Revere plant....  Read the rest of this Herald story here.  Leave a comment
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With tribe's federal recognition official, let the games begin

BOSTON — When the clock strikes midnight tonight, the Mashpee Wampanoag will become the state's second federally recognized tribe. What will that mean for the tribe's Statehouse lobbying effort for a resort-style casino, with Middleboro or New Bedford named as the two leading locations?

"Maybe more doors open if you say, 'I'm from the Mashpee tribe,'" said the tribe's spokesman, Scott Ferson... Clyde Barrow, the director of the Center for Policy Analysis at UMass Dartmouth, thought the tribe could make an argument that it didn't need state approval. "If they want to push that envelope, they might be able to pull that off," Dr. Barrow said. "It worked for the Seminoles in Florida."  Read ther rest of this Standard-Times story here.  Leave a comment
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The Casino Creep towards Boston

Every day for the last week month it seems we've read something in the papers about the Mashpee Wampanoags and their move to set up a casino. Will it be in Middleborough? New Bedford? Palmer? Some other Massachusetts town? It's not clear where they're going to open up just yet, but two things are certain: 1. the Mashpee Wampanoags receive their official federal recognition this week and 2. We'll hear the word "bingosino" a lot more as this story develops. Without special legislation from the state that would allow the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to operate slots and/or table games they'd still be able to operate bingo parlors, or, what is commonly referred to as a "bingosino." For some reason we can't help but feel like bingosino is some sort of derogatory racial epithet, but we'll get past it. Bingo comes on video slot machines now, so the one armed bandits are likely to be in effect one way or another...  Read the rest of this Bostonist Blog here.

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Ostervill man charged; Tribe, New Bedford mayor meet

Ex-Seaport Museum director charged
Allegedly  spent $1/3 million museum money on Cape home

Federal authorities today charged John S. Carter, the former president of the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, (on right) with mail fraud and tax evasion.

Carter is accused of defrauding the museum of more than $1 million from 1997 to 2006. Authorities say Carter created phony invoices and charged personal items to the museum - including the construction of a $335,000 carriage house for his Cape Cod home, $50,000 worth of home electronics, an $8,000 European vacation and landscaping services.

According to the charging document filed today by federal prosecutor John Pease, Carter obtained title to a rare boat that had been donated to the museum and then arranged for the museum to refurbish the vessel. Carter is accused of keeping the $190,000 proceeds of the subsequent sale of the boat...  Read the rest of this Philadelphia Inquirer story here.  Leave a comment 
See previous story here.
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New Bedford pitches for casino
Mayor meets again with tribal leaders

With the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe increasingly focused on building a casino on a 350-acre tract in Middleborough, the mayor of New Bedford convened a meeting yesterday with tribal leaders for the third time in four months to ensure that his city remains in the running.

Emerging from a 90-minute meeting with the tribal leaders at City Hall, Mayor Scott Lang told reporters he and Mashpee Wampanoag chairman Glenn Marshall had agreed to keep their discussions going, even as the tribe pursues the Middleborough location.

While disclosing few details of the discussions, Lang made it plain that New Bedford wants the casino.  "If Glenn Marshall comes to me and says he wants to locate a casino in New Bedford, then we would accommodate them," Lang said...  Read the rest of this Globe story here. (The red dots on map indicate a 50 mile radius from Mashpee.)   

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Chatham - the film at Cannes; Stranding Network stressed; New Lyne-like desease spreading here; Albatross aloft again; Fairhaven Wind Farm flap; WHOI researches marine life

Smooth sailing for Cape’s ‘Chatham’
The buzz is happening at the Cannes Film Fest

It’s a long way from Cape Cod to the south of France, but trailers for the historical comedy “Chatham” are running at the Cannes film festival. Filmmaker Dan Adams, who helmed the flick, starring David Carradine, Rip Torn, Bruce Dern and Mariel Hemingway, reports that his foreign distributor, Cinemavault, is running clips of the film during the veddy prestigious Riviera event.

“So far, the feedback’s been very positive,” Adams said.The movie tells the tale of three over-the-hill Cape sea captains who live together “Odd Couple”-style and try to lure an attractive, middle-aged woman to marry one of them so she can cook and clean for all three. Adams said he and his co-producer, Michael Mailer, son of Provincetown author Norman Mailer, had a test screening of a rough cut in New York City the other night...  Read the rest of this Herald story here.
The photo of David Carradine on right was taken by photographer Frank Paparo in Chatham during last month's filming here.  Leave a commen
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Babesiosis is spreading, and hard to diagnose
Carried by same insects that spread Lyme disease

Rick DiMichele, a physically fit 55-year-old, came down with a mysterious disease last summer. He had a fever of 103 degrees, he looked pale and puffy, and he had a terrible pain in his side. It turned out to be a rare infection called babesiosis, which is similar to malaria. While malaria is common in tropical climates, DiMichele believes he caught this disease in his own Ipswich backyard.

Babesiosis is spread by deer ticks, the same insects that spread Lyme disease. DiMichele, who works at New Balance in Lawrence, lives on a wooded road about two miles from the center of Ipswich, where deer eat people’s shrubs and Lyme disease is a major concern.

Many doctors still think of babesiosis as a problem limited to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod, where it has been circulating for nearly a generation, Matyas said...  Read the reast of this Newburyport Daily News story here.  Leave a comment
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   ^{Albatross often follow visiting ships, wheeling and floating hypnotically at a distance for hours at a time. Effortlessly gliding on the wind, they are capable of round trips of thousands of miles over several days. They swoop low over ocean swells, dipping down when the sea falls and rising when the wave rises. Their wings are capable of "locking" into an extended position, thereby reducing strain over long flights.}

Far from home, albatross is coaxed back to the skies
Giant ocean travelers sighted off Cape

FALMOUTH -- It took 30 minutes or so to get used to the idea of freedom.  After weeks of care at the Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine -- and then a long, bumpy ride in the back of a van driven by wildlife doctor Flo Tseng -- the yellow-nosed albatross, thousands of miles from its true home, waddled warily yesterday from a dog carrier box onto the rain-spattered sands of Old Silver Beach.  The onshore breeze was stiff, carrying the whiff of salt and seaweed.

The bird, a native of distant southern waters and quite possibly the only albatross living in the North Atlantic, stared stonily at the green waves crashing against a rock jetty. Then it settled into what looked to be a position for a long sulk or even a snooze. Oh, no! Something close to panic gripped the small clutch of onlookers, most of whom had invested lots of energy, time, and, yes, passion bringing the storm-battered wayfarer back to health. But was it still too weak to fly? ...There has been a spate of highly unusual albatross sightings off Cape Cod...  Read therest of this Globe story here.   Leave a comment
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Fairhaven flap typifies wind farm obstacles

You don't have to propose a 130-turbine wind farm in the middle of Nantucket Sound to cause a controversy.  In Fairhaven, two proposed turbines behind the town's wastewater treatment plant have earned the wrath of a vocal group of residents who say the whirring blades will be too noisy and cast flickering shadows on homes during sunsets.

On Tuesday, residents in the seaside town 55 miles south of Boston voted 141-98 in favor of the turbines, but opponents promised to continue fighting the project.  As more than 40 Massachusetts communities explore the possibility of erecting one or two turbines, the debate in Fairhaven is providing a glimpse into the opposition even small-scale wind farm projects can face.

"The major obstacle to any wind development always is siting," said Chris Kealey... Read the rest of this Globe story here.  Leave a comment
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Seal rehab shut down as new pups are born
New England Stranding Network is stressed

WESTBROOK, Maine - The shutdown of New England's largest seal rescue and rehabilitation organization as harbor seals begin having their pups has other organizations scrambling to fill the void.

Seals ordinarily would be barking up a storm at the Marine Animal Lifeline's nondescript facility outside Portland. Instead, the medical ward where sick and malnourished seals received IVs and the pools where they learned to hunt fish are empty. The gates are padlocked.  "It's the worst time of the year for this to happen," said Dianna Fletcher, chairwoman of the nonprofit's board.

Last month, the National Marine Fisheries Service abruptly yanked the organization's permit for releasing 81 seals without testing for a pathogen that causes a contagious distemper-like illness. Twenty-one seals that were being rehabilitated were trucked to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.

To the south, the Mystic Aquarium handles rescue and rehabilitation in Connecticut and Rhode Island. In Massachusetts, the Cape Cod Stranding Network and New England Aquarium in Boston handle rescues and rehabilitation in New Hampshire and Massachusetts...   Read the rest of this Portsmouth Herald story here. Leave a comment 
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B12 Is Also an Essential Vitamin for Marine Life
The vitamin has impacts on the marine food web and Earth’s climate

B12—an essential vitamin for land-dwelling animals, including humans—also turns out to be an essential ingredient for growing marine plants that are critical to the ocean food web and Earth’s climate, scientists have found.

The presence or absence of B12 in the ocean plays a vital and previously overlooked role in determining where, how much, and what kinds of microscopic algae (called phytoplankton) will bloom in the sea, according to a study published in the May issue of the journal Limnology and Oceanography.

These photosynthesizing plants, in turn, have a critical impact on Earth’s climate: They draw huge amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the air, incorporating carbon into their bodies. When they die or are eaten, carbon is transferred to the ocean depths, where it cannot re-enter the atmosphere.

B12 contains the metal cobalt and can be synthesized only by certain singled-celled bacteria and archaea. Humans, animals, and many algae require B12 to manufacture essential proteins, but they cannot make it and must either acquire it from the environment or eat food that contains B12,  said the study’s lead authors, Erin Bertrand and Mak Saito. The two biogeochemists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution wondered whether the vitamin was also important in the ocean, where B12 and cobalt are both found in exceedingly low concentrations.

Bertrand, Saito, and colleagues collected water samples from three locales in the highly fertile Ross Sea off Antarctica during an expedition in 2005 aboard the icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer. To one set of samples, they added B12 and iron (another essential nutrient for plant growth); to a second set, they added just iron; and to a third, they added neither. Samples stimulated with both iron and B12 showed significantly higher concentrations of plant life in general and greater concentrations of a particular type of marine algae called diatoms...  Read the rest of this WHOI report here. 
IN PHOTO: Scientists from research institutions around the world convened for expeditions in 2005 and 2006 aboard the icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer to the Ross Sea near Antartica,

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