WCAI’s Brian Morris hosts a roundup of the week’s top local and regional news.  His guests include Geoff Spillane from the Cape Cod Times, Tim Wood from the Cape Cod Chronicle, Noah Asimow of the Vineyard Gazette, Ed Miller of the Provincetown Banner, George Brennan of the Martha’s Vineyard Times, and WCAI’s Sarah Mizes-Tan, Kathryn Eident, Mike Deehan, and Heather Goldstone.

In the heart of downtown Hyannis, Hy West Elementary School faces a unique set of socioeconomic challenges. Compared to student population averages at school districts and statewide, Hyannis West has a disproportionate number of low-income students: 57 percent of the school’s student body is considered economically disadvantaged, almost double the average statewide. But in addition to that, School Garden Coordinator Sue LaVallee says there’s a wide array of other challenges.

The Forgetting podcast: Episode 12

Special guest George Vrandenburg talks about his work pushing the federal government to spend more on research. George tells talks about the loss of his wife Trish to Alzheimer’s and how the disease impacted their family. Greg recalls an event in Los Angeles that reinvigorated him in the fight against the disease. Other topics: people need to talk about Alzheimer’s and dementia in order to demystify the disease; people need to look out for caregivers, who could find their own health compromised as they care for loved ones.

George Vrandenburg is chairman and co-founder of the organization UsAgainstAlzheimer's. Find out more about the organization here.

This episode was recorded October 11, 2017.

As part of our collaboration with 20 Summers we bring you authors Rebecca Makkai and Christopher Castellani in recorded conversation about their latest novels, both capturing pivotal moments in gay history. Makkai’s novel The Great Believers is set during the 1980’s AIDS epidemic.

Traumatic events can physically change the brain. For people who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, those changes are significant. But therapies that focus on the mind-body connection can help survivors reverse some of those changes. From Barnstable, Massachusetts, Lee Romney brings us the story of one woman who is working at that, every day. A warning: this piece deals with the aftermath of childhood sexual trauma. 

David Mellor is Senior Director for Grounds at Fenway Park. He’s also suffered from Post Traumatic Stress after being hit by a car twice. Kathryn Eident talks with Mellor about his new memoir One Base at a Time, How I Survived PTSD and Found My Field of Dreams.

 The Cape Playhouse opens this season with Oscar Wilde's classic, The Importance of Being Earnest. With a long career on Broadway and in film, Edward Hibbert joins the cast as Lady Bracknell: Hibbert is perhaps best known for his 11 seasons as Gil Chesterton on NBC's "Frasier.” He talks with Mindy Todd about his career and education in the arts.

Imagine a sandwich that wasn’t so much sandwich as it was a noodle dish, and you’d have what Fall River locals call the Chow Mein Sandwich. It's a quirky-looking sandwich, featuring a bed of fried Chow Mein noodles with gravy poured over it, topped with a simple, no-frills hamburger bun. The dish has been a long-running specialty of Chinese restaurants in the area for decades.

On a recent spring night, I was hustled through security at the gate of Camp Edwards, where I soon found myself embedded with an elite tactical squad. Armed with specialized gear and satellite-based technology unavailable just a few years ago, the team and I stalked through the moonlit woodlands. Our targets didn’t stand a chance. Yes, those Whip-poor-wills never saw us coming.