Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — Cars and trucks — many hauling trailers — lined up on Earth Day Thursday morning for free compost. All of them had shovels and a desire to do good for their gardens and the planet. The popular town giveaway at the Muskoka Wharf saw drivers and their vehicles out […]
HUNTSVILLE — Health care improvements over the next decade will see Muskoka hospital beds increase to 140 from 90. Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott were here Sunday afternoon at Huntsville’s hospital to announce the province is “investing an additional $14 million to modernize and expand Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare (MAHC).” They say the […]
TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist Is it a blessing or a curse to live in interesting times? The literal meaning of the phrase is thought to mean to live in times of upheaval and uncertainty. I always thought, “trust the Midas touch,” was a strange phrase. While indeed in the old story everything King Midas […]
BRACEBRIDGE — With COVID continuing to climb, Ontario Health has recently expanded eligibility for COVID-19 PCR testing for symptomatic and asymptomatic people with defined criteria that has been updated on the Bracebridge Assessment Centre webpage at www.mahc.ca/COVID-19testing/. Generally, the guidance is prioritizing for molecular testing those at the highest risk of COVID-19, by including, for example, […]
HUNTSVILLE — A Parry Sound driver faces impaired by alcohol driving charges after a head-on collision late yesterday afternoon. Police and emergency crews were called to Aspdin Road just before 6 p.m. Wednesday to for a report of serious collision in Huntsville. Two vehicles were involved in a head-on collision. A woman, 24, was transported […]
TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist In a shopping mall in Sydney, Nova Scotia, I saw something I’ve never seen before. Kids lining up for pictures with the Easter Bunny. At least I don’t think I’ve seen that before? In a dollar store I found some buttermilk biscuit mix. Would a dollar store in Ontario sell […]
LAKE OF BAYS — An off-road vehicle (ORV) driver who fled police faces a number of charges after officers pursued him on a fire access road. OPP at Huntsville say that on April 11 an officer from the provincial police central region, Traffic Incident Management Enforcement (TIME) team was conducting traffic enforcement on South Ril […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — A rush to get second booster shots isn’t holding back COVID-19. A week of vaccinations for the 60+ still sees corona winning the virus war. Total numbers are up locally and provincially today. Simcoe-Muskoka almost doubled to 234 from 122 yesterday, according to Public Health Ontario. Across the province […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Hundreds lined up for second booster shots today at the Sportsplex in Bracebridge as the sixth wave of COVID grows. As yellow school buses left the high school next door — at mid-afternoon — they circled the Green GO Vax bus in the sunny parking lot, which still had […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — When Neil Hutchinson retired at Christmas from his environmental sciences business in Bracebridge, he joined the ranks of other local retirees who volunteer their time. He plays flute in the Muskoka Concert Band and strums his guitar in local folk club settings — recently performing a gig at Bracebridge […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — Bob Barnes is no April’s fool. A retired petroleum engineer, he admits to being “one of the problems” of climate change — and now he wants to be part of the solution toward ending it. He says the Ukrainian war is “bringing us face-to-face with the problem of energy […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com TIMMINS — Don’t line up for tickets just yet, but eight weeks out from the provincial election Tories are touting the return of the Northlander “mid 2020s” if re-elected. And it could see old double-decker GO train cars rolling up and down through Muskoka. A release Sunday afternoon says the Ontario […]
BRACEBRIDGE — A local man reported by his family missing since the middle of January has been found deceased. Police say James Gamble, 48, was last seen leaving his home in Bracebridge Jan. 14. Four days later the OPP say he was reported to have been seen in the Orangeville area. Yesterday, April 6, Gamble […]
HUNTSVILLE — Another smash and grab here, this one at a pharmacy early yesterday, has police looking for whoever got away with more cash again. They say that on Thursday April7, at 1:52 a.m., officers got to the pharmacy on Main St East, in response to a break and enter. At 1:40 a.m. unknown suspect(s) […]
PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — The snow may be all but gone in most of the region — with no real flooding damage this year — but with up to 18 mm of rain and 1 cm of snow forecasted the next week lake and water level conditions still make them dangerous to be around. Across the […]
NANCY THOMPSON | How Does Your Garden Grow Square foot gardening makes the best use of small spaces by densely planting in one-foot squares. A garden of 4×4 is a great size to start with, but really any size can be fine. Do locate it in a sunny and well drained spot. In square foot […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE MUSKOKA — As word spread yesterday about fourth booster shots being available today, local pharmacies and primary care physicians’ offices were swamped with calls about booking an appointment. One anxious 60+, with mild immunity symptoms, said he’d been to four pharmacies Wednesday to find out how to at least get on […]
TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist Cancel culture. What will the “right” or “left” cancel next? It can be reductive and harmful to reduce shifting societal norms to a catch phrase. No one is ever “cancelled,” but careers can end when past deeds are no longer condoned by a new generation, or by sea changes in […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — Among the many historical accounts of Gravenhurst, the loss of the Rubberset toy and paint brush factory was the one of the most telling tales of the modern decline of the town. It was not only a valuable employer of thousands of men and women for much of the […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com BRACEBRIDGE — A student in Matt Richter’s class said she wouldn’t vote for him. And wouldn’t encourage others to do so either. “I don’t want to lose you as a teacher,” the little girl at Riverside Public School told the Green candidate. Fortunately for Richter, a lot of other parents, grandparents, […]