Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — You may have had COVID and didn’t know it — even if you didn’t show symptoms. So agrees Dr. Charles Gardner, who says he himself hasn’t gotten COVID — “to my knowledge or had symptoms. “I’ve been extremely careful. I’ve taken every precaution that I advised.” He said: “Me […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — Saturday’s cold snap, which left more than 13,300 south Muskoka customers without hydro for much of the day and into Sunday was caused by a transformer switch failure at Hydro One’s Bracebridge Transmission Station at the end of Gray Road off Monica Lane. In addition, a broken cross arm […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Stunning news today from the pandemic science table advising the province shows Ontarians who didn’t get COVID the past month were lucky. The medical panel claimed that based also on wastewater sampling — including in Barrie and Orillia — that an incredible 1.5 to 4 million people may “plausibly” […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Stunning news today from the pandemic science table advising the province shows Ontarians who didn’t get COVID the past month were lucky. The medical panel claimed that based also on wastewater sampling — including in Barrie and Orillia — that an incredible 1.5 to 4 million people may “plausibly” […]
STEPHEN RICHARDS | Guest columnist FICTION Bart’s apartment, basement of Musician’s Friend, 2012 Bart is dreaming …. 1675 — The trade war with the Dutch had just ended. The British achieved maritime supremacy and exploration seeking out white pine for shipbuilding and beaver pelts for the latest fashions. Hutch Nielsen and Robert Jefferson, employed by […]
TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist In April 2021 in Kamloops a CBC news van was vandalized with “fake news” scrawled across the door in clumsy black spray-paint. My previous column about the truck convoy was called “ignorant,” “propaganda,” “misrepresentation” and on Twitter I was called, “a moron.” My article dubbed “garbage” and a tweet by […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — It’s about as wide as his house and almost as tall. Andrey Petrov’s latest, largest and most difficult snow sculpture of Canada’s Parliament Building 17 feet tall — plus a Canadian flag on top — and 34 feet wide. It’s 8,000 pounds and took 136 blue boxes worth of […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — With COVID hitting the highest office in the land, local public health reports 355 weekend cases. As of yesterday 61 were in hospital and 7 in ICU, says the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. They also report 4 new deaths since their last update Friday, including 1 more in […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com MUSKOKA — A second person is dead today after also hitting a tree. Police are on scene Monday investigating a single-vehicle accident east of Bracebridge late this morning. The OPP say this afternoon that they were called to the collision on Fraserburg Road in Bracebridge, Jan. 31, at 10 a.m. The […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com BALA — A snowmobiler who crawled out of the water Saturday afternoon after going through the ice in Lake Muskoka has been safely located. Police say they received a call at 2:18 p.m. Saturday reporting a sledder escaping an icy plunge. Bystanders watched the man get out of the water and […]
TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist We got a big old trucking convoy headed toward Ottawa … a convoy! I have been to protests and demonstrations, but only peaceful ones. I’ve never been to one where the crowd was beat on by batons or arrested. I’ve heard of such protests, from a professor with a doctorate […]
GEORGIAN BAY – Police charged a Caledon trucker with impaired driving yesterday after a single vehicle collision on Hwy. 400. They say that on Thursday Jan. 27, at 7:17 p.m., officers received a call from a driver who was involved in the accident. The transport had jack-knifed on Hwy. 400 NB in Georgian Bay Township. […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — As Canada’s top doc says Omicron has “peaked,” 8 new COVID deaths in the region today were all aged 80+. They include 3 from outbreaks in Muskoka. Male 80+, community, Jan. 24, Simcoe Female 80+, community, Jan. 22, Simcoe Male 80+, outbreak, Jan. 22, Simcoe Female 80+, community, Jan. […]
HUNTSVILLE — A woman missing for more than a week has police and her family asking for public help finding her. The OPP have launched a missing person search. The family of Catharine MacMahon, 62, of Huntsville have not had any contact with her for more than a week and are concerned for her wellbeing. […]
HUNTSVILLE — A woman released by police on drug and weapons charges Tuesday was arrested again yesterday charged with possessing a stolen rifle and shotgun. Kayle MacLeod, 31, of Armour Township, and two other men were held over in bail court Thursday after facing gun and drug charges Wednesday. They will be back in court again […]
“Grandfather had a farm; his son had a garden and his grandson has a can opener. NOW, his great granddaughter has a garden.” NANCY THOMPSON | How does your garden grow? Chatter and concerns about food security and supply — along with COVID isolation and the movement toward locally-grown produce — are encouraging more of […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — With the prime minister in self-isolation, local public health reports 239 COVID cases today. That’s up from 204 yesterday. But it’s the 61 people in hospitals that are of note Thursday. That’s 6 more than yesterday. And 9 people are in ICU, up from 7 the day before. There […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Health unit figures show Gravenhurst trails the rest of Muskoka percentage-wise in most vaccination age categories. An look at their numbers — in charts below as of today — shows only among seniors do residents of the Gateway to Muskoka compare favourably with other residents in the district among […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — While nobody believes reported COVID numbers — even governments don’t trust them — “confirmed” cases remain a barometer. Odd how last year Russians and Chinese were accused of the same. Still they are a snapshot of where we are today and indicative part of the pandemic puzzle. So the […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Think it’s cold here? If you’re in China anywhere near Beijing and you’re shopping for cold medicine … you automatically have to be tested for COVID. The deep chill is part of a “zero tolerance” policy ahead of the Olympics. This as 326 new COVID cases are being reported […]