By Thomas Smith Stepping into Irondale’s St. John’s Church, you are teleported back 120 years in time. Looking outside through the church’s original windows, the trees are distorted with swirls and ripples, showing you exactly…
Top Stories
Wrong door
By Emily Stonehouse When did things get so complicated? This past week, through the Community Safety and Well-being plan, a group of dedicated individuals brought a report to County council, outlining the importance of the…
Loon Lake residents meet another dead end
By Emily Stonehouse This is a story about nothing. Normally, we choose to write stories about updates and events, new businesses and recent developments. But this is a story about nothing. Because there are no…
Trent students create map of invasive aquatic species
By Thomas Smith There needs to be action taken to cease the spread of invasive species in Haliburton County. Meagan Shier and Vidhushi Hatwal, students from Trent University have recently completed a project in Algonquin…
Haliburton County faces the heat as wildfires rage…
By Emily Stonehouse While life ticked on this week, a heavy cloud loomed over the County of Haliburton. Quite literally. Rolling in on Wednesday, July 15, smoke from northwestern forest fires seeped into the communities,…
The buzz on housing
By Emily Stonehouse I am going to say something that I doubt will win me many friends: I think we need to slow down on housing. Whoa whoa, keep reading. I promise I will explain…
Dysart denies extra units to be used as…
By Emily Stonehouse It’s been a hotly discussed topic at Dysart council, but questions around an amendment to the zoning bylaw that would allow for additional dwelling units (ADUs) to be used as short term…
One room
By Emily Stonehouse If there’s one singular reason for amalgamation, please let it be fewer meetings. It’s a sticky topic. I get that. Over the course of five meetings as well as multiple conversations with…
Next steps for Dysart
By Emily Stonehouse With the passing of long time Dysart Mayor Murray Fearrey on May 28, conversations around who is stepping into the big seat have been circulating around the community. CAO of the Dysart…
Thinking outside the box for accessibility
By Emily Stonehouse A local cottage-owner has found a way to keep his happy place accessible through the years. Roger Karam and his wife, Nayla, have been coming to their cottage on Blue Hawk Lake…
The kids are alright
By Emily Stonehouse It’s that time of year again. June is forever the month of whirlwind obligations. Graduations, ceremonies, dances, recitals, tournaments, races, open houses. Every day there’s another note from the school about an…
Murray
By Emily Stonehouse Over the decades, many things have changed in the newspaper world. Canadian Press standards, new words, outdated language. The methods with which we type and copy and paste have evolved and shifted.…
A look at the life of Murray
By Emily Stonehouse Many would notice that flags around town have been drawn to half-mast. Dysart’s longtime mayor, Murray Fearrey, passed away on Thursday, May 28. Forever calling the Haliburton Highlands his home, Fearrey was…
A voice
By Emily Stonehouse I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how we cover these upcoming municipal elections. It’s been a pleasant surprise to see the volume of names that have been thrown into the…
Land Trust aims to mitigate flood risks
By Emily Stonehouse While we wind down a flooding season for the books, many environmental organizations have opted to start looking into mitigation strategies in an effort to slow down water concerns in the future.…
A breath of fresh air in Gooderham
By Emily Stonehouse In the heart of Gooderham, there lies a piece of Haliburton County history. Barr’s General Store was opened when Peter Barr moved from Irondale to Gooderham to start the shop in the…
Artificial
By Emily Stonehouse ’ve always found the term ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI) to be a bit of an oxymoron. It’s right up there with ‘jumbo shrimp’ or ‘old news’. The two words clashing and pulling against…
One step ahead for Hook crosswalk
By Emily Stonehouse With increased foot traffic along Highland Street, Dysart staff have been looking at ways to mitigate risk. At its December 9, 2025 meeting, council resolved to obtain engineering fees for the rehabilitation…
Identity
By Emily Stonehouse While the County of Haliburton undergoes the process for a governance structure study, CAO Gary Dyke has ventured to each lower tier table to discuss the roll-out of the project. Earlier this…
A moment for Minden
By Emily Stonehouse We all watched the waters rise this past week. And while it’s not necessarily something new, it still feels like a gut punch to the community every time it happens. Minden Mayor…
Earthquake rumbles county
By Emily Stonehouse As if the rains weren’t heavy enough this past week, Haliburton County was shaken up by a minor earthquake on April 14. The core of the quake hit approximately 59 kilometres east…