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Twenty years after a single shot shattered a quiet Thanksgiving evening in Barrie’s north end, April Dobson’s unsolved murder still casts a long shadow over the community. On October 14, 2005, 40-year-old April Dobson finished her shift at a Swiss Chalet on Molson Park Drive, unaware her life would end before sunrise. Later that night, […]

Excavators and orange cones have become the signature of Barrie’s south end, as the city prepares to reshape its future through a web of critical infrastructure work. With growth moving faster than rush hour traffic, Barrie’s planners are betting big on a series of upgrades meant to keep up with surging housing demand and evolving

On a crisp October afternoon, a routine speed enforcement operation on Highway 11 near Orillia quickly escalated into a striking reminder of the risks unauthorized shotguns pose on our roads. Provincial police in Severn Township, keeping a close eye out for dangerous driving, pulled over a northbound vehicle travelling at 126 kilometres per hour near

Peter Howitt woke up in Rhode Island to a phone call that would turn his routine upside down—he had just joined the ranks of Nobel laureates in economics, an honour that left him fielding congratulations before the official notice even arrived. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Monday that Howitt, a Canadian economist and

Barrie’s decision to declare a state of emergency over homeless encampments sent ripples through neighbouring communities, prompting questions that reached the corridors of Orillia’s city hall. Yet Orillia chose a different path, one marked by deliberation rather than dramatic declarations. Homeless encampments have emerged as a stark symbol of urban struggle across Simcoe County. Barrie’s

Sirens split the calm of a Sunday morning in Simcoe as police converged on Head Street South, the hush of routine broken by a crime that would leave a lasting mark on the community. On October 5, 2025, the Norfolk County OPP responded to a call at a residence on Head Street South. What they

A harsh yellow streetlight flickered over the empty crossroads of Peter and Colborne in Orillia, casting long shadows across an abandoned service station—a place that, until recently, had been forgotten by all but the wind and the rain. That changed on a Saturday night, when police, responding to a tip about masked figures and a

Almost 10,000 times this summer, the Orillia OPP found themselves at the sharp end of local life—from sunlit park patrols to the midnight shadows of Colborne Street. New detachment commander Insp. Todd Landon laid bare the sheer scale during his recent presentation to the Couchiching OPP Detachment Board. Over June, July, and August, officers responded