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Only two more sleeps until our epic Easter Bunny Hunt begins.
Make sure you tune in tomorrow with Laura from Dubbo for more local, regional and national news.
In the mean time why don't you check out our websites?
DUBBO | NARROMINE | WELLINGTON | NYNGAN | THE RIDGE | WESTERN MAGAZINE
8.56: A short note before we go
Dubbo City Council advises night roadworks will be conducted in Erskine Street between Brisbane and Macquarie Streets from 7.30pm Monday March 23 through to 6.30 am Thursday March 26.
The necessary maintenance being undertaken by Council on behalf of the RMS is being done at night in an effort to minimise disruption.
An extensive traffic management plan including detours and speed restrictions will be in place on the above scheduled work night. Motorists are asked to obey all directions to ensure the safety of workers and road users.
Temporary Road Closures will be in place at the following locations: Erskine Street at Macquarie Street, Macquarie Street at Talbragar Street, Brisbane Street north at Erskine Street and Brisbane Street at Myall Street.
Council apologises for any inconvenience.
8.53: Here's what's making entertainment news
REALITY TV: Here's the My Kitchen Rules recap from last night, in case you missed it OR you just want to relive it!
CELEBRITY FUNERAL: James Packer has joined ex-wife Erica in the small NSW community of Gunnedah for the funeral of his former father-in-law, Michael Baxter. The estranged couple, who regularly holiday together in Europe with their three young children, led a large congregation of family and friends who attended the funeral service for the prominent solicitor at Gunnedah's Anglican Christ Church on Monday.
NETFLIX: Finally, Australians are no longer being treated as an afterthought. The launch of Netflix on Tuesday signals a new kind of consumer war: one in which rival streaming services will compete through convenience, quality programs and low prices.
REALITY TV STARS: Rob Kardashian has compared his sister to a fictional psychopath in an Instagram post. The 28-year-old shared a picture of Gone Girl villainess Amy Dunne with his 2.7 million followers on Sunday. The image was accompanied by the caption: "This is my sister kim , the bitch from Gone Girl, [sic]."
SINGER: Did you see Ariana Grande rock Celine Dion on Jimmy Fallon last week? Have no idea what we're talking about? Don't worry! Here's a video
8.48: Is it your birthday today? If so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, we hope you have a fantastic day!
You share your birthday with Rugby League legend Darren Lockyer, 37, How I Met Your Mother star, Alyson Hannigan, 40, The Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons, 41, designer Tommy Hilfiger, 63, Singer Nivea, 32, TV host Mary Berry, 79 and wrestler The Undertaker 49.
8.41: Here's the Fairfax front pages for our region, to check out ALL THE FAIRFAX FRONT PAGES click here.
8.35: Here's this week's traffic reports
ARTHURVILLE ROAD– Timber bridge rehabilitation. Four km south of Geurie towards Ponto, Scabbing Flat Bridge. Intermittent lane closures. Delays of up to 15 minutes can be expected.
BARRIER HIGHWAY – Shoulder grading for edge repairs and vegetation removal. 126 km to 145 km west of Cobar. No lane closures and no delays expected.
BARRIER HIGHWAY – Heavy patching. 30 km to 150 km west of Cobar. Intermittent lane closures. Delays up to five minutes can be expected.
CASTLEREAGH HIGHWAY – Road improvements including strengthening and widening. 32 km north of Gilgandra. One lane closed during work hours. Delays up to 10 minutes can be expected.
GOLDEN HIGHWAY – Road resurfacing. Elong Elong, 49 km to 51 km east of Dubbo. Intermittent lane closures. Delays up to ten minutes can be expected.
HENRY PARKES WAY – Clear zone tree removal and drainage work. 53 km to 57 km west of Parkes. Intermittent lane closures. Delays up to 10 minutes can be expected.
KIDMAN WAY – Heavy patching. Location: 1 km to 190 km south of Cobar. Intermittent lane closures. Delays up to five minutes can be expected.
KIDMAN WAY – Shoulder grading for edge repairs. 0 km to 60 km south of Cobar. One lane closed during work hours. Delays up to five minutes can be expected.
KIDMAN WAY – Spray sealing. 1 km to 190 km south of Cobar. Intermittent lane closures. Delays up to five minutes can be expected.
KIDMAN WAY – Spray sealing.1 km to 55 km north of Cobar. Intermittent lane closures. Delays up to five minutes can be expected.
ANIMA ROAD – Roadwork on approach to new Holman Bridge. Holman Bridge 1 km north of Gooloogong. Intermittent lane closures.
NEWELL HIGHWAY – Build new overtaking lane. 16 km north of Parkes. Intermittent lane closures. Delays up to five minutes can be expected.
OXLEY HIGHWAY – Culvert repair work. 30 km west of Gilgandra. One lane closed intermittently. Delays up to 10 minutes can be expected.
Please take care and obey road signs.
8.25: Were you SNAPPED out and about over the weekend? Check out our SNAPPED gallery to double check
8.21: We have an exciting Easter competition for you
We need you to find the hiding Easter Bunny before Easter rolls around!
He'll be hiding amongst one of our galleries in our Grill from Thursday, March 26 onwards.
Submit a form with your details and where the bunny is hiding to go into the draw to win one of our delicious Cadbury prizes!
Winners will be announced and notified on Thursday, April 2.
This means you have just FIVE chances to go into the draw to win our delicious Easter prize.
We have two hampers and lots of bunnies to give away and you've got to be in it to win it. So make sure you tune in to our Grill from Thursday until Wednesday to go in the draw to win.
8.12: Staying on the topic of the state election, regional Australia was the topic of Q&A last night with voters asked what are the vote changing topics for them.
Coal seam gas mining on farming land emerged as a major issue with the ABC TV’s Q&A panel ’s on Monday night.
Before a crowd at the Sydney Showground for Monday's special Q&A panel on regional Australia, NSW farmer Sarah Ciesiolka asked the panelists what it would take for politicians to prioritise farmers over coal seam gas mining.
"What will it take for the major parties to prioritise the nation's food security and water resources for current and future generations of Australians because CSG is risking things that are priceless," she said.
Less than a week out from the New South Wales election, host Tony Jones asked the audience to raise their hands if the issue was a vote changer for them.
More than half did.
8.08: As we count down to the State Election, we want to know what you want from your local member, please let us know by answering our survey, which can be found here.
8am: We think we might have to take some time of work and go to Pixar HQ for a while, what do you reckon?
7.54: Taking a closer look at today's front page
A Dubboo woman attacked in her yard by a German shepherd at the weekend is shaken and sore but says it could have been a lot worse.
Bronwyn O'Brien was sporting two heavily-bandaged legs when she spoke to the Daily Liberal about her ordeal, which began as she arrived home at her St Georges Terrace residence about 7.55pm Saturday.
She saw the German shepherd and another smaller dog on the loose, and as she got out of the car to go inside the dog ran at a passerby who was walking her own dog.
"I'm glad this didn't happen to a small child,"
- Bronwyn O'Brien
7.48: Here's what's making news around Australia and around the world
RESERVE BANK: High income earners are the biggest beneficiaries of the Reserve Bank's interest rate cuts, while those of pensioner age lost nearly $30 with the last 25 basis point reduction.
TECHNOLOGY: It is not only older people who worry about keeping up with technology trends. One in five young Australians under 35 says they will be left behind by technological advances in the future. The Australian Institute of Family Studies surveyed 1600 people to find out if they felt left behind in the rapid-fire advance of technology, and a substantial minority – 40 per cent – said they did.
SAVING THE FROG: Saving the tiny but beautiful yellow-and-black-striped Southern Corroboree Frog from extinction in the next five years will cost $3.7 million, and it is only one of 20 species that Zoos Victoria want to save. For the first time it has put a dollar figure on the cost of saving animal species from extinction in Victoria and around the world.
EDUCATION: Eight-eight per cent of Victorian principals surveyed by the Australian Education Union said they do not have the resources required to teach children with disabilities. This compares to 79 per cent of principals nationally and 68 per cent of principals in NSW.
AID FOR VANUATU: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has vowed Australia will remain in Vanuatu for "as long as it takes" to help the country recover from a devastating cyclone, as she confirmed that all Australians are now accounted for.
PLAIN PACKAGING IN EUROPE: As Europe adopts Australia's plain packaging reforms, big tobacco fights back.This month alone saw Ireland and Britain legislate for plain cigarette packets with big ugly health warnings, following Australia's 2012 lead. Norway and France – and others – are hard on their heels. These wins have come despite fierce opposition from the tobacco industry. Lawyers have threatened huge lawsuits, piles of specially-commissioned reports have been delivered to key lobbyists, legislators and opinion-makers, and the industry even (Daube's colleagues claim) played dirty tricks along the way.
DAILY POLL
7.42: Taking a look at what's making regional news this morning
BEACHED WHALES: Twelve long-finned pilot whales are dead after they stranded themselves on a Bunbury beach on Monday morning while efforts are continuing to save the rest of their pod. Read more:
WORLD WAR I MEDAL: A chance discovery of a World War I medal is leading James Trotter on a quest to find a soldier’s descendants. Mr Trotter found two war medals among old photographs at his mother’s home in Birmingham Gardens. One medal belonged to David Rankin Mackay, who was possibly a friend of Mr Trotter’s step-grandfather John Murphy.
HIT AND RUN: A cyclist knocked down in a hit-and-run at West Wollongong watched from the gutter as the driver responsible came to a stop 50 metres up the road, then sped away. The hunt is now on for the P-plate driver who struck Gwynneville dad Luke Zweers in the pre-dawn collision on the Princes Highway on Friday.
ICONIC BUILDING: The city could be handed back an iconic local building that has pole position right at the gateway to the central business district. The city’s ambulance station on the corner of Durham and William streets dates back to 1928, but has now reached its use by date. Earlier this month NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner came to Bathurst to announce the government had come up with funding, to the tune of $6.6 million, for a study to determine the best site for the region’s new ambulance station and to build the facility.
7.20: Here's what's making news around the region
STATE ELECTION: Dubbo continues to miss out, as another Labor funding pledge has failed to include any specific funding commitments for the region. The latest in a string of Labor announcements would see an investment of $70 million to help schools install solar panels, as part of the Solar Schools policy.
CRIME: Two men were arrested after a weekend fight in Walgett that allegedly involved scissors and a chainsaw. Police will allege one of the men armed himself with scissors and stabbed the other man in the lip and chest as the pair wrestled each other to the ground. A spokesperson for Castlereagh Local Area Command said the pair were separated by onlookers before the man who was armed with the scissors returned to his residence and got a chainsaw that he started up and revved in order to threaten the other man.
APPEAL FOR FIRE: An appeal has been launched in Dubbo to try to help two families who lost all of their belongings when their house was destroyed by fire in Nyngan earlier this month. Three adults and five children were lucky to escape injury when their Cannonbar Street house caught fire.
ACTING PASSION: Drama students from Dubbo Christian School were treated to a full day workshop on Saturday, run by former student and artist-in-residence Bethany Simons. Miss Simons graduated from Dubbo Christian School in 2003 and went on to study acting at CSU Wagga Wagga. She is now writing, producing and performing in her own theatrical works in Melbourne, and has even had her two original works, The Weather and Your Health and Reception the Musical featured in the Victorian school curriculum.
OBITUARY: Alwyn Bernard Wilson had a lasting impact on everyone who met him. He was a man who was well known throughout the central west and will be remembered fondly by his family and many friends. Born in Gilgandra on September 18, 1929, Mr Wilson passed away on December 29, 2014, at 85 years of age.
STATE ELECTION: Dubbo has again been left out, after a Labor commitment to boost funding to the state's libraries failed to guarantee anything for Macquarie Regional Library. If elected, Labor's '21st Century Libraries' policy would see a $23.3 million boost to ongoing recurrent funding for the state's libraries, and a $50 million Public Library Infrastructure Fund. The policy also includes a $2 million hardship fund, which is aimed at libraries in rural and regional local government areas with populations of less 50,000 that are currently disadvantaged by per capita funding arrangements.
SENIOR OF THE YEAR: Volunteer Helen Logan has been named Dubbo's Senior Citizen of the Year for 2015, at a Senior's Week concert. The former doctor was recognised at the Senior's Week concert at Dubbo RSL on Thursday, March 19, and Dubbo City Council said she was an "extremely worthy winner".
7am: Good morning everyone, welcome to your Tuesday Grill!
You're grilling with Grace from Narromine this morning.
You picked an exciting morning to tune in as we announce our Easter Giveaway which is kicking off this Thursday!
In the mean time if you have any events, community issues or birthdays you'd like to see in this morning's Grill, please email me: grace.ryan@fairfaxmedia.com.au
DUBBO / TRANGIE / NYNGAN: will all see possible thunderstorms today. Dubbo and Trangie will get to 31 with a 70 per cent chance of one to five mms. Nyngan will get to 32 with a 70 per cent chance of less than one mm.
COBAR: will have clearing showers, reaching 28 degrees with a five per cent chance of one to five mms.
BOURKE: will have a mostly sunny day, reaching 35 degrees with a five per cent chance of less than one mm.