9:00am:
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That's it from me team, make sure you check back in tomorrow to see what's on Grace Ryan's grilling mind.
In the meantime, why not have a look at our regional pages?
DUBBO | NARROMINE | WELLINGTON | NYNGAN | THE RIDGE | WESTERN MAGAZINE |
8:50am:
Is July 29 your birthday today? HAPPY BIRTHDAY from all of us here if it is.
Did you know you share your glory day with reality TV star Joey Essex, 24, and the one and only Josh Radnor, 40, ?
Radnor has risen to fame for his role as Ted Mosby in the popular series How I Met Your Mother.
Here's a little jam from the show to get your Wednesday morning rolling.
8:45am:
What would you do if you were the mayor of Dubbo?
We asked that question to class 5L at Orana Heights Public School - check out their answers here.
8:40am:
Brownyn Bishop's Choppergate scandal spawns 'Bronny Copter' game
A new online game in which you fly a helicopter that dodges newspapers and more was attracting attention on Tuesday as pressure mounted on the Speaker to repay more questionable expenses related to her attendance of a Liberal party member's wedding.
The game, called Bronny Copter, was created by 32-year-old Melbourne man Ricky Sullivan and is based on another game called Pappu Pakia (which itself seems inspired by Flappy Bird).
But Bronny Copter adds new characters like Joe Hockey, Bill Shorten and Tony Abbott, who you must dodge in order to keep yourself in the air. Read more here.
Conan O'Brien accused of stealing jokes from Twitter
In a dispute that is at least as old as comedy itself, late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien has been accused of pinching jokes from a wannabe comic on Twitter.
Robert Kaseberg from San Diego has filed suit in the district court alleging wisecracks he posted to Twitter turned up shortly afterwards in O'Brien's signature monologues.
And Kaseberg is evidently not at all amused by the apparent copying, demanding at least $US750,000 ($A1,024,870) in compensation for alleged "theft".
In one of the jokes at issue Kaseberg wrote: "A Delta flight this week took off from Cleveland to New York with just two passengers. And they fought over control of the armrest the entire flight." Read more here.
MasterChef Australia: Where the contestants cry more than they cook
There's no use crying over spilt milk … or is there?
There was a lot of crying during this season of MasterChef, the level of which has drawn the ire of fans.
In fact, it has led some to surmise that the more a contestant cries, the more likely they are to succeed in the cooking competition-cum-television drama.
One might argue there was more crying than cooking, as the seventh MasterChef season progressed.
What resulted was an episode of Days of Our Livesand Australia's Next Top Model tossed together to make a rather peculiar salad.
There were calls of foul play when cool, calm and collected Reynold Poernomo – the last man standing – was tripped up by a savoury dish of flame-grilled bonito with pickled cucumber, celtic mustard and shiso. His fish was apparently undercooked by five seconds.
8:30am:
RUGBY LEAGUE: THE drama surrounding last Saturday’s dramatic Group 11 clash between Dubbo Westside and Dubbo Macquarie will stretch deep into next week as Group officials search for the best way to handle the volatile situation.
Three Westside players, as well as two supporters, have been cited by Macquarie, and will front a Group 11 management committee meeting that will probably be held at Narromine on Thursday night.
But their appearance comes amid claims from a Westside official on Tuesday that his club was unaware of the citing process, a claim denied by Group 11 secretary Ross McDermott. Read more here.
CASTLEREAGH LEAGUE: THE Coonamble Bears stitched up two Bendigo Bank Castlereagh League minor premierships last Saturday when their first grade side took out a tense game 29-26 on the road at Gulgong, and their League Tag team downed the Coolah Flyers 36-6 at Coolah.
With just two rounds remaining neither of the Bears teams can be toppled from finishing on top of their respective competition ladders in what is yet another fine achievement by the accomplished club.
The big question now is who will be facing the Bears in the major semi-finals of both competitions, which will be staged at Coonamble. Read more here.
CRICKET: THE SCG Country Cup is gone, that’s fact, but regional centres have been rife with rumours of a potential Twenty20 competition being introduced to take its place for some time.
Now, the speculation seems to have come to fruition.
A NSW Country T20 Bash competition is expected to be announced in the Country Cup’s place in the very near future.
There was no secret countless regional centres under the Country Cricket NSW banners were filthy when the Country Cup was removed from the representative cricket calendar, but they are set to be somewhat appeased, with the proposed T20 competition aimed directly at the towns and cities which competed in the now-defunct competition. Read more here.
8:20am:
A minute’s silence was held at the July Ordinary Meeting of Dubbo City Council on Monday to honour the late Joe Snare.
Mr Snare died on Sunday, aged 90.
Councillor John Walkom said Mr Snare was a great businessman who knew every customer who went into his shop and what they read.
Mr Walkom also praised Mr Snare’s work as a volunteer at the Western Plains Cultural Centre.
“The way he used to talk it up you would swear he owned the Cultural Centre.,” he said.
You would think that everything in the museum he put there and all the art, that he had some kind of contribution. That was just his passion.” Read more here.
8:15am:
SUSTAINING a healthy change is the main thing Director of NSW Office of Preventive Health Chris Rissel hopes Tottenham and Tullamore residents do after he presented the towns with a plaque as the inaugural winners of the NSW Healthy Towns Challenge.
Mr Rissel flew into Dubbo on Tuesday morning, before driving to Tullamore and Tottenham for the official presentations.
The Western NSW Local Health District (LHD) reported that each town's collective progress towards a healthy weight, based on the people who participated in NSW Health's Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service, was used to select the overall winner by the Centre for Population Health. Read more here.
8:10am:
Parents have a range of childcare and preschool education needs and the NSW government wants to “do what we can to accommodate those needs”, the MP in charge of the portfolio has said during a visit to Dubbo.
NSW early childcare education minister Leslie Williams said the focus of state government funding was for children in the year before they started school and that an additional $150 million was being invested through its preschool funding model.
Mrs Williams said the extension of a national partnership agreement with the federal government for another two years provided “some security about our funding”. Read more here.
8:00am:
ACTING education minister Leslie Williams and Dubbo MP Troy Grant visited Dubbo’s Orana Juvenile Justice Centre’s Lincoln School on Tuesday to see how the centre was preparing students for further education and employment upon their release from custody.
At any one time the school catered for about 30 students from western NSW, all aged between 10 and 18, about 90 per cent of them Aboriginal.
Students Lionel, Wade and Tyson welcomed the ministers with a song and presented them with a hand-crafted emu caller.
Lionel, who composed the song, said he loved how music allowed him to express himself.
“It’s relaxing, it calms you down from doing bad stuff like fighting,” he said. Read more here.
7:45am:
LOVE will be in the air on Sunday at the Dubbo Bridal and Event Expo (DBEE), in which exhibitors will showcase anything and everything that can be used in the lead-up to , on or after a couple’s big day.
Established in 1978, the DBEE has been responsible for presenting thousands of brides to be with access to the very latest information and ideas to support and assist them in creating their dream wedding day.
With more than 65 exhibitors confirmed, and several giveaways and promotions on the day, highlighted by the Bride of the Year Quest parade of past brides, and all proceeds going to the Cancer Council NSW, it is sure to be a great day for all.
Mary Kay Cosmetics director Tara McMahon was runner-up in the Bride of the Year Quest parade last year, and would encourage everyone eligible to take part. Read more here.
7:30am:
A mother who was driving in a dangerous manner when her car crashed, claiming the life of her young child, has been jailed for a maximum period of 22 months at Dubbo.
The vehicle left the road and struck a large tree between Dubbo and Mendooran on January 11, last year.
The child was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene.
The mother pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death - driving in a manner dangerous and faced Dubbo District Court for sentencing this week.
The maximum penalty for the offence is 10 years in jail.
Judge Gordon Lerve found the woman’s moral culpability was not high but it also was not low, and that the only appropriate sentence was full-time custody. Read more here.
FORMER Dubbo radio announcer Dene Broadbelt has publicly stated he will pay back every single one of his debts.
Mr Broadbelt, who has also gone by the names of Dene Mussillon and Harrison O'Connor, was an announcer at Dubbo's ZOO FM before gaining notoriety in the region as the driving force behind the failed Infinity Music Festival.
In October last year he declared himself bankrupt but Mr Broadbelt said he was more mature now and the weight of his actions had become obvious.
"The mistakes that I've made have been a big kick in the backside," he said. Read more here.
Residents of Yarrawonga Estate say they will continue fighting against a proposed seniors housing residence, following a decision to defer the development application.
The residence, proposed for 5L Wellington Road, would be comprised of 84 dwellings and associated infrastructure.
However, the application was deferred at Monday’s council meeting until a full traffic review was compiled by the Roads and Maritime Services regarding access to the development via the Mitchell Highway. Read more here.
7:15am:
TREATING ice addicts in their local communities instead of rehabilitation centres hundreds of kilometres from home was the rationale behind a strategy announced by Assistant Health Minister Pru Goward in Dubbo on Tuesday.
After meeting with police and local drug experts to hear about the effect the highly-addictive drug was having on communities, Ms Goward elaborated on the government’s pre-election pledge of $4 million over four years for non-government organisations (NGOs) to partner with local health districts to deliver ice treatment services tailored to the needs of individual communities in rural and regional NSW.
Tenders would open in September and contracts would be awarded by December, she said.
Ms Goward said the strategy would seek to address “the tyranny of distance”. Read more here.
7am:
Good morning and welcome to Wednesday's Morning Grill.
You're here with the lovely Laura McIntyre in Dubbo – HAPPY HUMP DAY!
A frosty start for this morning, it's currently -1.3 in Dubbo. We're expecting a top of 16. Trangie, 15 and Nyngan 16.
Bourke residents will be treated to a slightly warmer 17 degrees and Cobar 15.
► BENDIGO, VICTORIA: A push to ease traffic congestion and lower carbon emissions is gaining momentum in Bendigo’s CBD. Two of the city’s major employers are taking a bike-friendly turn in a bid to keep their staff happy and healthy.
► ORANGE, NEW SOUTH WALES: Unlicensed driver David Lee Field who drove to Mount Canobolas with a child in the boot and four passengers, crashing the vehicle on the way down, has been fined $2200 and disqualified from driving for three years in Orange Local Court.
► MOUNT ISA, QUEENSLAND: Police have confirmed three people are dead after a gas explosion in a caravan in Mount Isa. A police spokesman said remains had been found at a home on Deighton Street, Mornington, and the caravan was destroyed.
► TASMANIA: Personal leave within the public sector is costing Tasmania $68 million a year, a figure that is due in part to a culture of entitlement, the state's auditor-general has found.
► WELLINGTON POINT, QUEENSLAND: A 23-year-old man who unlawfully took a gecko from an area in south west Queensland and tried to send it through the mail was convicted and fined $4500. The man avoided having a conviction recorded, but pleaded guilty to eight wildlife offences. Read more
National news
► TOWNSVILLE, QUEENSLAND: A string of high-profile Cowboys NRL players - including star Johnathan Thurston, co-captain Matt Scott and State of Origin player James Tamou - have acquired properties from millionaire developer Laurence Lancini, who is the long-serving chairman of the North Queensland rugby league club. A Fairfax Media investigation can reveal that over the past seven years, 10 high-profile players have bought vacant blocks of land and apartments from Mr Lancini's companies.
► CANBERRA: A former senior member of the Jehovah's Witnesses who repeatedly molested a teenage girl was stood down as a church elder only to be later reinstated, a royal commission has heard.
► MELBOURNE, VICTORIA: Who paid to put Daniel Andrews' ALP in power? It's the best kept secret in Victoria. Victorians know next to nothing about the benefactors behind the Andrews team. Millions of dollars have flowed into ALP coffers in the past two years, yet Labor has made public just one business donation made to it since June 2013 – a $18,400 gift from Crown Casino. Read more
National weather
International news
►INDIA: A government committee set up two years ago to look into the status of Indian women has recommended banning the controversial triple talaq. Muslim men can end their marriage by pronouncing talaq three times but in many Muslim countries the words are meant to be said over a period of three months so that the husband can reflect carefully before pronouncing it a final, third time.
►SYRIA: A barrage of barrel bomb attacks and Syrian regime air strikes had caused "unprecedented levels of destruction and many deaths among the civilian population" in the besieged city of Zabadani.
►UNITED STATES: The 2016 presidential election is going to be an experiment in democracy the likes of which the United States has never seen before – a race run with no effective limits on the amount of money donors can spend on the process. And the nation's billionaires are already responding enthusiastically.
The Faces of Australia: Steve Harvey
The Port Lincoln community has shown its support for a man who is walking across Australia to raise money for the homeless. Steve Harvey is walking from Mandurah in Western Australia to Sydney in what is called the Coast to Coast Solo Walk for the Homeless, in an attempt to raise at least $11,000 for homeless people in his home state.
Mr Harvey became homeless himself after losing his job as a diamond driller a couple of months ago and is now raising awareness of homelessness.
His goal is to buy a backpack bed from Swags for Homeless and a sleeping bag for at least 100 homeless people in WA.