WA Brekkie Blog | Wednesday, March 22, 2017

MANDURAH: The man whose murder conviction for the death of a Mandurah taxi driver was overturned on appeal last year has been sentenced to serve a total of 12 years after pleading guilty to his manslaughter.

Grant Lindon Collard took Lindsay Ferguson hostage at knifepoint on April 24, 2013, and forced Mr Ferguson to drive him around Mandurah in his taxi for about an hour before Mr Ferguson suffered a heart attack and died. Read more. 

BUSSELTON: A dog owner has been fined $4000 and banned from owning a dog for three years after her two dogs harassed and attacked people while roaming about uncontrolled last year. Read more. 

ESPERANCE: The Shire of Esperance carried out repairs to the Tanker Jetty after pieces of timber came loose.

A shire spokeswoman said the removal of these sections would not impact the stability of the jetty. Read more.

WA: The Nationals WA have unveiled their new parliamentary leadership team. 

The Nationals elected Member for Central Wheatbelt Mia Davies MLA to lead the Party, with Member for Mining and Pastoral Region Hon Jacqui Boydell MLC elected as Deputy Leader at a party room meeting on Tuesday. Read more.  

Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered. 

► NEWCASTLE: One of Newcastle’s busiest roads was brought to a standstill on Tuesday as a man suspected of a triple stabbing and two armed robberies in the same night held police at bay in a siege that lasted hours. Read more

► COOTAMUNDRA: A little boy has died after he was unknowingly hit by a car at a Cootamundra home on Tuesday afternoon. Police say a car was leaving the driveway of a home when the three-year-old was struck. Read more

►DUBBO: Two men accused of cultivating a cannabis crop with an estimated street value of about $3 million at a remote property east of Dubbo have faced court. Read more

►KATHERINE: Today marks 75 years since Katherine was bombed by the Japanese during World War II. The Katherine raid came at the tail end of the wet season in 1942, a hail of shrapnel and high explosive from high in the sky. It was the furthest encroachment of enemy invasion ever recorded on mainland Australia but most people have never heard of it. Read more

► BALLARAT: Ballarat's dry spell has finally broken, with the gauge at the airport registering more than 34mm of rain since storms rolled in on Monday evening. Read more

► REVESBY: A propeller that fell off a Regional Express flight from Albury has been found in bushland near a residential area in Sydney’s south-west. Read more

► TAMWORTH: Hundreds packed out Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre to farewell former Great Britain rugby league representative and long-time Tamworth resident Michael Adams on Tuesday afternoon. Michael has been remembered as a sporting hero, devoted family man and a fiercely loyal friend to all those he met in his 65 years. Read more

►HAWKER: Residents of the Flinders Ranges gathered at the Hawker Sports Club on Sunday, March 19, for the third of a series of public meetings about the federal government’s proposed Barndioota nuclear waste facility. Read more

►VICTORIA: Clunes looks set to be the next town to embrace plastic bag-free living thanks to a push from Wesley College students to implement a boomerang bag system throughout the town.   

► PORT FAIRY: Kevin O’Toole is praising Port Fairy SES and the local community after his house narrowly escaped flooding in Tuesday’s heavy rains. Read more

►ILLAWARRA: Three Illawarra private hospitals will be sold to a Chinese-owned health operator, in a transaction believed to be worth more than $50 million. Read more

►Former prime minister Julia Gillard has been appointed as chairwoman of the national depression initiative beyondblue, replacing former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett. Read more

►Police minister Troy Grant has been fined $325 for taking a photo of a sheep with his mobile phone while he was behind the wheel of his car. Mr Grant was stopped for road works and snapped the picture of a ewe, which was in the boot of the car ahead of him. He later posted it to Twitter. Read more

►Kate Zizys, 46, has been underemployed her entire working life in Australia. Earning less than $20,000 a year from casual work, she is one of 1.1 million Australians who want more hours of work than they are getting. New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the official unemployment rate has increased from 5.7 to 5.9 per cent. Read more

► Food companies are being accused of hiding the unhealthiness of products by keeping the packaging void of health star ratings. Read more

What’s coming your way ...

►WASHINGTON: There was the first formal revelation that the FBI is investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign; and there was a new benchmark in fact-checking - the President's real-time tweets were being checked with intelligence chiefs even as they continued to testify before the House Intelligence Committee. Read more

►DILI: A veteran guerrilla commander is heading for a decisive victory in East Timor's presidential elections and is expected to be sworn in as the country's next head of state in May. Read more

►LONDON: Britain has set its date with destiny confirming its two years of negotiations to split from the European Union will begin next Wednesday, March 29. Read more

1802: Matthew Flinders names Kangaroo island in South Australia for the fresh food it provides his crew.

1897: Edmund Barton heads a conference to discuss the proposed constitution for the Commonwealth of Australia.

1923: French mime artist, Marcel Marceau, is born.

1942: Nine Japanese aircraft bomb the town of Katherine in Australia's Northern Territory. 

1974: Tasmania records its highest rainfall within a single day.

1987: A barge carrying 3,200 tons of trash leaves New York Harbor in search of a dumping ground, only to return months later, still carrying the trash.

Yenda Public School farewelled an icon on Friday afternoon as veteran teacher Richard Turner wrapped up a 37-year career in teaching.

Teaching staff, students and community members paid tribute to Mr Turner’s years of teaching at a community picnic held in his honour, a mark of respect for a man held in high-esteem in education circles.

A “Mr Miyagi” of the teaching community Mr Turner’s mentoring to was invaluable to many teachers irrespective of their experience. Read more