NSW

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A Clarence Valley amateur beekeeper says she is devastated after having to destroy her hive of more than 6000 bees on the weekend that was ravaged by a Varroa Mite infestation ad has warned others to be on the lookout.

Former prominent NSW Magistrate and Dean of Law at Southern Cross University, Professor David Heilpern has written to the NSW Chief Magistrate challenging new bail laws including a 12-noon cutoff he described as ‘radical’. A new bail division designed to streamline bail hearings across the state and deliver consistency in bail outcomes was introduced on July 7, where 6 virtual courtrooms will cover bail hearings from different regions.

Emergency services have been kept on alert, responding to cotton truck fires in the region. On Thursday local crews attended a fire on the Cobb Highway, adjacent to Hay Airport, where a truck carrying cotton modules caught alight.

The boy who left Hay all those years ago has travelled further than most people could imagine - not just geographically, but through depths of human experience that would break many people ... At 80 metres below the surface, hand-feeding apex predators with a failing heart, he's found something that eluded him for decades; peace.

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Picture this: you're out checking the back paddock, kilometres from the nearest mobile tower, when your phone buzzes with a text message. Not from a satellite phone or special device, but from your regular iPhone or Samsung, somehow managing to reach up to space and back down to deliver that simple "all good here" message ...

So, you're a police officer in a small Western NSW town, and you've just arrested someone at 10am. Under the new bail system, there's a good chance that person won't see a magistrate until Monday, and you'll be stuck supervising them while emergency calls pile up on your radio ... officers are being pulled off the streets to babysit accused people while magistrates work what appears to be school hours.

The CSIRO has released its catchment-scale virtual model of the Richmond, Tweed and parts of the Brunswick Rivers, which offers an unprecedented understanding of how floodwaters move through our catchment, and will be used to test future flood mitigation scenarios.

Ian Wickham. An emerging mural on the side of the Hemp embassy alerted me that a new muralist has arrived in town, Marta Kimberley. I was working next door in the Embassy watching it go up – thinking this deserves a story. So I talked to her about the highs and lows of the task.

Local Government NSW released a new report on ‘cost shifting’ last week and the Country Mayors Association of NSW (CMA) has reiterated their frustrations and the fact that the impacts are more deeply felt in rural, regional and remote communities. Cost shifting is the terms given to the offloading of cost burdens by State and Federal Governments onto already cash starved Local Government.

Forestry Corporation firefighters from Tumut and Deniliquin will deploy to Canada this week to reinforce local and international crews battling ongoing wildfires, where close to five million hectares have been burnt, approximately 150 wildfires remain active, and multiple communities have been evacuated.

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There’s been movement on the stalemate between WaterNSW and Kyogle Fishing Club with a formal interim licence to be issued next week. The gates to Bells Bay Campground are still locked despite initial reports they would be opened last Wednesday, July 9.

A peach ride from Glenn Cahill aboard Chilling highlighted a successful day of thoroughbred action on Fisher’s Plumbing Plus Race Day at Port Macquarie on Saturday. Cahill commenced his riding career at Coffs Harbour under the watchful eye of Jim and Kris Jarvis before relocating to the southern districts and this has resulted in great success in honing his skills and confidence.

Many years ago, no one is quite sure how many, men would gather at Jimmy Byrne’s property on Bruxner Road near Drake ... Because of the gap in time since the men came together, the members are regrouping and inviting past and new members to rejoin the Drake Men’s Shed.

The first real-time dashboard for tracking on-farm fatalities and injuries has launched, giving journalists, farm safety advocates, researchers and the farming community early insights into where and how agricultural incidents are occurring. Developed by AgHealth Australia as part of the Ag Safety Data Net project, the Rural Media Farm Injury Dashboard draws on live media reports…