Good morning Ballarat,
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The cold front is rolling in this morning, so we might have already reached the weekend maximum temperature.
Weatherzone says it is 7 degrees, but the cold front will slowly move in as the day goes on.
The rain and wind chill will drop the ‘feels like’ below 3 degrees at times, so be sure to keep rugged up.
It’s the last weekend for both the Sovereign Hill Winter Wonderland show and the ice skating rink at Town Hall, so make sure to see them before it’s too late.
Our top stories
A state government spokesman has warned about the extra power load from the booting up of heaters around the region, because the terminal station only has one transformer running at the moment.
CFA
Firefighters helped paramedics pull an unfortunate woman from the creek running behind Havelock Street.
She was down for at least half an hour in the cold after emergency services arrived around 11.30pm before getting taken to the Ballarat Base Hospital with a suspected broken arm.
Police
Police in Ballarat reported a quiet night but Melbourne officers charged a man with murder overnight after a stabbing death in Preston.
A 68-year-old man died after what police described as an “altercation” between two men at 4.45pm on Friday.
The 35-year-old charged over the death will face the Magistrate’s Court today.
Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered.
► LAUNCESTON: The Launceston General Hospital will seek clarification of a coroner's comments that "the failings of the management of the LGH" prompted the reopening of an investigation into the death of a patient who had been misdiagnosed. Read more
► QUEENSLAND: Bob Katter has slammed the announcement of billions of dollars for the “failed” Drought Concessional Loans scheme that “achieves nothing”.
The federal member for Kennedy said the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper released on the weekend by the Agriculture Minister re-announced a number of previous items and throws another $2.75 billion into the botched loans scheme. Read more
► WAGGA WAGGA: “You knew something was wrong when a girl went to bed with you at night and in the morning, they were gone.”
A former inmate at one of the country's most notorious juvenile centres has broken her silence on the physical and sexual abuse she witnessed as a ward of the state half a century on. Read more
► BALLARAT: As extreme cold temperatures head across the eastern side of the country, Ballarat residents have been told to keep power consumption down because the cold could mean more stress on the terminal station in Warrenheip, which currently has one transformer running instead of the usual two. Read more
► MARGARET RIVER: A wandering dog ruined a birthday present for young Aamos Peltonen when it mauled his two pet guinea pigs to death.
Aamos received his two guinea pigs, which he named Cookie and Cream, for his eighth birthday but, just after celebrating his ninth, he had to bury them. Read more
► NEWCASTLE: A week after Greyhound Racing NSW ruled there was no evidence of a mass greyhound grave at Keinbah Trial Track, near Cessnock, property owner Natina Howard has unearthed dozens of bones. Read more
► PORT MACQUARIE: A priest was refused bail in Port Macquarie Local Court on Friday after being arrested the day before on historical sexual assault charges. Read more
► WHYALLA: Amelia Hampton is one in a million. The three-month-old princess has had a tough start to life, but with the love and support of parents Kristy MacDonald and Kenny Hampton she has soldiered through with a smile on her face. When Amelia was just one week old, she suddenly stopped breathing. Read more
► Gillian Triggs, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, has bought into the same-sex marriage debate, criticising its absence as a constitutional right. Read more
► Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce's angry outburst against the government's approval of a massive Chinese-owned coal mine may have breached strict protocols for ministerial behaviour and cabinet solidarity. Read more
► Whistleblower Kathy Jackson is facing allegations of misappropriating HSU funds. The Federal Court this week has heard damning evidence implicating Jackson in allegations of large-scale theft and misappropriation of HSU funds via cash cheques, a secret slush fund and three union-issued credit cards. The HSU alleges she wrongfully spent $1.4 million, dipping into union funds for years to fund her own five-star lifestyle. Read more
► The most significant cold spell for years is sweeping across southern Australia, delivering much-needed snow to alpine resorts. Read more
► UNITED STATES: The Confederate flag will be removed from the grounds of the South Carolina state house less than a month after a white racist allegedly murdered nine African-Americans in a Bible class. Read more
► MIDDLE EAST: Israel has admitted that two of its citizens have been missing in Gaza for months amid signs it was attempting to negotiate with Hamas for their release. Read more
Standing at a towering 194 centimetres tall, Launceston-based strongman Jeremy Hogg says he will be one of the shorter competitors at this year’s World Highland Games Championships.
Hogg, a former national-level shot put athlete and former farmers walk world-record holding strongman, is preparing to compete at the annual competition in San Francisco in September.
Not only will he face old rivals among his 11 warrior counterparts, but one of the world’s better known strongman figureheads - Halfthor Bjornsson, made famous as The Mountain Gregor Clegane in HBO’s Game of Thrones adaptation, will attend the games. Read more
