When Sharon Siermans was a young girl, she loved playing netball. Read more.

Creswick may soon become a two supermarket town after a planning application for another Albert Street store was lodged with the Hepburn Shire earlier this month. Read more.

Victims and their supporters made their voices heard in the fight against sexual abuse during a march on Sturt Street on Sunday afternoon. Read more.

Emma Banks is missing a big chunk of her brain. Read more.

Redevelopment on Ballarat Health Services’ Base Hospital children’s ward should start within weeks. Read more.

Foggy before a top of 17 degrees.

►NEWCASTLE: A four-year-old boy at the centre of fervid debate about anti-vaccination and alternative medicine has been deemed “at risk of serious harm” and taken into the care of authorities, triggering impassioned outrage from supporters on social media who labelled it a “medical kidnapping”. 

►TASMANIA: Tasmanian LGTBI activist and marriage equality advocate Rodney Croome has praised the Australian Medical Association’s calls for a bi-partisan approach to end the same-sex marriage debate. Read more

►BENDIGO: Police are urging witnesses to a vicious attack on a teenage girl in the Bendigo CBD to come forward. Senior Constable Paul Tobin said the victim was sitting on the footpath with her boyfriend when they were approached by a group of predominantly girls about 3.40pm on Wednesday, May 17. Read more 

►TAMWORTH: Learning that her grandson’s good mate lost his life to suicide at just 12 years of age kick-started Michele McInerney’s will to make a difference. 

The Tamworth abattoir worker spearheaded a charity drive to raise money for Where There’s A Will, a not-for-profit group addressing significant mental health issues in the community. Read more

►WA: The Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association (KPCA) has cautiously welcomed mandatory standards to the Animal Welfare Act 2002.

The State government is seeking changes to the act, which will enable standards to be mandatory and legally enforced in WA and will ensure a national, consistent approach to animal welfare. Read more

►WANGARATTA: Hundreds of people have helped raise money for the young children left behind after a shocking and violent tragedy.

A fundraiser was held at the Wangaratta West Primary School on Sunday for Ora Holt and Greg Floyd’s four children.

They were left orphaned when Mr Floyd shot his wife in a neighbour’s home on Belle Avenue, Wangaratta, on Anzac Day, before turning the gun on himself. Read more

►NSW: More than 1500 people have signed a petition opposing the introduction of an organic waste bin in Dubbo.

Former deputy mayor Ben Shields, one of the people behind the petition, said they opposed a proposal to cut existing rubbish services back to every second week, a resulting $75 per year rate increase, and the fact that an administrator, not an elected council, would be making the decision. Read more

►Refugee lawyers are furious over what they are calling a breach of faith from the Turnbull government in its new deadline for boat arrivals to lodge their asylum claims. Read more

►A $20 million office block in Surry Hills, a Vaucluse mansion and a hobby farm in the Hunter Region have been frozen by order of the NSW Supreme Court as investigators attempt to claw back $165 million allegedly skimmed from the tax office. Read more

►Britain has introduced tough new rules which mean cigarettes and tobacco products must be sold in plain green packets and feature prominent, graphic health warnings. Read more

►Eleven Asia-Pacific nations, including Australia, agreed on Sunday to salvage a massive free trade deal that US President Donald Trump pulled out of days after taking office in January. Read more

When planning to store food, using beeswax may not be the most obvious solution.

But West Launceston small business owner Bronwyn Kidd is working to change that, with her beeswax-covered food wraps designed to take the place of plastic food wrap.

“The main vision of the business is to minimise the number of single-use plastics that we use from day to day life,” she said. Read more