A 53-year-old Ballarat man has been charged over a bus crash at the Montague Street bridge in February which left 11 passengers injured. Read more.

Grand final Friday cost Sovereign Hill $20,000 last year and have budgeted for a similar loss in 2016, its chief executive officer said. Read more.

Drug use, disengagement and brazen recidivist offenders are some contributing factors to an overall increase in the region’s property crime, police say. Read more.

Footscray champion Doug Hawkins has thrown his support around the Western Bulldogs move into Ballarat on the eve of the club’s first grand final in 55 years. Read more.

Jordan Roughead has been named in the Western Bulldogs line-up to take on Sydney in the 2016 AFL grand final. Read more.

Showers and a top of 12 degrees today.

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

NEWCASTLE: LIFEGUARDS were forced to close Birubi Beach on Thursday morning following reports a shark had been sighted during an aerial search. Read more.

BALLARAT: A 53-year-old Ballarat man has been charged over a bus crash at the Montague Street bridge in February which left 11 passengers injured. Read more.

TASMANIA: A softening in demand for poppy product and a desire to reduce inventory is being blamed for Tasmanian Alkaloids' decision to shut down its production facility earlier in the year than usual. Read more.

BENDIGO: THE crime rate in Bendigo jumped 10.1 per cent in the 12 months to June, driven by a significant increase in the rate of theft. Read more. 

MORETON BAY: MORETON Bay Marine Park has been declared a “unique’’ marine environment which is critically important to the health of the oceans. Read more.

ILLAWARRA: Unanderra company Sharry Pty Ltd has been fined $15,000 for illegally disposing of asbestos – after dumping contaminated materials in a waterway to try and make a dam wall. Read more.

WODONGA: A seven-month-old baby was hospitalised on Thursday when a car full of people crashed and flipped on the Hume Freeway. Read more.

TAMWORTH: AN INMATE on the run after escaping from a prison has been spotted in Tamworth. Read more.

LEETON: POLICE have cast doubt on the claims of a teenage girl who reported being sexually assaulted in a Leeton laneway in broad daylight. Read more.

TASMANIA: Labour hire companies are reporting registrations have dramatically declined for the upcoming picking season in Tasmania, says Mountford property owner Hugh Mackinnon. Read more.

National news

MELBOURNE: Metro Trains and Yarra Trams have been given the green light to run Melbourne's train and tram networks for another seven years, provided they accept a series of tougher performance targets. Read on

CANBERRA:  Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has issued a scathing criticism of former Liberal MP Wyatt Roy's trip to Iraq, branding it "irresponsible", "very high risk" and suggesting he could have been captured by hostile forces while there. Read on

NATIONAL: Some of Australia's most elite high-fee private schools are receiving taxpayer funding almost three times greater than their entitlements while others schools remain grossly underfunded, official Education Department data reveals. Read on.

PHILIPPINES: He is the popular president of a nation of 100 million people, but he's putting a key ally off with his antics. Read more

UNITED STATES: The Saudis might have been spared if this was not an election year in the US, but it was inevitable that Congress would side with the families of the September 11 victims - and that, when push came to shove, it was Riyadh and President Barack Obama that were thrown under the bus. Read more.

MALAYSIA: Flight MH17 was shot down from pro-Russian rebel controlled territory, with a missile that had recently been transported from Russia, a criminal investigation has found. Read more.

1520 - Suleiman I (the Magnificent) succeeds his father Selam I as Sultan of Turkey (rules till 1566)

1846 - Anesthetic ether used for 1st time by American dentist Dr William Morton who extracts a tooth

1938 - Treaty of Munich signed by Hitler, Mussolini, Daladier and Chamberlain, forces Czechoslovakia to give territory to Germany

1946 – 22 Nazi leaders found guilty of war crimes at Nuremberg

Salvation Army Rural Support Worker and Chaplain John Cartwright’s car has clocked about 185,000 kilometres in three years from his efforts to support the region’s farmers. 

The 72-year-old estimates he traverses about 200 to 250 kilometres per work day.

Read his story here.