9AM
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That's it for today, thanks for your company. If you want a feel good story, follow this link to today's Western Advocate, which tells the story of Grahame Kilby, who has donated over 74 litres of blood saving 450 lives!
Alex Grant will be back at 7am tomorrow, so send any news tips through to him at alex.grant@fairfaxmedia.com.au
8.45AM
Don't miss all the action of Bathurst Harness Racing which gets underway at 5.21pm tonight.
Here are the race tips and good luck!
8.30AM:
I can't believe McDonald's Bathurst is 25.
Like a lot of people in Bathurst I can remember when it opened.
Come and celebrate with McDonald's this Saturday it looks like there will be plenty on and is a great excuse to get out and do something with your family!
8.15AM
A quick look at what's on today in Bathurst.
There is a free public lecture on tonight, "The People Smugglers" which is being staged at Charles Sturt University.
It will be hosted by Dr Alison Gerard and Dr Suzie Gibson of CSU's School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Explorations, Rural Australians for Asylum Seekers (Bathurst), and BooksPlus.
The evening begins at 6.30pm in Building 1292, Room 223, Charles Sturt University. Please RSVP to Kate Esdaile at kesdaile@csu.edu.au or by phoning (02) 6338 4645.
Come along to hear Robin talk about her book and the reality of fleeing persecution to find safety.
In other events, be part of "Wrap with Love".
Join Bathurst City Women's bowling club and knit up a storm for those in need. The knit in will start at 10am this morning and run until 4pm, drop in for an hour or stay for the whole day. The lovely ladies of the Women's bowling will also be providing a super yummy morning tea. Gold coin donation on entry, being held at BCCC 29 William street. For more information call Marcia on 6337 1117 or Rebecca at BCCC on 6331 3187.
8AM
John Cobb’s methods have been labelled “disrespectful” by the man he defeated at the last federal election, after the Calare MP spent almost half of his printing entitlement in the weeks leading up to polling day.
Bathurst councillor Dr Jess Jennings ran as the Labor candidate for Calare against Mr Cobb last September, and believes the federal member’s huge media spend effectively meant any other candidate simply could not compete in terms of marketing.
Mr Cobb spent $64,092.62 on printing and communications in August/Septem-ber last year, which is 48.5 per cent of his annual spend of $132,206.84, according to the latest Department of Finance Expenditure on Entitlements report.
7.45AM
Bathurst's para-athlete Kurt Fearnley has come first in his round of the men's para-sport 1500m T54 race last night in Glasglow. This is what he said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
"I am in better nick than I was as I had four or five days of illness. I barely had a heartbeat. It just rocked me. I did absolutely nothing for five days."
7.30AM
HERE'S a look at news breaking around the region.
Orange's Rowan Jaffray knows firsthand how important blood donations can be.
She's seen her sister and several close family friends battle and ultimately lose their lives to leukaemia.
It's these memories she uses as inspiration every time she makes a donation at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. And that's quite regularly.
Mrs Jaffray has made more than 200 donations to Red Cross over the years and is one of Orange's most frequent donators since moving to the city around 12 years ago.
A Dubbo man has been released on a good behaviour bond despite being found guilty of downloading child pornography on a computer that was accessed by young children.
Charles Bryan Tupetaiki Campbell was handed a suspended sentence of 18 months after pleading guilty to producing, disseminating or possessing child abuse material in Dubbo Local Court yesterday.
Campbell, the director of an education centre at Dubbo, was arrested in February. After initially being held in custody, he was released on bail with strict conditions.
Facts tendered to the court during Campbell's trial said the centre he managed catered for students aged from 5 to 21.
And in national news...
Young job seekers denied unemployment benefits could be forced to turn to crime or sex work to survive, employment services providers have warned.
Under changes proposed by the federal government, job seekers aged under 30 will be ineligible for payments for six months after applying for benefits. But despite not receiving any money, job seekers will be required to apply for 40 jobs a month and meet other activity requirements for unemployment benefits such as attending monthly meetings with an employment services provider. If they fail to do so, their waiting period will be extended by four weeks.
David Thompson, the chief executive of Jobs Australia, which represents non-profit employment services providers, said he could not see how some young job seekers would be able to survive, let alone meet the additional costs of finding out about and applying for jobs.
''For those people who don't have access to other forms of support like from their family, I just don't understand how anyone can imagine it's going to be possible for them to do these things.
Phone and internet customers may face a ''surveillance tax'' of up to $100 a year if the federal government implements a scheme requiring companies to store customer data for two years, according to the telecommunications sector.
The Attorney-General, George Brandis, has said a compulsory data retention scheme, which security agencies argue is necessary to combat terrorism, is ''under active consideration by the government''.
The Communications Alliance, representing telecommunications companies, estimated a compulsory data retention scheme could cost the industry $500 million to $700 million a year, an amount that would be passed on to consumers.
Steve Dalby, chief regulatory officer at iinet, said consumers could be hit by rises of $5 to $10 a month to cover the costs of collecting and storing the data, an impost he called a ''surveillance tax''.
7.15AM
Here's a look at what's making news this morning.
EIGHT weeks after a deputy state coroner recommended a reward be offered for information leading to the conviction of Jessica Small’s killer, there has been a deafening silence from authorities about when that reward will be announced.
An inquest into Jessica’s abduction and presumed murder wrapped up in June after three weeks of hearings.
Deputy state coroner Sharon Freund returned an open finding, declaring Jessica Beth Small died on or after October 26, 1997. Ms Freund said the death was suspicious and Jessica had died at the hands of a person unknown.
In his submissions to the inquest, counsel assisting Ian Bourke recomm-ended a substantial reward of not less than half a million dollars should be offered for information leading to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for Jessica’s death.
Mr Bourke also submitted for Ms Freund’s consideration that a reward be made for information that leads to the recovery of Jessica Small’s remains.
When handing down her findings on June 6, Ms Freund recommended to both the Minister for Police and the Attorney General of NSW “that consideration be given to for a substanical reward of not less than $500,000 be made for information leading to the conviction of Jessica Small's killer, yet almost two months on no reward has been forthcoming.
And in sporting news Bathurst swimmer Jodie Simson has once again proved her talent in the pool, this time impressing on a national level as she won two gold medals at the School Sport Australia Championships in Melbourne last week.
While that in itself was impressive, her luggage for the return trip included more than just a pair of gold medals.
Along with her wins in the 50 metre breaststroke and 4x50m medley relay events, the Kelso High student claimed silver in the 100 and 200m breaststroke competing in the under 17-19s age group.
7AM
Hello, it's Jacinta Carroll from the Western Advocate with you this morning. Today we can expect it to be mostly sunny with a maximum temperature of 15 degrees and a minimum of three degrees. There is also a 10 per cent chance of rain and a moderate frost risk this morning.
If you have any news tips, send them through to me at Jacinta.carroll@fairfaxmedia.com.au