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Local News
A chance for young poets to shine
Paul Bibby - 1
Youth poets across the region are being invited to take part in the John West Youth Poetry Cup in Byron Bay on August 27.
Political Comment
Comment: Catherine Cusack opens up about the crisis in our classrooms
'I came prepared for my last Parliamentary Committee Hearing with a fat file of public submissions to assist questioning of witnesses.'
Local News
Veteran-led flood recovery operation launched
Paul Bibby - 0
Disaster Relief Australia, a veteran-led organisation, has launched a flood recovery operation in a bit to help Northern Rivers residents recover from catastrophic flooding.
Local News
Storytelling at its best in Ballina
Paul Bibby - 0
A new community storytelling event will take place at the Ballina CWA Hall on Sunday September 11.
Local News
Veteran big band sounds coming to Ballina
David Lowe - 1
The Royal Australian Navy Veterans Band is coming to Ballina RSL on Thursday, with a concert raising funds for the Northern Rivers Flood Relief Fund, by donation. They will be joined by the Royal Australian Navy Band, from Sydney, for what will be a big sound in a great cause.
Local News
Alarming footage of devastation in Ellis State Forest
Today north coast conservationists say they are shocked and alarmed at footage of the devastation being wrought in Ellis State Forest south of Grafton.
Local News
Mental health explored at Ballina symposium
David Lowe - 2
250 people attended the first free Community Mental Health Symposium last Thursday at Ballina RSL, with a range of expert speakers from various organisations explaining the dimensions of the problem and how best to move forward.
Byron Echo
Fuel stolen from farmer
Aslan Shand - 1
The cost of fuel continues to be a major consideration in the budget, particularly in country areas where distances travelled are inevitably further for your average daily needs like accessing shops, schools and other activities.
Local News
‘We’re back!’ Homecoming for The Channon market
Eve Jeffery - 0
The reverberations of the February and March floods reached far beyond things most people expected – one of those things was the state of Coronation Park at The Channon where every second Sunday of the month one of the biggest and best markets on the Far North Coast is held.
Science Goes Viral
Curved-space robot defies known laws of physics, heralding new locomotive technology possibilities
A robot engineered at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) has done the unthinkable and flouted a steadfast law of motion, suggesting that new laws need to be defined.
Byron Echo
Old man shouts at cloud #3
At a beachside town a couple of years ago I saw a young couple dressed as Goths. Not as cathedrals in that style of architecture, or as members of an axe-wielding Germanic tribe, or as characters in an Emily Bronte novel (though that’s fairly close), but as the black-clothed, black eyelinered Emo youth of the 1980s and ‘90s.
Local News
Flood residents get $650 from Lismore Council
Lismore City Mayor Steve Krieg today announced that 1,558 residents will receive a grant of $650 from the Lismore Flood Appeal.
Science Goes Viral
The COVID-19 Booster: Latest news from the pandemic
The COVID-19 Booster is Cosmos Magazine’s weekly shot of the latest research, news and data from the pandemic.
Local News
West Ballina locals concerned about new flood risk
David Lowe - 2
A large group of West Ballina residents are alarmed about a DA which has been submitted to Ballina Shire Council by the Emmanuel Anglican College in Horizon Drive. The proposal, for a STEM and Digital Technology Centre, is planned for a well-known flood-prone area which previously acted as part of a large retention pond.
Byron Echo
Police assault charge heads back to local court
The NSW Supreme Court has found that a decision by local magistrate and former police officer, Michael Deakin, was an ‘error of law’.
Local News
Lismore Council votes against supporting Assange
At Tuesday's Council meeting Councillor Guise proposed a motion that Council writes to the Federal Government, Prime Minister and relevant Ministers denouncing the extradition of Julian Assange from the UK and urging the Prime Minister to make a public statement denouncing the extradition.
Local News
A voice for koalas: Vale Olivia Newton-John
Eve Jeffery - 0
The Rainforest Information Centre has expressed its deep condolences to the family and close friends of Olivia Newton-John who was literally the voice of the koala.
Local News
NSW bans public display of Nazi symbol
In an historic moment a new law making it a criminal offence to knowingly display a Nazi symbol in public without a reasonable excuse, has passed NSW Parliament yesterday.
Byron Echo
A long and chequered career in cooking
Eve Jeffery - 0
When she was just 16, Elizabeth Jackson was kicked out of a home economics class – not because she burnt a pot or had a collapsed sponge, but because she made a black wedding cake.
Local News
Nimblefoot launches tonight in Byron
Aslan Shand - 0
Acclaimed Bangalow author Robert Drewe, who will be featuring at Byron Writers Festival, is having his latest book Nimblefoot launched by Kerry O’Brien at The Book Room at Byron at 6pm tonight.
Local News
Council: Goonellabah park not available for pods
Eve Jeffery - 7
Tuesday’s debate in the Lismore Council chambers was mostly about the community’s need for open, green space for sport and recreation balanced against the need for places to live.
Local News
Cabarita DA refused on character grounds
Aslan Shand - 6
Tweed Shire Councillors refused a DA for a four-storey block of flats at 2-6 Tweed Coast Road, Cabarita Beach, despite the staff recommendation of approval.
Local News
Concerns over future of Murwillumbah Hospital
Northern NSW Local Health District have sought to reassure locals that facilities won't be downgraded or closed at Murwillumbah Hospital when the controversial new Tweed Valley Hospital in Cudgen near Kingscliff opens in 2023.
Byron Echo
No letup in the struggle for climate justice
The 43 per cent emissions target passed last week in the House of Representatives lacks the ambition needed to radically diminish Australia’s contribution to global warming. It’s too little, too late.
Byron Echo
Byron Council to vote on major flood recovery works
Paul Bibby - 1
Major drainage enhancements in flood-affected areas, and the employment of a Council officer to help residents rebuild and return to their homes, are among a raft of measures proposed by Byron Council under the latest round of disaster funding.
Local News
Out of the Blue Adventures wins Tourism Hero Award
David Lowe - 0
A local whale watching and eco-tourism business has been announced as one of the region's Local Tourism Heroes at a gala dinner co-hosted by Destination North Coast.
Local News
Tweed Council refuse aged care facility Tweed Heads
Aslan Shand - 0
The proposed aged care facility at Caloola Drive Tweed Heads (DA20/0712) was refused at the Tweed Shire Council meeting last Thursday.
Local News
Evans Head, Iron Gates DA public planning meeting coming
Aslan Shand - 0
The current development application (DA) for the flood and bushfire-prone site of the Evans Head, Iron Gates development will go before the Northern Rivers Planning Panel (NRPP) on 30 August.
Local News
Council acknowledges desire for house relocations, buybacks and land swaps
Eve Jeffery - 3
Last night Lismore Council looked at House Relocations, Land swaps and Buy Backs when Councillor Adam Guise’s moved a motion that “Council acknowledges flood impacted ratepayers' desire for house relocations, buybacks and land swaps."
Local News
Bruns underground car park reconsidered
Paul Bibby - 0
Byron Council’s decision to approve a controversial mixed-use development in Brunswick Heads that would include the town’s first underground car park could be overturned at this week’s meeting, with a group of councillors moving a rescission motion.
Byron Echo
Good news for the Sepik people
Ken Golding - 0
The proposed Frieda mine Papua New Guinea with its huge tailings dam, would be built on the Frieda River at the headwaters of the Sepik River – an earthquake-prone area – creating the risk of repeating one of the worst environmental disasters.
Byron Echo
Developer sparks storage stress
Byron-based property owner/developer, Josh Thompson, has created a shitstorm within the community after trying to evict customers renting 160 units at his ACE storage facility within a week, to make way for 26 warehouses.
Local News
Lismore Council on gender equity in management
Last night Lismore Council met for their monthly meeting and Councillor Big Rob asked a question about gender equality in the upper echelons of Council.
Byron Echo
Mandy Nolan’s Soapbox: For Sale: Moral compass
Some weeks it’s hard to navigate the big feelings I have around injustice; the kind of injustice that occurs every day, everywhere, underwritten by the privilege of some at the expense of the many. The shit stuff people get away with! The shit stuff no one notices. Shit stuff always happens to people who don’t have much to start with. I sometimes wonder how you can hear story after story and not realise the system is broken. Capitalism sucks. Let’s go break stuff – like, the dominant paradigm! We haven’t managed to subvert it – so can we smash it into tiny pieces? Please?
Cartoons
Cartoon of the week – 10 August, 2022
The letters deadline for The Echo is noon Friday. Letters longer than 200 words may be cut. The publication of letters is at the discretion of the letters editor.
Local News
Our growth under threat, say local distillers
Local independent distillers behind iconic labels Ink Gin and Brookie’s Byron Dry Gin say a longstanding ‘bad’ government policy that taxes spirits unfairly, compared to other alcohol such as wine, is putting thousands of jobs at risk in a ‘dangerous high inflation environment’.
Articles & Columns
Comment: Time for another Police Royal Commission?
It might be time for another investigation into the NSW Police Force, but this time, the police conduct under the microscope would be alleged overreach in the application of certain powers.
Local News
Singing songs of sorrow and resilience
Paul Bibby - 0
Tucked away in a Mullumbimby music studio, a group of local musicians have been pouring their hearts out through song.
Local News
Pedal power celebrated at Murwillumbah film night
Paul Bibby - 0
Those with an interest in films and cycling will be in heaven this Thursday night (August 11) when the Regent Cinema in Murwillumbah hosts the Big Bike Film Night.
Byron Echo
Byron Bay Surf Festival
Surfers, beach lovers, water people – owing to COVID- related complications, the 2022 Byron Bay Surf Festival has moved to a September timeslot this...
Byron Echo
Finding the fine art
Bangalow Fine Art are boutique art dealers and valuers who hold quarterly online exhibitions of interesting and important pieces of Australian and international art.
The...
Entertainment News
Mirabelle’s game
A magical quest is taking place in Lismore Quad from August 15–23. Deep underground, right beneath the town (and unknown to the human inhabitants...
The Good Life
Local pasta, sauces, eggs and custard!
Victoria Cosford
There’s a steady stream of customers at Jodie’s stall. Regulars by the looks of it, most unclipping their plastic containers – 100 per...