The news is real..

Sometimes it's hard to understand the reality of news. As a news reader I must admit that sometimes I distance myself from what I am reporting - as if I am just telling a story.

Well this week the news hit home. 

On Sunday I reported that a 21 year old male was in ICU after a rugby injury, he has since passed away.  

This news followed me spending my Saturday in the emergency room with my boyfriend who had received a head knock at footy and split is head open. Black eye and stitches aside; he is okay (thank god) but I have never been so worried or scared.   

He'd kill me if he heard me say, "it's just a game!"..but is it really worth it?

I send all my thoughts and best wishes to the family of Halley Appleby for their terrible loss.

Sport is great and fun but great care needs to be taken when playing!

Week ending 17th July

Just incase you’ve been living under a rock, Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott have been battling against each other harder than ever these past few weeks. Gillard’s push to introduce the Carbon Tax into Australians homes has been keeping Tony Abbott on his toes as he visits Australia’s most important mining and industrial sites to campaign against the Tax. This week Gillard was in Brisbane where her announcement was interrupted by environmental protest groups accusing her of being a poor leader. Despite negative feedback and protests towards the policy, Julia Gillard is not budging when it comes to the Carbon Tax scheme and ensures that it is necessary if the nation wants to see a change in the environment. 

The Queensland Reds paraded through the city streets on Monday afternoon after taking home their first ever Super Rugby title last Saturday night. The 2011 Champions received the keys to the city from Lord Mayor Graham Quirk with Anna Bligh in support. Crowds of over two thousand fans lined Brisbane’s CBD to show their support and celebrate the Reds historic win. 

Last months introduction of ‘hoodie free zones’ in Wynnum and other areas of Brisbane has attracted strong criticism, forcing a major rethink. Police said the area would become a "hoodie-free zone" to help stop armed robberies, warning the clothing item had become the "standard uniform" for armed robbers and was helping undesirables to conceal their identity. Now, police officers and the Wynnum and District Chamber of Commerce are planning to change the name from "hoodie-free zone" to something else, responding to a backlash from some sectors of the community.

A footballer is fighting for his life after a freak accident during a rugby union match at Ashgrove yesterday. Halley Appleby had a promising football career, but last night lay in the intensive care unit at the Royal Brisbane Hospital with suspected spinal injuries. The 21-year-old University of Queensland hooker reportedly suffered a heart attack after a tackle in the A-grade clash against home side GPS. Friends and family are by his side while they wait for news in the next few crucial days and are using his Facebook page to send messages of hope and support.  

Week ending 2nd July

A New South Wales police officer has warned his Queensland counterparts a ban on hoodies at late-night businesses could fail as it did at a suburban shopping centre on his side of the border. Police on Brisbane's bayside intend to introduce a ban on hoodies in businesses regularly targeted by armed thieves next month. Offenders wore hoodies to conceal their faces in almost half of 14 armed robberies that have occurred in the district since January. Under an initiative to cut the crime rate, Wynnum, Cleveland and Lota shopkeepers will be encouraged to ask customers wearing hoods to remove them when entering a store. If successful, the one-month trial will be extended across the South Brisbane and Oxley police districts.

A second case of the potentially deadly Hendra virus has been confirmed in Queensland. A horse became ill at a property at Mount Alford on Friday, south of Brisbane, and was euthanased. A second horse fell ill ill on June 20 and was euthanased, but it is not clear yet if it too had Hendra. Officers from Biosecurity Queensland and Queensland Health will speak with people who treated the animal to determination whether anyone may have been exposed. The incident is about 70 kilometres away from where another horse died of the virus last Sunday. Two properties where that horse stayed, in Kerry and Biddaddaba, also south of Brisbane, are under quarantine. Biosecurity Queensland said there are no links between the Beaudesert and Mount Alford cases.

Bob Irwin has refused to confirm if he will run for the crucial Brisbane seat of Ashgrove at the next state election, but says if he does it will be under a Queensland Party banner. The environmental campaigner and father of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin was expected to announce on Friday whether he would take on Labor party’s Kate Jones and Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman in the seat. Mr Irwin and Queensland Party Leader Aidan McLindon said they would jointly campaign to amend the Animal Cruelty Act of 2003 to prohibit inhumane methods of killing sea turtles and other marine life.

Sunday 19th June

The last of Southbank’s pools reopened yesterday following the devastating Brisbane floods in January. The beach required extensive repairs to replace the compromised lighting and filtration system. It also sustained medium structural damage, cracks in its concrete shell and a broken liner. More than 3000 cubic metres of sand had to be replaced before the beach could be fully restored. The re-opening has been marked by extensive celebrations in the South Bank precinct this over the weekend.

A man in his forties has died during a Charity walk in Brisbane. The 100km endurance walk began in D'Aguilar National Park on Friday with more than 280 teams setting off from Mt Glorious and heading to Mt Cootha. The charity’s website says the Brisbane event was expected to be the most challenging Australian Trailwalker held to date as the majority of the trail was in remote bushland. Participants were to complete the challenge in groups of four and over 280 teams entered the hike. The cause of death is yet to be confirmed however police have stated that the man suffered from a medical condition.

A year on, previous Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has admitted that he made mistakes while leading the nation. After first feeling bruised and numb over losing the prime ministership, Kevin Rudd has turned it into a learning experience acknowledging his critics were right about a number of failings. He said he had made the wrong decision on a key policy, and had been wrong in two managerial approaches. Following the anniversary of his fall Rudd says enjoying his job as Foreign Affairs Minister and intends to stay on.

May 29th

Here's the news for this week!

The Salvation Army has been out in full force this weekend as they aim to raise $20,500 on the coast alone. Since the Queensland floods an increasing number of families have been contacting the Salvo’s for support. They have been urging community members to dig deep as they require more help than ever.

About 160 Northgate Golden Circle workers will lose their jobs after Heinz announced on Friday morning it will end beetroot production. Heinz is shifting production of sauces, beetroot processing and some meal production to New Zealand.

Brisbane girl, 20 year old Hannah White traveled to Sydney on Monday to compete in the Schwarzkopf Australia’s most beautiful hair competition. She was amongst finalists from each state including Victoria’s Maddy Griffin who took out the title and gained the opportunity to have a spread in the next issue of Marie Claire magazine.

You may have been on of the lucky ones who saw sixteen men running around South Bank, Alice St and the Botanical Gardens yesterday in nothing but DT’s. The men, dressed in bright red Speedos were participating in the DT5000 raising funds to support Youngcare, a charity supporting young people with high care needs.

It’s been an exciting week in Brisbane this week with not one, but two huge sporting wins for Queensland. In Netball, The Firebirds took out the ANZ Cup Premiership undefeated while the footy boys won the first state of origin game. Congratulations to both teams.

Sunday 15th May

It’s news time again!

This week a great deal of the action has occurred in the sporting world.

The Queensland Firebirds have won their ever first semi final appearance in the ANZ Championship against Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic. Their seven goal lead puts them on the right path to becoming the first ever trans-Tasman netball team to win the league undefeated. The grand final will be held at the Brisbane Convention Center on 22^nd May.

To the Rugby Union now and the Queensland Reds run to the finals could be in jeopardy after young guns Dom Shipperley, Liam Gill and Ed Quirk have been selected in the Australian Under 20’s team for the Junior World Championships in Italy. Reds Coach, Ewen McKenzie and The Queensland Rugby Union are now head to head with the Australian Rugby Union in desperate hope to keep these players in the squad.  McKenzie says "The rest of the team deserve the best players to fill any hole so they can finish of the season”. Shipperley, who has featured in the Red’s side four weeks in a row will be torn from the Reds program for four of the next matches plus the first play-off in late June if the Australian Rugby Union’s decision stands.

It was an exciting day at Doomben Racecourse yesterday as Black Caviar won it’s thirteenth consecutive race. The horse was cheered on by mammoth crowds at Doomben who were there to see the champion horse run in the $400,000 BTC Cup.

In other news, a man is facing court after protesting on the Sydney Harbor Bridge early Friday morning. From the top of the bridge he revealed two signs saying “please help my kids” and “kids first”. He performed the protest after being denied access to his children. The bridge was blocked off to all traffic after 5am causing many delays in the city.

Tony Abbott has called for an early election in his formal reply to Tuesday night’s Federal Budget. He recognises Australia’s “forgotten families” and promises to ease living costs in relation to Gillard’s Carbon Tax scheme. He suggests that “only an election can give Australia a government with authority to make the tough decisions to build a better future” and that “only an election could make an honest politician of (Julia Gillard).”

Sunday 8th May

Can you believe that it May already? 2011 has flown by and what a year it is turning out to be. Alone, Brisbane has been devastated by two major natural disasters, the floods and Cyclone Yasi. New Zealand was hit with a shattering earthquake and most recently, a tornado which we are much too familiar with after seeing them tear through the United States.

Many would think that this was enough for one year however on Sunday, May 1 2011 in Pakistan something shocked the world.  After being in hiding for eleven years, Osama Bin Laden was found by US Navy Seals and shot dead after being tracked by members of the CIA. Bin Laden was the Al Queda leader named responsible for  September 11 and other terrorist attacks. Barrack Obama says it was a surgical raid with a small team of US operatives on ground for 40 minutes and refers to the killing as “our nations most significant achievement to date”.

Since the event, travel warnings have been administered for all Westerners, particularly those planning to visit crowded tourist attractions. Security has been increased at all major airports and train stations as a result of protests in the Middle East.

Some are sceptical that it was Bin Laden who was shot and many conspiracy theories have been developed however the US government is determined not to share photos of a dead Bin Laden as this would be glorifying the assassination and become and even greater threat.

In other news, Splendour in the Grass tickets went on sale this Thursday however some buyers had great difficulty in securing their tickets.  Westpac Bank suffered from glitches relating to their ATM’s which effected the use of  debit and credit cards. Suncorp, Citibank, St George, Jetstar and Cashcards. The website suspended the sale of tickets at 9pm on Thursday night and re-opened on Friday morning when the problem was solved.

The trail of natural disasters doesn’t seem to be stopping as this week, Auckland in New Zealand was hit with a tornado on Tuesday which killed one person and injured others.

7 people were injured yesterday at the Grand Annual Steeplechase at the Warrnambool race carnival in southwest Victoria when a horse jumped a fence into a crowd of audience members. The safety and future of the yearly carnival is being explored.

The Royal Wedding

Just incase you haven’t already heard enough about it, lets talk Royal Wedding! What a beautiful event it was. There was so much hype leading up to Kate and Will’s special day, or should I say the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge.

It seemed like nothing less than a fairy tale inside Westminster Abbey which had been filled with green trees to resemble a forest, under Kate’s request.

Well known guests started rolling in around 3 hours before the bride where we saw faces such as the Beckams (pregnant Victoria wearing her own design), Rowan Atkinson, Joss Stone and of course, all of the royal family.

Julia Gillard, Quentin Bryce and Ian Thorpe represented Australia at the wedding.  

For those of us who were not fortunate or royal enough to score an invite to the event, there were many other options. In the UK, street parties were held left right and center to traditionally celebrate the event.

5500 formal road closures were arranged so that people were able to celebrate traditionally in traffic free streets.

In Australia, I noticed a similar buzz as I heard of people hosting and attending royal wedding parties. (Yes, that is me and my friends below). It seems as though women everywhere still hold on to their dreams for a fairy tale. I watched the wedding with friends and heard constant shrieks of “I wish that was me”, “look at that dress” and “ohhhhhh I can’t to get married”. It was described by a male friend of mine as “the grand final for chicks”.

Veiw it anyway you will, the royal wedding certainly did cause a stir. It had people excited, interested or at least entertained for weeks. Personally, I adored having a positive and heart warming story in news headlines for once.