PORTLAND will transform into a basketball mecca this weekend with the annual staging of the Portland Junior South West Classic.

6 Learmonth Street, Hamilton. Contact Nic Cullinane at Southern Grampians Livestock and Real Estate, Thompson Street, Hamilton on 0409 711 641. Price $599,000

HAMILTON and the wider district has experienced some wild and wooly weather over the past few days, with frequent storms causing damage to local properties and flash flooding and there may be more to come.

VINTAGE machinery enthusiasts from far and wide will flock to Heywood next weekend for the annual Glenelg Vintage Machinery Restorers Club Rally.

MORGAN Newns has had the career that all young basketballers can only dream of, winning a staggering 20 premierships and taking home plenty of other individual accolades and is still going strong in division 2A.

MACARTHUR’S Leading Senior Constable David Rook has been recognised for more than 40 years of service as a ‘boy in blue’, receiving one of just nine Australian Police Medals presented in Victoria on Australia Day.

BOWLS administration has a duty of care philosophy where a rule can be instigated to abandon play when a temperature reaches a certain level.

WITH summer in full swing, snake experts are warning locals to be alert and give snakes their space to prevent unwanted encounters and bites.

TOMORROW’S gallops meeting at Hamilton has translated from over 360 nominations into a very strong eight-event program.

GIVEN the significance of the Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road to food and fibre transportation and the district’s contribution as Victoria’s largest food and fibre region by value, to the economy in a globally competitive market, major improvements to the road are long overdue.