INVERELL: 

TAMWORTH: Caravan fires and evacuation procedures were the focal points on Tuesday night when the Tamworth fireys and SES crews came together for a combined drill before tackling a busy Country Music Festival. 

TAMWORTH: AS year 12 graduates received their university offers on Wednesday night – more than two months after their final HSC exams – a Tamworth psychologist has reminded disappointed students there is life after school.

MOREE:  Detectives have smashed what they allege is a drug ring supplying ice across the Moree area in one of the biggest operations the area has seen.

In a series of rolling raids across Ashley and Moree, Barwon detectives, backed by uniformed officers, the riot squad and Western Region arrested two men who they allege are at the top of the supply chain.

GUNNEDAH: Cute and cuddly, but without a home.  Homeless dogs are a growing issue in Gunnedah.  Read more here.

ARMIDALE: Construction has started on the new $10.5 million airport terminal upgrade. It’s the first step in more than $16 million expected to be spent on the Armidale Regional Airport this year.  – Find out what it all means, here.

FIREFIGHTERS fuming over a spate of deliberately-lit fires in recent weeks have been targeted by the very people they were trying to help. 

West Tamworth Fire and Rescue crews were forced to respond to a further three suspicious fires in Coledale overnight on Wednesday. 

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

►GOULBURN, NSW: Tales of devastating losses shared at The Loaded Dog pub after fires sweep through the region.  Employee Vicki Bowes said she heard of one landowner who had lost 200 head of sheep at Lower Boro: “He lost stock in the fire before Christmas. He had just replaced those and now he’s lost more in this fire.”...read the full story. 

►SYDNEY, NSW: 40 years on the memories of the Granville train disaster are still raw for rescuers like Gerry Buchtmann who pulled both the living and the dead from beneath a road bridge that had collapsed onto two commuter train carriages in the nation’s worst rail disaster.

► WAGGA WAGGA, NSW: If it’s so hot outside you wouldn’t walk your dog, why would you race a horse? animal activists ask.  This comes after a full cart of races went ahead on Tuesday in temperatures above 40 degrees...catch up on the full story. 

► QUEANBEYAN, NSW: It's the stuff of dreams - being paid by a global sportswear brand to travel the world and do what you love, day in and day out.  And pro skater Jack Fardell is living it...read about his journey here.

►TASMANIA: Police are weighing up an historic apology to child-sex abuse victims in institutionalised care whose cries for help were initially not believed by officers...read on.

► Australia's most dangerous venomous creature is not a snake or a spider, nor even a jellyfish.  It's the bee and other stinging insects that pose the biggest public health threat, according to an analysis of more than a decade of Australian bites and stings.

►More than half of Australia's young adults have done unpaid work as part of an internship or a job trial, raising questions about the need for greater regulation of unpaid work to prevent exploitation, a landmark national study has found...full story here.

► A man has been charged following a fatal crash at Hallidays Point near Taree on Tuesday.  At about 5.45pm, a 60-year-old man was riding a BMW motorcycle east along Blackhead Road and collided with a four wheel drive...read more.

► BALI: A hotel security guard has claimed he witnessed Byron Bay murder suspect Sara Connor with her hand around the neck of a Balinese police officer who was later found dead on Kuta beach...full story here.

►PHILIPPINES: Donald Trump's conflict of interest risk is on glittering display in the Philippines at Manila's newest sky-scraper which soars 57 storeys above the sprawling city's financial district of Makati...full story here.

►LONDON: In a historic, detailed speech, Mrs May dashed the hopes of Remainers and delighted Brexiteers by setting out a vision of an independent UK – a "trading nation" that will look beyond Europe to "new friends and old allies".

It’s a classic labour of love for Jill Brookes, her dozen staff and her merry band of nearly 50 volunteers.

Jill is the owner and manager of Dardanup Heritage Park, built on 121ha (300ac) property south east of Bunbury and boasting 20 sheds.

‘The Park’ boasts the largest collection of heritage items in the Southern Hemisphere, along with some of the best "re-builders" and "restorers" – usually retired cockies enjoying life in what, for them, is the best Men's Shed going.

Read the full story here.