PERTH Police have charged a man with stealing a bicycle on Saturday 29 October 2019. It will be alleged around 3pm the man was at a bike shop in Beaufort Street. He took a Cervelo road bike valued at $7,800 for a test ride and failed to return it. On Monday October 21 he was…

A PERTH craft brewery’s plans to launch a beer celebrating the Australian tour of heavy metal veterans Metallica has been derailed – ironically because lead singer James Hetfield entered rehab. Blasta Brewing had collaborated with US beer giants Stone Brewing on the potent pale ale List.Loud.React to mark Metallica’s tour, which was to kick off…

THE future of Pica Bar is safe for another 10 years following a public campaign of support for the popular Northbridge venue. Following an eviction edict from the indy bar’s landlord the Perth Theatre Trust in October 2018, Pica fans – who appreciated a chilled-out venue where getting glassed was unlikely – rallied to add…

JOE FERRANTE was re-elected as Lawley ward councillor in Stirling last Saturday (October 19), after seeing off a stiff challenge from former councillor and heritage advocate Paul Collins. Cr Ferrante won by less than 340 votes, defeating Mr Collins 2435-2099. Cr Ferrante says he plans to tackle red tape for retailers, lobby for upgraded parks,…

OFF-key piano playing led retired engineer Zvi Yom-Tov to discover his talent for portrait painting aged 74. Inspired by his anthropologist daughter Sagitte, a talented painter and musician who died age 36 in 2013 and is remembered by Yomtov Lane near her Hyde Park home, Mr Yom-Tov took to tangling the ivories. After four years…

MOUNT LAWLEY playwright Doreshawar Khan was partway through her latest work about three Muslim siblings when news broke of the Christchurch Mosque shooting. She says it was a fearful time for Muslims in Perth as they faced prejudice in the aftermath. “I’ve had friends who’ve stopped wearing the hijab after this, because they were abused…

WHILE Perth city council’s staffing costs soared to unprecedented levels last year, its executives couldn’t even tell how many employees they had. An accounting consultant commissioned by the official state government inquiry into the council appeared at public hearings last week and said nearly half the PCC’s total expenses last year were taken up by…

TWO residents whose sit-in protest earlier this month prevented a 30-year-old tree in their strata complex being cut down, fear they’ve been the victim of an oddly macabre payback. While James Kozak and June Winsome-Smith’s appeal against the removal of the grevillea robusta grinds its way through the State Administrative Tribunal (“Tree warrior,” Voice, October…

A PILATES studio in Maylands has been one of the first small businesses to benefit from Bayswater council’s red tape war. Under Bayswater’s new rules, which are designed to tackle high shop vacancies, cafes, pop-up shops, galleries and even community markets can operate for up to six months without requiring planning approval.  Pilates with Bec…

AN innovative new podcast about Perth’s hidden history has been launched by Perth council. Untold Stories of Perth examines themes of identity, discrimination, and prejudice, with the three 10-minute episodes already uploaded looking at the Ugly Men’s Association which raised money for returned soldiers, a colourful snake charmer, Italian and Chinese communities and the segregation…