A  WORLD away from muscle-bound Captain America battling communists with his star-and-stripes shield, Australian comic creators quietly toil away on very local tales. From January 21 to February 15 The Good Shepherd Bar in Leederville is hosting Gutters, an exhibition showing off the best local comic talent. The show’s named for the ‘gutters’ in comics; spaces…

DANIELLE O’MALLEY admits her reaction to UK superstar Cilla Black’s death in 2015 was; “who?”. This was despite the Melbourne performer having a swag of Black’s songs in her repertoire and even teaching them to her music students. “I knew the songs, but a lot were sung by other people,” the 30 year old says…

PERTH city council has decided to offer 12 permits for food trucks following a successful trial which ended in October. The annual permit seems a steal at $1200 given truck owners can pay $100 for a single day or $500 for special events, but a participant in last year’s trial reckons trading restrictions make it…

ROSEWOOD Care Group will triple the number of beds at it’s Cleaver Street aged care complex in West Perth under a $65-million redevelopment. The six-storey redevelopment will bring the number of beds at the old folks’ home to more than 150, and also see a $500,000 restoration of the heritage-listed Florence Hummerston Lodge. Rosewood says…

A CONTROVERSIAL concrete batching plant planned for Collier Road in Bayswater has been given approval by the state administrative tribunal. Senior SAT member Maurice Spillane made a final order on the drawn out saga on December 14, setting aside a September 2015 refusal by Bayswater council and giving Ransberg Pty Ltd the go-ahead to start…

A LARGE development planned for Wright Street in Highgate (“Too high for Highgate Folk”, Voice, November 5, 2016) has been rejected by the state government’s development assessment panel. Applicant Scanlan Architects offered modifications to make it more acceptable but the DAP wouldn’t budge. It was a four-to-one vote with Vincent councillors Matt Buckels and Josh…

PERTH council staff have been ordered to “dress suitably and modestly” with bans on revealing “too much cleavage, back, chest, legs, stomach or undergarments”. The Voice has been forwarded a staff newsletter from a bemused insider showing the ban extends to midriff tops, hoodies, t-shirts and spaghetti strap and strapless dresses. In a fairly Soviet…

THERE are fears two geese and a ducky friend have been kidnapped from the Maylands Peninsula. Local resident Carolyn Tretheway says it’s unusual for all three to disappear together just before Christmas, particularly as their usual haunt isn’t a regular thoroughfare. “They are friendly birds who actually hang out as ‘friends’ together,” Ms Tretheway says.…

UPGRADES worth $3.5 million dollars will add five classrooms to Mt Hawthorn primary school. The school is expected to grow from 850 to more than 950 students by 2025, and with enrolments at most inner suburb schools surging, the government is under pressure to spend money on squeezing them in. A similar expansion has upset…

COLOURFUL councillor Matt Buckels was first elected in 2009, adding a cheeky turn of phrase to debates along with a libertarian leaning which set him apart from other councillors more susceptible to NIMBYist complaints. His early days were characterised by clashes with then-mayor Nick Catania, though he gets along more smoothly with the current mayor.…