IF you’re getting Olympics withdrawals and need a quirky sport fix, the nation’s best croquet players are currently battling it out down at Forrest Park. The sport’s been around for 150 years but the old-timey rules ensured it was played at a snail’s pace best suited to an English country garden, so in 2005 they…

ARTIST Drew Straker’s got a new piece up in Grand Lane behind Barrack Street. He’s credited by street art website allthoseshapes.com as “probably the first” artist to use this neon glow technique, with white lines under the transparent colours, making his Barrack Street bulldog and kitty really pop.

STIRLING council has dropped an extra $10,000 into supporting cultural events. At this week’s council meeting, councillors were feeling generous about supporting community-based events and bumped up the recommended funding for the Inglewood night markets, Osborne Park agricultural show, the Mt Lawley Christmas festival and the popular photography centenary. “It was all about activation and…

FOUR electricity substations have been nominated by Perth council to go onto the state’s heritage register. Prompted by a request from the state heritage office, councillors voted unanimously to recommend the buildings’ inclusion. Constructed as part of the first centralised electricity supply in Perth, the four substations are two-story red-brick buildings located on Wellingtont, Murray,…

JOE FRANCIS is definitely not 61. In reeling off the age of cabinet pollies last week we pegged him as a sexagenarian, but his media people inform us the ex-Navy man is actually 45. In other corrections news, Vincent council’s minute takers have amended their most recent minutes which misnamed resident Melanie McInerney’s name. The…

RAINBOW RIGHTS WA is petitioning premier Colin Barnett to support legislation quashing historical convictions under old anti-gay laws. The legislation making homosexual intercourse illegal wasn’t repealed until 1989, and at the height of its enforcement in the 60s and 70s hundreds of men were convicted. A conviction, even if spent, still comes up in job…

A CONTENTIOUS concrete batching plant planned for Bayswater looks likely to get approval, with environment minister Albert Jacob deciding it doesn’t need a full environmental assessment. Ransberg Pty Ltd got approval for the Collier Road plant after a state administrative tribunal appeal, but locals concerned about health impacts, air quality and the amenity of their…

THE Lorax lurked on the steps of parliament this week to speak for the trees, imploring MPs to protect privately-owned Bayswater wetlands that are being eyed off for housing. The Lorax joined campaigners from Environment House and Maylands MP Lisa Baker who tabled a petition calling on planning minister Donna Faragher to grant a planning…

DISCRIMINATION continued even after anti-gay laws were removed from the books, one Voice reader tells us. The man, who asked to be anonymous to avoid being restigmatised, claims in the mid-90s he was targeted by homophobic police. He says gay men who’d meet at “beats” (spots to meet for socialising) were routinely charged with “loitering…

LAX rules allowing houses to be demolished before councils find out what will replace them are leaving gap-toothed streets and undermining Vincent’s heritage streetscapes, says mayor John Carey. Until last year developers needed plans on the table before councils would approve a demolition. The law aimed to prevent blocks lying vacant, attracting rubbish, vandalism, and…