Cohuna - 3568

Kerang in Victoria is no stranger to floods, but at the start of this year a rain event in the town inundated the local cemetery and continues to put burials on hold.

A large rain band is leading to rainfall across much of Victoria, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning there is more to come overnight into Monday.

Know how to bait a hook and sweep a line? In regional Victoria, teenagers want mentors to teach them how to do it.

The local commission has said it's considering creating a new league to run alongside the current Bendigo, Heathcote and Loddon Valley football and netball leagues.

Aspiring female politicians are worried about representation amid an overhaul of local government structures as stakeholders warn single-councillor wards tend to favour major political groupings.

Energy Safe Victoria warns about the dangers of gas appliances in small spaces after the woman was found dead inside an unventilated campervan with a gas-powered fridge operating beside her in Cohuna last year.

Part of a levee to protect properties in Torrumbarry, Gunbower, Leitchville, and Cohuna from 2022's floods, built by over 100 members of the community, is being torn down by council with no new plan yet in place.

Small communities are rallying against plans to close regional bank agencies and branches, signing petitions and taking to the streets to keep their local facilities open.

Loneliness is on the rise in Australia and mental health advocates say the response needs to shift away from pity to understanding and action.

Flood-affected dairy farmers in Victoria's north have had their irrigation channels infested with millions of baby carp and are worried rotting fish could harm their cows. Shannon Schubert reports.

As floodwaters finally dry up in northern Victoria, farmers are having to tackle an unexpected problem, with thousands of dead baby carp covering paddocks. 

Farmers in central and northern areas of the state are assessing damage after windows were broken, crops flattened and driveways after a severe storm passed through the region late yesterday.  

Conservationists are rescuing aquatic wildlife from flooded central and northern Victorian waterways as blackwater events cause oxygen levels to plummet. But amidst this, summer anglers are waiting to get back on the water.

"Sometimes these things are politically driven and I accept that and that’s the orbit that local government CEOs live in," Tom O'Reilly says.

An Indigenous land council is calling for help stamping out discrimination after a racist slur inciting hate crimes was painted on a Welcome to Country sign at Sea Lake in western Victoria.

The author behind a deep dive into a rural region's violent past says "psychopaths are among us and they are everywhere".

Recipients include residents from the arts and cultural sector, Indigenous and aged care services and education.

"Police, teachers and nurses are not staying if they don't have family support here": Cohuna's progress association plans to build its own childcare centre.  

Bank operator Lloyd Polkinghorne says the treatment of his staff by Victorian Department of Health officials is unacceptable.

The Loddon-Mallee mayors say their regions have fewer than four people per square kilometre, compared to Greater Melbourne which has 500 residents per square kilometre.

Cohuna residents can no longer have babies at the local hospital, forcing them to travel an hour for maternal health services after the town doctor stepped down as the local obstetrician.

Central Victorian psychologists are reporting waiting times of up to three months before they can see some patients as the strain of repeated lockdowns grows. 

Gannawarra Shire organises a social calendar of small programs, events and activities that promote reconnection and inclusion within the community.

The lockdown has been extended, but there are some changes as well, with different restrictions between Greater Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Health authorities add two shops at Footscray Market to the growing list of high-risk COVID exposure sites, as the state battles a coronavirus outbreak.