Tune in tomorrow with Nick Guthrie who will happily take you out of your working week.

In the meantime you can get more local news at our websites: 

DUBBO | NARROMINE | WELLINGTON | NYNGAN | THE RIDGE | WESTERN MAGAZINE

8.56: In today's entertainment news: 

REALITY TV: Las Vegas is a far cry from Oxley High School, but for one former Tamworth student it’s become a reality, thanks to Beauty and the Geek. Nick Hamilton was the 2012 dux of Oxley High School and is currently one of the stars of Prime 7’s reality show that sees “geeks” meeting “beauties” in the US and Australia. He said he applied after he saw fliers at the University of NSW where he is studying a double degree in the field of economics. “Friends said it would be great for me and it all snowballed from there,” he said. “It was great experience for me.”  READ MORE HERE

CELEBRITY: She has the most talked about face in the world at the moment, but Renee Zellweger has responded to comments about her appearance. You can read what she said HERE and see the transformation in the picture below.

TELEVISION: There are not many television shows for which a network releases a pre-emptive apology, should it offend at any future point. But when it is made by a group that, according to Prime Minister Tony Abbott,  "revels in evil," it seems network executives feel they should think ahead. At least this has been the pitch behind the Chaser team's latest project The Chaser's Media Circus, created by the ABC's resident masters of mischief Julian Morrow, Craig Reucassel, Chas Licciardello, Andrew Hansen and Chris Taylor. READ MORE HERE

TV & MOVIES: Spanish filmmaker David Trueba came across the subject matter for his new film quite by accident. It wasn't just the tale of John Lennon's 1966 Spanish sojourn that intrigued him. It was the account of a teacher of English with a Beatles obsession who was determined to meet Lennon ask him about his lyrics – lyrics that he used as a teaching aid in the classroom. READ MORE HERE

8.49: Taking a look at sport news today: 

BOWLS: After producing some stunning results at the under-18s national championships at Darwin recently, Dubbo lawn bowls prodigy Jono Davis has taken another step forward in his hugely promising career. The 13-year-old Dubbo Railway bowler won a gold medal in the pairs event in the Northern Territory while he also claimed a bronze in the singles division and these performances saw him named in the Australian under-18s squad. READ MORE ABOUT JONO HERE

CRICKET: Despite only playing two matches for adopted state Victoria in the 2014-15 Matador BBQs One-Day Cup, and not taking a wicket, Yeoval junior Chris Tremain said his decision to move south was unequivocally paying off. After playing just a handful of games for home state NSW across two seasons the former Western Zone fast bowler chose to defect to Victoria for the 2014-15 season in a bid to get more opportunities at state level. READ MORE HERE

RUGBY LEAGUE: After another hugely successful Group 11 season Dubbo CYMS celebrated their presentation night at Dubbo Golf Club on Saturday. With many prestigious and historic awards up for grabs it was a special night for a club which won the Group 11 first grade premiership and finished as runners-up in the under-18s and reserve grade during season 2014. READ MORE HERE

8.43: IT'S THROWBACK THURSDAY and we have some great TBT's for your day! 

NARROMINE went back to October 2011 this week, there's some great photos in there. You can check it out here.

DUBBO went back to October 1990. All the pages show how times have changed on the last 24 years.Check it out here.

Nyngan had their flashback on Monday. Check out the awesome photos in the link below.

8.35: Is it your birthday today? If so...HAPPY BIRTHDAY we hope you have a brilliant day! 

You share your birthday with Actor and dad to be Ryan Reynolds, 38, comedian Weird Al Yankovic. 54 and Australian Idol winner Stan Walker.

We don't know how wife Blake Lively is going to top this, but he got a pretty epic present last year. Check out what it was in the video below:

8.28: This week's road works report: 

CASTLEREAGH HIGHWAY – Heavy patching. 58 km to 60 km and 45 km to 46 km south of Mudgee. Intermittent Lane closures. Delays up to 10 minutes can be expected. Working days Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm.   

GOLDEN HIGHWAY – Repaint bridge bearings and replace deck joints. Ballimore Creek 33.8 km east of Dubbo. One lane closed during working hours. Delays up to 10 minutes can be expected. Working days Monday to Friday from 7am to 5pm.  

GOLDEN HIGHWAY – Drainage improvements. Beni Creek, 17.2 km north east of Dubbo. One lane may be closed during working hours. Delays up to 10 minutes can be expected. Working days Monday to Friday from 7am to 5pm. 

MID WESTERN HIGHWAY – Heavy patching. 65 km west of Grenfell to 21 km east of Grenfell. One lane during work hours.  Delays up to five minutes can be expected under traffic lights. Working days Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm.

MITCHELL HIGHWAY – North Enngonia roadway reshaping and widening. North Enngonia, 104 km to 110 km north of Bourke. One lane during work hours. Delays up to 10 minutes can be expected. Working days, Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm, and 7am to 1pm on Saturdays. 

MITCHELL HIGHWAY – Overtaking lane and intersection construction.  31 km to 33 km west of Wellington. Intermittent Lane closures. Delays up to five minutes can be expected. Working days, Monday to  Friday 7am to 6pm and 7am to 1pm on Saturdays.

MITCHELL HIGHWAY – Road surface reshape. 14 km to 17 km east of Nyngan. Intermittent Lane closures. Delays up to five minutes can be expected. Working days, Monday to Saturday 7am to 6pm. 

NEWELL HIGHWAY – Build new overtaking lane. 55 km to 57 km north of West Wyalong. No lane closures. No delays expected. Working days 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturdays. 

NEWELL HIGHWAY –  Building new intersection. 2.2 km to 1.2 km south of Parkes. One lane during work hours. Clarke Street closed at intersection with Newell Highway. Delays up to five minutes can be expected. Working days Monday to Friday 7am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 5pm. 

NEWELL HIGHWAY – Heavy patching. 30 km north of Dubbo. Intermittent lane closures. Delays up to five minutes can be expected. Working days Monday to Saturday 7am to 6pm. 

NEWELL HIGHWAY – Build new overtaking lane. 14 km north of Parkes. Intermittent Lane closures. Delays up to five minutes can be expected.  No overtaking permitted in work area. Southbound shoulders closed.

Please obey all signs and proceed with care. 

8.16: Taking a look at today's front pages from our region, if you want to see all the Fairfax front pages click here.

8.11: This cute dog, Westie, rings a bell when he wants to be let outside...now if he can manage to ring it when he wants food...

8.02: Some devastating news unfolded in Canada over night:

The Canadian capital, Ottawa, was placed into lockdown after a gunman shot and killed a soldier at the National War Memorial before opening fire at the country's parliament buildings, where he was shot dead.

In extraordinary scenes, up to 40 shots were fired inside the parliament building as politicians, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, took shelter in offices and were told to barricade the doors.

READ MORE HERE

7.55: Taking a look at today's front page: 

The Orana Law Society (OLS) will lodge a complaint alleging Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson has breached the council's code of conduct over comments he made in relation to sentencing of criminals in Dubbo.

Earlier, Cr Dickerson called for "cold, hard data" on the sentencing regime in Dubbo and greater accountability from magistrates in response to a growing belief sentencing of the city's criminals was too lenient.

A meeting called by the OLS at Dubbo on Tuesday night resolved to lodge a detailed complaint with council's general manager accusing the mayor of, "amongst other things, bringing the council and the office of the mayor into disrepute and failing to treat others with respect at all times as well as intimidation of a judicial officer".

OLS secretary Peter Bartley said the night was attended by 45 people including solicitors.

READ MORE HERE

7.48: The Nyngan Rugby Union Team were out in style on Friday night. Check out all their pics from their "Dress to Impress" presentation night in the link below.

7.40: Here's what's happening nationally and internationally:

HEALTH: It was television news that changed the world, forced wealthy Western audiences in their living rooms to confront pitiful, starving African children and drove Irish rocker Bob Geldof on a quest to end poverty. But 30 years later to the day, the Melbourne doctor whose work helped broadcast those harrowing images of Ethiopia's "hell on earth" famine has warned Australia must do more to support Africa's fight against Ebola. "The answer is obvious, but our response is impacted by fear and politics," said Tony Atkins. For more than a decade, Dr Atkins was a relief worker during some of Africa's worst modern crises, but he said only a "lack of political will" was now stopping the Abbott government finding a way to send medical teams to confront the Ebola epidemic. READ MORE HERE. 

We want to know what you think: 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Two Indonesian fighter jets were scrambled on Wednesday to force a prop-driven Australian light plane to the ground after its pilots initially refused several orders to land, the Indonesian military has said. The comments by air force spokesman Major-General Fuad Basya significantly escalate the seriousness of the case against the two pilots, Richard Wayne Maclean of South Australia and Graeme Paul Jacklin of Brisbane. READ MORE HERE

CRIME: The Australian man found murdered, wrapped in plastic and dumped in a Bali rice field with his throat slashed had been trying to extract himself from his relationship with his wife, who owned all his extensive business interests in her name, sources say. Bali police chief Koman Suartana has confirmed that the wife of the dead man, Robert Kelvin Ellis, 60, had confessed to ordering hit men to kill her husband. Police believe the scene of the murder was the kitchen of their Sanur villa, and the bedcover that wrapped Ellis's body had come from the house. READ MORE HERE

HISTORY:  He lived about 45,000 years ago and died on the banks of a river in Siberia and now scientists have decoded his DNA to narrow the time when humans and Neanderthals first got a little bit frisky. The individual, named Ust'-Ishim man after the settlement close to his burial site, represents the earliest modern human outside Africa to have their genome sequenced. An international team of geneticists, led by ancient DNA specialist Svante Paabo from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, extracted DNA from the man's thigh bone. The team used radio carbon dating to established the bone was about 45,000 years old. The man's genetic blueprint suggests he came from a population of ancient humans that lived before, or with, the population of Eurasians that separated into western and eastern groups. READ MORE HERE

POLITICS: Australia's 450,000-strong Indian community are planning a rock-star welcome for new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he makes his first visit to Australia next month. In addition to attending the G20 conference in Brisbane, Mr Modi will be the first Indian prime minister to address a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament in Canberra. Mr Modi - the first Indian prime minister to visit Australia since Rajiv Gandhi came in 1986 for a bilateral summit with then Australian prime minister Bob Hawke - is also expected to address Parliament in Hindi. READ MORE HERE

CRIME: Two Myanmar men accused of the gruesome slaying of two British tourists on a Thai resort island have recanted confessions, claiming they were assaulted during police interrogation. Zaw Lin and Win Zaw told lawyers from the Lawyers Council of Thailand they are innocent of the murders and want to lodge a formal complaint about their treatment. Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were murdered on September 15 after they had attended a beach party on Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. READ MORE HERE

7.33: Let's take a look at today's regional news from around Australia: 

ORANGE: A police officer who drove under the influence of alcohol and  assaulted another officer at the Orange police station will appeal her conviction despite being handed a good behaviour bond with no penalty. Port Macquarie officer Kylie Anne Williams pleaded guilty to mid range drink-driving but pleaded not guilty to charges of resist arrest and assault police after an incident on March 24. READ MORE HERE

BATHURST: It wasn’t a smooth transition to new television frequencies for Bathurst residents yesterday. Free-to-air television channels SBS and Southern Cross Ten were due to change their frequencies yesterday, but as the retune occurred a number of people experienced problems with the channels on their television. Viewers were told to expect disruptions to their service, including outages, on the day of the retune and over the two days following. READ MORE HERE

ORANGE: JAN Savage’s passion for improving health outcomes for her fellow Australians in rural NSW has earned her the title of the nation’s top philanthropist in The Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards announced in Sydney last night. READ MORE HERE

ORANGE, COBONNE, BLANEY: If Orange, Cabonne and Blayney councils amalgamated, the super council they formed would be given $11 million cash to do with as it pleased as part of the state government’s Fit for the Future funding program to entice councils to merge. The package was outlined by Local Government Minister Paul Toole at the annual Local Government Conference on Monday and Tuesday. READ MORE HERE 

TAMWORTH: Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall has launched an extraordinary attack on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over local petrol prices, branding it an “anti-competition eunuch”. It comes after NRMA figures revealed Tamworth and Armidale motorists were being slugged among the highest prices in the state for unleaded fuel, up to 23c a litre higher than Sydney. READ MORE HERE

BENDIGO: Police have confirmed three people died in a shooting in Wedderburn last night. Police have arrested a local man following the four-hour siege. The accused's wife was present at the time and is also helping police with their inquiries. Superintendent Graham Kent from Western Victoria addressed the media at 12.40pm and confirmed three fatalities. The gender and age of the victims are unknown, but it is believed they live in the area. READ MORE HERE.

FORBES: Spectacular Screenings - a group run by students - has received state-wide recognition after winning a NSW Children’s Week Award. The group received the Community Commitment Award, which is for young people under the age of 18 who see a need in their community and work together to create a solution. Spectacular Screenings provides regular indoor and outdoor movie nights in Forbes and have partnered with other community groups to offer movies such as during Children’s Week, International Women’s Week and Screen on the Green. READ MORE HERE

7.16: Taking a look at today's local news: 

DUBBO: If you heard screams coming from the Commercial last Saturday night it may have been coming from Wax for a Cure. A few hairy men had parts of their body waxed to raise donations for the Leukaemia Foundation. Ella Bache Dubbo and the Rotary Club of Dubbo West helped to raise close to $8000. READ MORE HERE

WELLINGTON: The curator of the Oxley Museum Dorothy Blake says the community is losing its history. The museum is expected to be sold and moved. "This is extremely upsetting," she said. "We realise repairs have to be done on the museum and these are large, but we urge councillors to consider the future of our past when they meet tonight." The Wellington Historical Society will meet next week to discuss the issue further, but Mrs Blake has warned councillors they face stern opposition. READ MORE HERE

DUBBO: A man who punched his pregnant partner in the face during a violent assault witnessed by children has been jailed. The 32-year-old appeared in Dubbo Local Court via video link from Wellington Correctional Centre. He cannot be named due to laws protecting children. Magistrate Andrew Eckhold said the man was ruining his life with alcohol and methamphetamine (commonly known as ice). READ MORE HERE

DUBBO: Students have pitted themselves against an exam they deemed tough but with few surprises in its questions about algebra, geometry, calculus and more. The Higher School Certificate (HSC) candidates had three hours to display their knowledge of mathematics yesterday. At St John's College students emerged from the exam to be greeted by teachers who had guided them through their senior years of study. READ MORE HERE

DUBBO ELECTORATE: Country Labor candidate for Dubbo Stephen Lawrence says he will challenge the sitting member to debate him ahead of next year's state election. The political aspirant said he looked forward to debating Member for Dubbo Troy Grant in the electorate. READ MORE HERE 

DUBBO: A number of Dubbo-based organisations were the lucky recipients of the RSL's Club Grants Category One Funding on Tuesday. Organisations in category one and two including the Air Force Cadets, Pink Angels, and the Walk to Cure Diabetes were some of those receiving a portion of the $530,000 donated by the RSL. Zumba for the Disabled will use the funding to support the zumba classes run for those with a disability. READ MORE HERE 

7am: Good morning, happy Thursday! 

You're grilling with Grace this morning, if you'd like to add anything to our Grill, whether it be an event, an opinion or a birthday, or maybe if you want to say hey email me grace.ryan@fairfaxmedia.com.au 

Looks like today's going to be a warm one...and it's not even summer yet! 

DUBBO / TRANGIE / NYNGAN: will have a late shower with a 40 per cent chance of less than one mill. Trangie will get to 37, Dubbo will see 34 and Nyngan will reach 36 degrees. 

COBAR / BOURKE: will be mostly sunny. Cobar will be 37 with a 5 per cent chance of less than one mill, Bourke will get to a scorching 39  degrees with a 10 per cent chance of less than one mill.