health and food

Curious North Coast: How far south did crocodiles once live?

Crocodiles have been reported as far south as Angourie in northern New South Wales, but did they ever inhabit the region?




health and food

270km flights to buy bread, $15,000 shopping bills are just facts of life on a remote Australian cattle station

Flying a light plane to pick up bread from the local bakery is not something most Australians can relate to, but it is the unique reality for some who call Central Australia home.




health and food

Sewing hair scrunchies raises money for drought-affected communities

Alice Baxby wasn't around to enjoy (endure) the scrunchie hair trend of the 1980s and '90s, but she's selling hundreds of the hair ties to help drought-affected families.















health and food

Life in Queensland's Channel Country means you can have a huge flood without any rain

Floodwaters more than 50 kilometres wide came through Queensland's Channel Country earlier this year, but the extended weather forecast is not promising a return to average rainfalls.





health and food

Mixed blessings for Channel Country graziers as floodwater brings strong season for some but leaves others desperate

Floodwaters that crippled North Queensland's cattle industry have turned the Channel Country further downstream into a landscape of dramatic contrasts.




health and food

Outback droving families dying out as younger generations leave industry

Generations of droving families have been running cattle through outback Queensland, but that could soon end as young people leave the regions in search of other opportunities.




health and food

Hero's bravery award brings back memories for girl saved from sheep station fire 80 years ago

One man's rescue of a four-year-old girl from a fire 80 years ago has been formally recognised, and now the girl he saved wants to give something back to his family.




health and food

Bob Pickersgill was a station hand at Bonnie Doon when he rescued the family's three-year-old daughter from a fire




health and food

A Barcoo Independent newspaper clipping describes a fire at Bonnie Doon, outside Blackall, November 29, 1940




health and food

Aileen Harrison and her brother play outside their rebuilt Blackall home after it was destroyed by fire in 1940




health and food

Canterbury Bankstown Council sets sights on three-dimensional crossings to improve road safety

Three-dimensional zebra crossings have turned up in Iceland, England and even the tiny outback town of Boulia in Queensland and now one Sydney council is exploring whether it could join the trend.




health and food

Grey nomads 'getting into all sorts of trouble' sees record number of flying doctor callouts

Often underprepared but determined to live the dream, hordes of grey nomads are keeping the Royal Flying Doctor Service busy in the outback.





health and food

Cowgirl Riley O'Dell beats the boys to junior bull ride buckle, has Las Vegas rodeo in her sights

Bull riding has always been the cowboy's domain, but young cowgirl Riley O'Dell is bucking the trend and taking home prized buckles in outback Queensland.




health and food

Total Control turns Winton into 'Hollywood of the Outback' in new ABC television series

Winton shines in the new television series, Total Control, starring Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths.





health and food

The drought is pushing rural women to breaking point, as doctors urge them to 'get help early'

RobynCaldwellisoneof thousandsof womeninrural Australiadealingwiththe falloutfromthedrought,but everyyearaspecialevent with250countrywomenin aremoteQueenslandtowngives her welcomerespite andstrategies tofightback.




health and food

Officials measure a world-record attempt for a line of motorhomes in Barcladine, May 26, 2019




health and food

A Guinness World Record-breaking parade of camping vehicles outside Barcaldine, May 26, 2019




health and food

Outback Queensland town Barcaldine wins Guinness World Record for longest line of motorhomes

The outback Queensland town of Barcaldine has officially set a new world record for the longest line of motorhomes.




health and food

Outback Queensland pioneering single mother's daily rainfall records recognised 100 years on

When outback pioneering single mother Mary Emmott started rainfall records in 1914 she had no idea how important they would be.




health and food

Emus invade streets of outback Queensland town in search of food and water

Emus have once again mobbed the streets of Longreach in search of food and water. While some locals say the number of chicks is a good omen for the wet season, an expert says the birds simply "lay and hope for the best."







health and food

Outback rainfall 'like Christmas' but water unlikely to flow on downstream

Outback Queensland towns are celebrating after much-needed rain, but the effects may not flow on downstream.




health and food

Retail Manager Lauren Perkins will reopen her store next week with reduced hours




health and food

Chinatown Neighborhood Ass'n v. Harris

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a case challenging California's "Shark Fin Law," which makes it "unlawful for any person to possess, sell, offer of sale, trade, or distribute a shark fin" in the state, the district court’s dismissal of plaintiff's amended complaint is affirmed where the claim that the Shark Find Law is preempted by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and management Act is without merit, as plaintiffs failed to identify any actual conflict between federal authority under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to manage shark fishing in the ocean off the California coast and the California Shark Fin Law.




health and food

Chavez v. Dole Food Co. Inc.

(United States Third Circuit) - In long-standing litigation concerning the alleged misuse of the pesticide dibromochloropropane (DBCP) on banana farms throughout Central America and the related health effects on more than two hundred foreign agricultural workers, the Delaware District Court's application of the first-filed rule to dismiss the case with prejudice is affirmed where there was no abuse of discretion in dismissing the plaintiff's actions in favor of the first-filed litigation in Louisiana.




health and food

In Re: Louisiana Fisy Fry Products, Ltd.

(United States Federal Circuit) - In a trademark appeal of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board's decision affirming the refusal to register the mark LOUISIANA FISH FRY PRODUCTS BRING THE TASTE OF LOUISIANA HOME! without a disclaimer of FISH FRY PRODUCTS, the Board's decision is affirmed where substantial evidence supports its finding that FISH FRY PRODUCTS has acquired distinctiveness.




health and food

Colon-Lorenzana v. South American Restaurants Corp.

(United States First Circuit) - In a lawsuit over the trademarking and continued sale of a chicken sandwich, alleging violations of the Lanham Act and Copyright Act, the district court's order dismissing the federal claims and declination of jurisdiction over the supplemental Puerto Rico law claims is affirmed where: 1) there was no violation of the Copyright Act because neither the name "Pechu Sandwich" nor the recipe are eligible for copyright protection; and 2) the complaint fails to sufficiently plead that defendant committed fraud in the procurement of a federal trademark for the sandwich.




health and food

Alamo Recycling v. Anheuser Busch Inbev Worldwide

(California Court of Appeal) - In a suit brought by operators of recycling centers where beverage containers sold in California may be redeemed for their California Redemption Value, against companies that sell or distribute beverages containers in California, contending that defendants knowingly and "falsely" label beverage containers sold both inside and outside California with "CA CRV," "California Redemption Value," or similar labels when, in fact, under California law, only containers purchased inside California may be redeemed in California, and alleging common law tort claims against defendants for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, strict products liability, interference with prospective economic advantage and business relations, and breach of express warranty, the trial court's judgment of dismissal is affirmed where the injunctive and compensatory relief plaintiffs seek cannot be awarded by a California court because it would violate the "dormant" commerce clause of the federal Constitution.




health and food

Duarte Nursery v. Cal. Grape Rootstock Improvement Comm.

(California Court of Appeal) - In a grape rootstock seller's challenge to the mandatory assessments it must pay to the California Grape Rootstock Improvement Commission to help fund research for pest-resistant and drought-resistant rootstock, Food & Agr. Code sections 74701-74796, alleging it is an unconstitutional exercise of the state's police power in violation of plaintiff's liberty interests and due process rights under the federal and state Constitutions, the trial court's judgment in favor of defendants is affirmed where the Commission Law has a reasonable relation to a legitimate purpose and its delegation to nursery owners does not invalide the law.




health and food

Marilley v. Bonham

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In an action brought by a class of non-resident commercial fishers who contended that California's discriminatory fishing fees violated the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the United States Constitution, the district court's summary judgment in favor of plaintiff is affirmed where California’s differential commercial fishing license fees, Cal. Fish & Game Code sections 7852, 7881, 8550.5, and 8280.6, which charged non-residents two or three times more in fees than residents, violated the Privileges and Immunities Clause because California failed to offer a closely related justification for its discrimination against non-residents.




health and food

People v. Raisin Valley Farms

(California Court of Appeal) - In a suit involving the raisin industry and the California Marketing Act of 1937 (CMA), Food & Agr. Code section 58601 et seq., the trial court's interpretation of the CMA's requirement, that the Secretary of California's Department of Food and Agriculture, in adopting a marketing order for industry advertising or research, must find that the order will tend to effectuate the declared purposes and policies of the CMA, is reversed where it erroneously limits the CMA's applicability only to Great Depression-like economic circumstances.




health and food

DiMare Fresh, Inc. v. US

(United States Federal Circuit) - In a suit arising out of press releases issued by the Food and Drug Administration which warned consumers of a possible link between plaintiffs' tomatoes and an outbreak of salmonella, the Claims Court's dismissal of the amended complaint is affirmed where the press releases did not effect a regulatory taking.




health and food

Fed. Treasury Ent. Sojuzplodoimport, OAO Moscow Distillery Cristall v. Spirits Int'l B.V.

(United States Second Circuit) - In an international trademark action involving rival claims to the "Stolichnaya" trademarks, the district court's dismissal is vacated in part and affirmed in part where: 1) considerations of international comity precluded the district court from determining that the Russian Federation's assignment of trademark rights to plaintiff was invalid under Russian law and dismissing plaintiff's claims under section 32(1) of the Lanham Act for lack of standing; but 2) plaintiff's remaining claims are barred by res judicata and laches.




health and food

Retail Digital Network v. Appelsmith

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In an action in which plaintiff challenged, on First Amendment grounds, California Business and Professions Code Section 25503(f)-(h), which forbids manufacturers and wholesalers of alcoholic beverages from giving anything of value to retailers for advertising their alcoholic products, the district court's summary judgment to agency-defendant is reversed where plaintiff, a middleman involved in the advertising industry, had standing to challenge section 25503, because the Supreme Court's opinion in Sorrell v. IMS Health, Inc., 131 S. Ct. 2653 (2011), requires heightened judicial scrutiny of content-based restrictions on non-misleading commercial speech regarding lawful products, rather than the intermediate scrutiny previously applied to section 25503 by the Ninth Circuit in Actmedia, Inc. v. Stroh, 830 F.2d 957 (9th Cir.1986).