WA Police have charged a 45-year-old man with attempted murder after he allegedly shot at officers with a sawn off shotgun last week.

Members of the public are being urged to comment on proposed changes to laws governing contaminated sites across Western Australia.

Officials are hoping for a big turnout at the restart of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in Albany today.

The City of Albany says it will be just a few hundred thousand dollars out of pocket from investments in failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers, after the latest settlement agreement.

Western Australian farmers have welcomed the State Government's announcement to relax the controversial laws on land clearing.

Western Australia's s Minister for Agriculture and Food will have an opportunity to sign up to the long-awaited federal farm finance package this week.

Local governments, facing uncertainty over funding for regional projects in Western Australia's south, say they are relieved the Federal Government has committed to providing the funding.

The Department of Consumer Protection is distributing 'Do Not Knock' stickers to all corners of Western Australia, after a landmark Federal Court ruling.

Consumer Protection is urging people to look beyond the price tag when shopping online this Christmas.

A former West Australian Football League player, charged with assaulting another player during a country match, has had the charge against him dropped in a Narrogin court.

The new Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development says he expects improving conditions for elderly residents in Western Australia's south-west and Great Southern will be a key focus.

Western Australia's bulk grain handler says it has already received about 12.5 million tonnes of grain during this year's harvest and there is still more to come from southern areas.

The PGA says food security should not be the focus in the planned national review of agriculture with the country exporting surpluses every year.

Police are investigating the second robbery from an Albany volunteer bushfire brigade within weeks.

A new strategy to reduce fatal shark attacks is being implemented with baited drum lines to be set along popular beaches in Perth and the South West. Sharks will also be caught and killed if they enter zones near those beaches because they will be considered an imminent threat. The measures follow six fatal attacks by sharks in WA in two years. Opponents say sharks deserve respect and protection.

Financial penalties have been imposed on Western Power for failing to meet its target for service performance to customers in regional areas.

A storybook that celebrates and shares experiences from the Goldfields, Esperance and Great Southern regions was launched on Tuesday.

The latest survey of the cost of living in regional WA has shown a significant drop in living costs in the state's north. The State Government assesses the cost of 500 goods and services in 27 regional centres as part of the Regional Price Index every second year.

A hoax claiming the Church of Scientology was planning a nine-storey development at an iconic Albany site in WA's South Coast has infuriated local authorities.

A bobcat was used to ram an ATM at an Albany shopping centre.

Police in Albany suspect an attack on an automatic teller machine may be linked to a similar incident on the south coast a a few months earlier.

Demand on accommodation pushes tourists out from hotspots

Nationals MP Wendy Duncan says the State Government is paying the price for the shortage of doctors in regional Western Australia. She says the Commonwealth should fund efforts to attract doctors to regional areas.

Authorities are warning the Great Southern and lower Wheatbelt need to be on alert over the next few days, with sweltering conditions expected to create a serious fire danger.

Police in Albany are investigating an aggravated burglary on Saturday afternoon.

A business commentator has warned the relief felt by the local nickel sector, after an Indonesian move to restrict exports, could be extremely short-lived.

How many worms can you count in an hour? Albany backyard farmer Bede Harold claims that he can count one thousand red wrigglers an hour. Bede also believes it is his worms that are the key to his vegetable patch.

Clubs WA has hit out at the recommendations in a review of Western Australia's liquor laws released yesterday, claiming its interests have been ignored. The review of the Liquor Control Act released by the State Government makes 141 recommendations, including the introduction of secondary supply laws which make it an offence to supply liquor to a juvenile on an unlicensed premise without parental consent.

Detectives have charged two people after discovering a clandestine drug laboratory in an Albany house.

Local governments have expressed concern about a decision to kill off merger discussions between four Wheatbelt shires.

The Town of Narrogin says the latest proposal to merge with the neighbouring Narrogin Shire is just weeks from being finalised.

Albany's peak business lobby is calling for closer cooperation between the city's businesses, in a bid to ensure the region capitalises on November's Anzac centenary commemorations.

A 34-year-old Perth man has been charged with driving at more than 175 kilometres per hour near Cranbrook, while his 12-year-old daughter was in the car.

A prominent businessman on Western Australia's south coast has been sentenced to eight years and six months in jail for attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged daughter-in-law. Brian Vincent Attwell paid $10,000 to an undercover police officer who had posed as a hitman in September last year. The court heard the 74-year-old was angry over legal action after his son's divorce and he was motivated by "sheer hatred" of Michelle Attwell. The trial was played recordings of the businessman saying his daughter-in-law had cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he wanted her "strangled and buried".

Police have charged an Albany man who allegedly attempted to import hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of methylamphetamine from Mexico.

An elderly woman has been indecently assaulted while walking her dogs at an Albany school.

The first government funded program to assist those affected by younger onset dementia has been announced in Albany.

The State Government says it's sent a serious threat to the owners of one of Albany's prime vacant lots, by signing off on a plan that would allow it to reclaim the site. But the Opposition maintains it's a hollow threat.

Police have charged an Albany man with lighting three fires last month.

A 40-year-old Albany man is due to appear in court this month after being charged with deliberately lighting three fires in Narrikup.

The outgoing Mental Health Commissioner says the state's Indigenous population is over-represented in the suicide rate.

Agricultural lobby group WA Farmers has urged the Federal Government not to forget struggling growers in parts of Western Australia, in talks over a drought assistance package.

The Shire of Narrogin says its proposed amalgamation with the Town of Narrogin will require about $2 million of state funding if it is to go ahead.

Nigerian police have arrested a man after the death of a West Australian woman who was caught up in an online romance scam.

Police have charged a teenager with deliberately lighting a fire in the Albany suburb of Centennial Park.