Mandatory drug and alcohol testing for elected representatives could soon be a reality for a second Tasmanian council, but the proposal is proving to be divisive with one councillor labelling it "highly invasive".

More money has been pledged for more than 70 protected areas across the country, almost entirely in regional and remote Australia.

Beach wheelchairs and special matting are finally out of mothballs after two years, thanks to the Whyalla City Council's decision to cover public liability insurance.

The Victorian Government has announced it will protect 4,000 hectares of farm land from mining exploration in the state's east in an area near a controversial mining proposal.

An Alice Springs paraplegic man is pulled over by police for using a NDIS-funded wheelchair aid deemed illegal in the Northern Territory.

A proposed merger between two of Australia's biggest rural retailers is a step closer to reality after the competition regulator said it would not oppose the plan.

While new laws block predominantly Aboriginal people from buying takeaway alcohol in Alice Springs, the local casino has been overwhelmed with patrons, and has been fined by a court for not ejecting drunk patrons.

As alcohol-related presentations drop by a third in the Alice Springs Hospital Emergency Department, highly contested Government alcohol polices are being credited for the dramatic reduction.

A father who was on his L-plates drank "up to 40 cans of alcohol" before getting behind the wheel pleads guilty to causing the death of his son.

The high-profile host of SBS show Living Black says she was racially profiled by police in the Northern Territory, saying she was treated like a "grog runner" when she entered an Alice Springs bottle shop.

It was the first jurisdiction in the country to roll out a floor price on alcohol, alongside a raft of other measures, and data shows is it having a significant effect in the Northern Territory.

Arnhem Land's Malcolm Rosas becomes the first Northern Territory player picked up by an AFL club for next season but he says the remote community of Bulman will always be home.

It may be convenient, but public health experts warn of the danger of convenient alcohol-delivery services to those who may be vulnerable.

Ronald Shirley is jailed for ripping off an an intellectually impaired patient in north Queensland, leaving the client with so little money he can no longer go on a planned bucket-list trip.

An island of floating rock known as a pumice raft is gradually heading for Australian shores across the Coral Sea and is so expansive it can be tracked via satellite.

A woman who says her daughter has been denied a wheelchair asks her local MP who's also the Minister for the NDIS to sit in on a meeting about the girl's needs.

Thunderstorms have rolled west across Queensland's southern inland, bringing more rain than expected to the Gold Coast hinterland as well as numerous lightning strikes raising concerns about the possibility of new bushfires.

The dramatic crash of Scott McLaughlin's Supercar in Surfers Paradise sent a shock absorber flying onto a nearby balcony, wiping out a table but missing two spectators.

For Edward Daly, who was at a rehab centre on the NSW Central Coast to get over his ice, alcohol and gambling addictions, having his partner involved in his recovery made all the difference.

A NSW woman has started an anti-discrimination campaign demanding changes to the way people in wheelchairs can buy tickets to major events and access good seating.

Very few young people think about the health risks of drinking but research is proving that alcohol is bad for your health.

Alcohol is linked to everything from cancers, liver and cardiovascular disease, stroke and depression.

Alcoholism is big problem in regional areas where health support is limited and the dangers of drink driving are made worse by distance.

The founder of an online discussion supporting hundreds trying to go dry believes drought, financial hardship, uncertainty, and isolation are causing more rural people to self-medicate with alcohol.

Oregon’s ski resorts have been shut down since March but some may be able to open up again as soon as next week.

When Mount St. Helens reopened to climbers after its historic eruption, a woman in a red chiffon dress and pillbox hat changed the face of Northwest mountaineering forever.

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed. Defendant is a divorced spouse who holds an interest in property that Plaintiff obtained a judgment lien against the other spouse’s interest. Plaintiff argued that Defendant’s interest was subordinate to Plaintiff’s interest. The trial court held that Defendant’s interest vested upon the entry of the judgment of divorce and that Plaintiff could execute only against the other spouse’s interest.

(California Court of Appeal) - In a dispute arising out of a written agreement between a content producer-plaintiff and a television station-defendant, involving website material plaintiff created that was to be distributed to the websites of certain television stations affiliated with defendant in other cities, alleging the common law tort of misappropriation of name and likeness, defendant's petition for writ of mandate is granted where the trial court erred in denying summary judgment to defendant because based on the broad consent in the agreement, plaintiffs cannot prove lack of consent to the manner in which defendant used plaintiff's material.

(United States Second Circuit) - the Tax Court's grant of summary judgment for the IRS and finding petitioner liable for federal income tax deficiencies for the taxable years 2003 and 2004 is affirmed where the Tax Court correctly applied a 'single entity' approach to reduce the consolidated net operating loss of Marvel Entertainment, LLC's consolidated group by its previously excluded cancellation of debt income.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a suit alleging direct and contributory copyright infringement by defendant Barnesandnoble.com, which, under license, uploads books and book samples to digital 'lockers' that the defendant maintains for its individual customers, and when the license granted by plaintiff was terminated, defendant did not delete a sample of plaintiff's book, the District Court's dismissal of the complaint at summary judgment is affirmed where the allegedly infringing conduct was authorized by the contracts at issue.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a copyright infringement action brought by record companies and music publishers against internet music services that allowed users to search for free music, dealing with the requirement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor that an internet service provider adopt and reasonably implement a policy to terminate repeat infringers, under 17 U.S.C. section 512, the District Court's grant of partial summary judgment in favor of defendants and decision overturning a jury verdict in favor of plaintiffs is: 1) vacated as to partial summary judgment to the defendants based on the conclusion that defendant qualified for safe harbor protection under the DMCA because the District Court applied too narrow a definition of 'repeat infringer'; 2) reversed as to judgment as a matter of law to the defendants on claims that defendant permitted infringement of plaintiffs' copyrights in pre‐2007 MP3s and Beatles songs because there was sufficient evidence to allow a reasonable jury to conclude that defendant had red‐flag knowledge of, or was willfully blind to, infringing activity involving those categories of protected material; 3) remanded for further proceedings related to claims arising out of the District Court’s grant of partial summary judgment; and 4) affirmed in all other respects.

(United States Second Circuit) - In an amended opinion involving a copyright infringement action brought by record companies and music publishers against internet music services that allowed users to search for free music, dealing with the requirement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor that an internet service provider adopt and reasonably implement a policy to terminate repeat infringers, under 17 U.S.C. section 512, the District Court's grant of partial summary judgment in favor of defendants and decision overturning a jury verdict in favor of plaintiffs is: 1) vacated as to partial summary judgment to the defendants based on the conclusion that defendant qualified for safe harbor protection under the DMCA because the District Court applied too narrow a definition of 'repeat infringer'; 2) reversed as to judgment as a matter of law to the defendants on claims that defendant permitted infringement of plaintiffs' copyrights in pre‐2007 MP3s and Beatles songs because there was sufficient evidence to allow a reasonable jury to conclude that defendant had red‐flag knowledge of, or was willfully blind to, infringing activity involving those categories of protected material; 3) remanded for further proceedings related to claims arising out of the District Court’s grant of partial summary judgment; and 4) affirmed in all other respects.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a suit for trademark infringement and unfair competition brought under the Lanham Act by a producer of karaoke music tracks, alleging that the defendants performed karaoke shows using unauthorized 'media-shifted' files that had been copied onto computer hard drives from the compact discs released by the plaintiff, the district court's dismissal is affirmed where plaintiff did not state a claim under the Lanham Act because there was no likelihood of consumer confusion about the origin of a good properly cognizable in a claim of trademark infringement.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a suit brought by a group of broadcast stations and copyright holders against an entity that operates a service that uses antennas to capture over-the-air broadcast programming, much of it copyrighted, and then uses the Internet to retransmit such programming to paying subscribers, all without the consent or authorization of the copyright holders, the district court's partial summary judgment in favor of defendants is reversed where a service that captures copyrighted works broadcast over the air, and then retransmits them to paying subscribers over the Internet without the consent of the copyright holders, is not a 'cable system' eligible for a compulsory license under the Copyright Act.

(United States Fourth Circuit) - Affirming the district court's rejection of First Amendment violation claims brought by an exotic dancing venue complaining that a city regulates sexually oriented businesses differently than it does mainstream performances such as ballets and concerts, that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by barring 18 to 21 year olds from owning sexually oriented businesses, but finding that the district court erred in rejecting a claim that the denial provisions of the licensing regulation are an unconstitutional prior restraint, striking this provision from the Ordinance and remanding to consider its severability.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Affirmed the dismissal of a copyright infringement action brought against an individual who allegedly downloaded and distributed (i.e., pirated) a movie through peer-to-peer BitTorrent networks. The individual argued that he was not liable for infringement even if the infringing Internet Protocol (IP) address was his, because multiple individuals could connect via his IP address. Agreeing with him and noting that he operated an adult foster care home, the Ninth Circuit held that the complaint failed to state a claim of either direct or contributory infringement.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Reinstated a lawsuit alleging that a woman stole an oil painting worth millions of dollars from her former husband, an Italian film producer. The woman, an Italian citizen, argued that the claims against her were time-barred under California's borrowing statute, because the applicable 10-year Italian statute of limitations would bar those claims in an Italian court; the district court agreed with her. Vacating in part, the Ninth Circuit remanded for further proceedings on the replevin and unjust enrichment claims and on the request for declaratory relief.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Held that a company had legal standing to challenge a city council resolution barring it from holding a controversial love- and sex-themed expo at the city's convention center. Reversed the district court's ruling on standing, which was based on the specific language of the resolution, in a case where the company asserted First Amendment, equal protection, and other claims against the city.

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed a finding of copyright infringement, in a lawsuit that involved copyrighted music recordings resold through an internet platform. The suit was brought by several record companies.

(California Court of Appeal) - In an interpleader action, addressed a dispute among parties connected to the production of a Tony-award winning Broadway musical. Held that a judgment creditor's lien had priority over an unperfected security interest. Affirmed the judgment below.

(United States Federal Circuit) - In a vineyard-plaintiff's appeal of a decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissing its opposition to an application filed by defendant to register a MAYARI mark for use on wine, the Board's decision is affirmed where substantial evidence supports the Board's finding that plaintiff's registered mark MAYA and defendant's applied-for mark MAYARI are sufficiently dissimilar.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a trademark action concerning the mark for Pudgie's pizza chain restaurants, the district court's grant of summary judgment to plaintiffs is affirmed where there is no genuine issue of material fact that defendant Tarntino obtained his federal trademark registration of PUDGIE'S by fraud.