Good morning. Here are your headlines from around regional Australia and beyond. Scroll down and refresh for weather, road reports and more.
CAPEL: Friends have paid tribute to 61-year-old Busselton woman Jenni Pratt who was tragically killed in a terrifying head-on collision in Capel on Saturday.
Ms Pratt died after a green Landcruiser crossed to the wrong side of Bussell Highway and collided with the white Toyota Rav4 Mrs Pratt was driving. Read more.
BUNBURY: A man who brutally bashed a kangaroo to death with a crowbar with another man near Bunbury will spend almost a year behind bars.
Craig Jamie House and Vance Geoffrey Jarvis, who represented themselves in court, both pleaded guilty in the Bunbury Magistrates Court on Tuesday to ill-treatment of an animal, according to the ABC. Read more.
MANDURAH: Of all the amazing things found in Mandurah, one of the least expected might be an international watch brand, but Dan and Anoushka Strange’s John Taylor Watches is exactly that.
And the way their business came about in Mandurah is even more of a surprise. The couple’s eight-year-old daughter Isabella is a survivor of eye cancer and when she needed a new prosthetic eye they were struggling to find the cash they needed. Read more.
MARGARET RIVER: The Shire of Augusta Margaret River has issued a warning to dog owners on rural properties after a horrific attack on stock at a property in Karridale last week. Read more.
ESPERANCE: South Coast Highway has been opened between Munglinup and Ravensthorpe after Main Roads undertook repairs to the 80 kilometre section of road affected by recent flooding. Read more.
WA Election
EATON: A McGowan Labor Government will look at developing a suburban Urgent Care Clinic in Australind to allow local people to be treated faster and avoid sitting in the Bunbury Hospital emergency department. Read more.
BUNBURY: Seven of the eight candidates vying for the seat of Collie-Preston in March’s state election were given the chance to address a business breakfast organised by the Bunbury Chamber of Commerce and Industries on Wednesday morning. Read more.
State of the Nation
Norma Judd was forced to give up her five-acre property after a year of hell in which she struggled to walk and make basic movements.
A wheelchair-bound man missing for nearly 12 months has been found in Wangaratta.
Raymond Croxford, 61, was last seen at a home in Preston last March.
An Illawarra high school teacher has been refused bail accused of having sex with one of his female students.
National news
Failures in both the engine and 'feathering' system, that pilots are not trained to deal with, may be behind Tuesday's fatal plane crash, experts say.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "torpedoing" plans for recognising a Palestinian state, causing "enduring frustration" for diplomats attempting to bring peace to the region.
Scott Hargrave is a former Canberra concreter who transformed his life to become head brewer of Queensland's best beer.
Along the way, he's had help from AC/DC and some of Australia's best surfers.
National weather radar
International news
In keeping with his campaign's focus on more jobs and fewer undocumented migrants, President Donald Trump is creating more than 15,000 new immigration enforcement, border control and judicial posts to root out millions of what Americans call "illegal aliens".
Australia is pushing for Australian universities to be permitted to open campuses in Indonesia as part of a free trade deal that both countries hope will be finalised this year.
Maybe it will be called the Donald duck-around. It's a sort of diplomatic glad-game in which what is apparent to the entire world is not raised, and a phone call that stung goes unmentioned.
On this day | February 23
1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed with movable type.
1903 – Cuba leases Guantánamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".
1905 – Chicago attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.
1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh.
2008 – A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2.
The faces of Australia: Halauafu Lavaka
Halauafu Lavaka will put his rugby league dream on hold to pursue another long-held desire.
The 22-year-old will follow in the footsteps of Will Hopoate and serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Read more.