Yes, Bondi does have a local community - Sydney Morning Herald

This article is part of our Summer in Sydney series, where Herald staff reveal the best – and worst – of our city in the hotter months.See all 7 stories.

Santa surfs to shore with a bag full of ice blocks for kids on Christmas Day. A band of Brazilians beat their drums for a pulsating tattooed crowd. A DJ works his decks from out the top of a VW Kombi for yet another promo event at the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club. These are the familiar sights and sounds that visitors come to the famous stretch of sand for.

The place has a wonderful energy that’s hard to find and throughout summer when every night feels like Saturday night.

Santa Claus climbs down to the sand as crowds gather on Bondi Beach.Credit: Adam Pretty

This is why I moved to Bondi.

Day trippers should hit the wonderful streets a few blocks back from the busy beach where they can find second-hand bookshops, wonderful bakeries, amazing food and shopping that ranges from Vinnies to high-end designer goods.

Many of you would be familiar with all of the above but what weekend visitors don’t get to see and feel is the wonderful sense of community.

One of the advantages of being a local is you can duck down to the beach before and after the crowds.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Among the thousands of swimmers, surfers and Instagrammers, I can usually find a familiar face – someone whose child I have watched grow since daycare, someone walking their dog who stops to ask if I’m OK. These relationships take on an extra meaning when so many of the people you have met over the years have moved out of the area – back home overseas, or anywhere they can afford in Sydney.

But Bondi would not be nearly as special if not for the warm, talented, creative and crazy neighbours with whom we throw regular street parties.

This is why I stay in Bondi. That and the beach.

Best cafe? Until recently, the Heart Cafe by the Wayside Chapel. Like many of the great places in Bondi, it didn’t last.

Best restaurant? Simple and done right: Gelbison in Lambrock Street for a bowl of mussels. You’ll need lots of crusty bread to soak up the amazing tomato-based sauce. And a Nick’s Special pizza for good measure.

Best beach, park or pool? On a calm day, a dip off the boat ramp at Ben Buckler. Bring your mask or goggles. North Bondi is full of sea life – you might even spot a turtle if you’re lucky.

First place you take visitors? The point below Marks Park at South Bondi to show off this city’s amazing coastline. It still takes my breath away.

The breathtaking coastline from the southern walk to Marks Park.Credit: James Brickwood

Perfect night out in your suburb? After a late swim when the crowds have thinned out, watching the sun go down from the balcony at the North Bondi RSL.

What would make your suburb better? A Metro station. I don’t mind the idea of more people visiting the suburb. That’s part of what makes it so interesting and vibrant. What I do mind is having to sit in traffic to get out of Bondi. Sound familiar?

Best secret spot in your suburb? The cliffs and its hidey-holes just north of the golf course.

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Suggestions sought for South Yorkshire Local Heritage List - Yahoo News Australia

People have been invited to suggest places to be included on an extended list of local heritage sites.

The South Yorkshire Local Heritage List allows the local significance of a building or place to be taken into account in planning decisions.

Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley councils have agreed to extend funding for the scheme.

Councillor Ben Miskell, from Sheffield City Council, said more sites would be given "the significance they deserve".

The list is run by South Yorkshire Archaeology Service.

Mr Miskell said: "Since it was launched, the South Yorkshire Local Heritage List has proved incredibly popular, with a wide range of assets being added so far.

"It highlights the passion people and communities have for the assets that mean most to them and their city, as well as the wider region.

"It is fantastic that we have secured funding to continue the project which will ensure that more fantastic buildings, parks, areas and places will be given the significance they deserve."

Sheffield has a number of sites on the list, including Darnall Picture Palace, Cavendish Buildings in West Street, and Hobson Memorial Pavilion.

Click here to suggest a site for inclusion on the list.

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GOP House Candidate's Local Bridge Expert Faces Election Charges - Yahoo News Australia

How to deal with the aging Interstate 5 bridge connecting Vancouver, Washington, with Portland, Oregon, has long been a big issue in Pacific Northwest politics.

So it made sense Joe Kent, a Republican candidate for Washington’s third congressional district now represented by freshman Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), would feature on his website an interview with a local resident about the bridge.

But the man in the video has also been charged with violating a state law by lying about his residence to run for a seat in the state legislature, which the Perez campaign says undercuts his credibility.

“While Marie is bringing back major infrastructure wins for the district that were years in the making, Joe Kent is busy posting conspiracy theories online all day and using people accused of fraud as validators for his warped online worldview,” said Tim Gowen, Perez’s campaign manager.

“The voters want someone who will deliver, not spend his time angry on the internet.”

A phone message and an email left with the Kent campaign went unreturned.

A Kent-Perez race would be a rematch of one of the most watched 2022 races that saw Perez barely eke out a narrow win, with 50.1% of the vote. It would also be a test of the appeal of the dwindling population of moderate House Democrats versus a candidate who ran as an ardent Donald Trump supporter the first time around.

Prior to 2022, the district had been represented by Jamie Herrera Beutler, a moderate Republican who was one of 10 House Republicans to vote with House Democrats to impeach Trump in 2021 in the wake of the failed insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol. She lost to Kent after Trump endorsed him in the primary.

Perez is one of three co-chairs of the 10-member Blue Dog coalition in the House, a group of moderate, often rural Democrats that have seen their numbers shrink in the last decade. The group’s other co-chairs include Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska).

Kent, a former Green Beret, gained notice in 2022 for his ties to right-wing extremists personalities and groups. The Associated Press reported he had sought the support of white supremacist Nick Fuentes and appeared at a rally in support of jailed Jan. 6 attackers.

Kent’s website says he is “focused on restoring common sense Republican values and defeating the woke extremist Democrat Congresswoman Marie Perez.”

In the video in question, former airline pilot John Ley is interviewed by Kent on his campaign site as part of a series of videos called “Get Local,” meant to highlight Kent’s engagement with area issues. In the video, Ley calls himself “the local Clark County expert on transportation.”

Ley was charged in September with registering to vote and filing to be a candidate for the Washington state legislature in 2022 in a district different from where he lived. The criminal charge came more than a year after a judge had declared Ley ineligible when an opponent filed a challenge to Ley’s residency. Ley had claimed residency in the legislative district after renting a room from a friend in the district for $1 a month.

Ley has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer has said the case amounts to a selective prosecution of a rarely enforced state law. He is currently scheduled for an April 2024 trial date.

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Nichols Place Darwin Local Court list, Thursday, December 21 - NT News

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Nichols Place Darwin Local Court list, Thursday, December 21  NT News
Nichols Place Darwin Local Court list, Thursday, December 21 - NT News
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Match Official Appointments: Isuzu UTE A-League 2023/24 Round 11 - Football Australia

Football Australia has confirmed the Match Official appointments for Round 11 of the Isuzu UTE A-League 2023/24 season.

On Sunday 7 January, Ben Abraham is set to officiate his 50^th A-League Men’s match as a referee, in the match between Western United and Melbourne City. Ben made his ALM refereeing debut in Round 4 of the 2019-20 season in the match between Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix. Ben will become the 19^th match official to reach 50 games as a referee in the ALM competition.

For the list of appointments from 4-7 January see below.

Adelaide United v Wellington Phoenix			Thursday 4 January 2024
Coopers Stadium		7:15 PM (Local)		7:45 PM (AEDT)
Referee	Jonathan Barreiro	Fourth Official		Daniel Cook
Assistant Referee 1	George Lakrindis	VAR		Kris Griffith-Jones
Assistant Referee 2	Henry Day	AVAR		Kearney Robinson

 

 

Macarthur FC v Newcastle Jets			Friday 5 January 2024
Campbelltown Stadium		7:45 PM (Local)		7:45 PM (AEDT)
Referee	Tim Danaskos	Fourth Official		Nathan Shakespear
Assistant Referee 1	Owen Goldrick	VAR		Alex King
Assistant Referee 2	Greg Taylor	AVAR		Kearney Robinson

 

Western Sydney Wanderers v Central Coast Mariners			Saturday 6 January 2024
CommBank Stadium		5:30 PM (Local)		5:30 PM (AEDT)
Referee	Alex King	Fourth Official		Nathan Shakespear
Assistant Referee 1	Ryan Gallagher	VAR		Lara Lee
Assistant Referee 2	Andrej Giev	AVAR		Richard Naumovski

 

Brisbane Roar v Sydney FC			Saturday 6 January 2024
Suncorp Stadium		6:45 PM (Local)		7:45 PM (AEDT)
Referee	Daniel Elder	Fourth Official		Adam Kersey
Assistant Referee 1	Andrew Lindsay	VAR		Kris Griffith-Jones
Assistant Referee 2	Joey Lee	AVAR		Richard Naumovski

 

Perth Glory v Melbourne Victory			Saturday 6 January 2024
HBF Park		6:45 PM (Local)		9:45 PM (AEDT)
Referee	Lachlan Keevers	Fourth Official		Shane Skinner
Assistant Referee 1	Josh Mannella	VAR		Kris Griffith-Jones
Assistant Referee 2	Arvin Shanmuganathan	AVAR		Lara Lee

Western United v Melbourne City			Sunday 7 January 2024
TBC		5:00 PM (Local)		5:00 PM (AEDT)
Referee	Ben Abraham	Fourth Official		Adam Bavcar
Assistant Referee 1	David Walsh	VAR		Lara Lee
Assistant Referee 2	Peter Jaworski	AVAR		Kearney Robinson

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NHL to keep 11 teams' local broadcasts on Bally - ESPN Australia

• Associated Press

Dec 21, 2023, 12:12 PM

The NHL and Diamond Sports Group, the largest owner of regional sports networks, have reached an agreement that will keep local broadcasts for 11 teams on Bally Sports through the end of this season.

The agreement, which was contained in a court filing made Wednesday, is subject to court approval. Diamond Sports has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas since it filed for protection in March. The company said in a financial filing last year that it had debt of $8.67 billion.

While there will be a reduction in rights payments for some teams, the local rights for those 11 franchises will revert back to the NHL at the end of this season.

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The agreement provides stability for fans, networks and teams after Major League Baseball had to take over the broadcasts of San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks games last season after agreements could not be reached.

The NHL teams that are currently on Bally are Anaheim, Carolina, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Tampa Bay.

Diamond also reached the same type of agreement with the NBA for the 15 teams under contract to the RSNs last month.

Diamond is also in discussions with Major League Baseball on reworked agreements for the 2024 season with as many as 11 teams, with the next court hearing scheduled for Jan. 10.

If successful, Diamond would have agreements with all of its professional sports teams end after the current or upcoming seasons, giving leagues and franchises a little more time to figure out a new path due to the possible implosion of regional sports networks.

Diamond is in discussions with Amazon about becoming a strategic partner, which could help it stave off liquidation. The Amazon-Diamond negotiations were first reported by the The Wall Street Journal.

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Billionaire Richard White spends $11m on Rolling Stone's local owner - The Australian Financial Review

Dec 21, 2023 – 10.46am

Australia’s wealthiest chief executive, WiseTech billionaire Richard White, has spent $11 million to bankroll the takeover of music publisher The Brag Media, which owns the local license to mastheads Rolling Stone and Variety.

Mr White, a former musician who used to repair guitars for AC/DC and The Angels, has doubled down on the music industry in the acquisition. He will own more than a third of ASX-listed Vinyl Group by funding its purchase of The Brag. It is his first foray into the world of media.

WiseTech billionaire Richard White. Peter Rae

The Brag licenses some of the biggest magazine and entertainment brands in the world – The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Rotten Tomatoes and HypeBeast, for example – for the local market. It also publishes the local edition of Rolling Stone and Variety on behalf of Penske Media Corporation. It makes money through sponsored content, music and editorial coverage, and events.

In June, Mr White bought a 9.7 per cent stake in what was then called Jaxsta Limited through his personal RealWise Group company. Three months later, Songtradr, the $880 million B2B music licensing company in which Mr White also owns a stake, bought a further 21 per cent.

Jaxsta, since rebadged as Vinyl Group, owns the namesake music credit database, music networking platform Vampr and online record store Vinyl.com. It is led by Josh Simons.

“I have watched closely as Josh has built Vinyl Group’s revenue and made substantial business gains since taking my initial investment,” Mr White said in a statement.

“I’ve also noted that Luke and his dedicated team at The Brag Media have rapidly grown Brag into one of Australia’s most influential media and creative businesses. There’s no doubt that iconic brands like Rolling Stone and Variety make sense and add value.”

The Brag Media chief executive Luke Girgis. 

RealWise will fund the acquisition through an $11 million placement and debt facility. If it is approved by Vinyl’s shareholders, Mr White will emerge with a further 28.9 per cent of Vinyl as a result, taking his stake to 34.8 per cent.

The Brag has flown somewhat under the radar as a media company. It claims to reach 10 million readers a month. The combined revenue of the Vinyl and The Brag would have been $9 million in the 2023 financial year.

The acquisition involves paying $8 million in cash, with another $2 million payable in cash or stock depending on The Brag hitting revenue and earnings targets in the 2024 calendar year. It needs to grow revenue to more than $12 million to qualify for the extra cash.

The Brag’s chief executive, Luke Girgis, has joined the company for a minimum of two years, receiving 5 million options upon completion of the transaction. “The next phase in the evolution of The Brag media will take place under the umbrella of Australia’s only ASX-listed music business,” Mr Girgis said.

Vinyl’s Mr Simons said he had identified “several impactful synergies” between Vinyl and The Brag, which would “deliver immediate cost efficiencies and revenue”.

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