News blog, March 30: Cockatoo leaves region in darkness; grassfire at Waranga Shores

Caitlyn Grant here ready to lead you through the day, we’re looking at tops of 23 degrees for today with Autumn truly sinking its claws in.

UPDATE, 5.15 pm: Daylight savings and goodnight

Before wrapping up today, here’s a friendly reminder that the clocks will wind back one hour on Sunday, April 3, when daylight saving ends at 3am.

Anyway, hope you had a lovely Wednesday. Hump-day is officially over!

UPDATE, 4.50 pm: Cockatoo plunges thousands of Shepparton homes into darkness

It has been confirmed that last night’s power outage that left 2400 houses in darkness was caused by one culprit, a cockatoo.

According to a Powercor spokesperson, the bird came into contact with electrical conductors and caused a network fault.

Anna McGuinness has written more on the little guy who ruffled more than a few feathers, including his own. Poor bugger.

UPDATE, 4 pm: Grassfire deemed safe

The grassfire in Waranga Shores has been marked as safe by VicEmergency with no immediate threat to the community or action required.

Smoke may be visible from nearby roads and communities as emergency services continue blacking out the fire.

UPDATE, 2.30 pm: Grassfire in Waranga Shores

Emergency services are responding to a grassfire on the north east side of Waranga Shores that is now under control.

The grassfire is travelling in a north-easterly direction towards Basin Road, 14 vehicles are responding to the incident.

UPDATE, 2 pm: Sports break

There’s some big things going down in the sports world this week I have heard.

Zac Standish reports that Shepparton’s tenure as host of the renowned Victoria Open will come to an end in 2022 after Bowls Victoria confirmed the event would move in 2023.

Some good sports news has come in hot for Kyabram, or as some call it, Ky-Vegas.

Kyabram premiership coach Paul Newman has been appointed coach of the Goulburn Valley League’s senior football side, Aydin Payne reports here.

If your hump-day slump is starting to settle in, steady on.

I’ve got some action pics of the GV Giants game in the bank that are sure to pop some pep in your step to jump over the midweek blues.

UPDATE, 12 pm: The arts are pumping

The Strathbogie Ranges won’t be light on the boogie this November — the Euroa Music Festival has secured a date. Some may say (me, I say) it’s looking to be huge with Angie Mchmahon headlining under the serenity of Euroa bushland.

Shepparton Art Museum has also welcomed three new exhibitions on the weekend, one an opening collection from the Australian War Memorial set to tour the nation, SAM Open community space and a new window commission.

We’ve got some good pics so have a look-see here before you view the real thing.

UPDATE, 9.30 am: Shepparton man charged following alleged Docklands stabbing

Homicide Squad detectives have charged a Shepparton man overnight as part of an investigation into a fatal stabbing in Docklands earlier this month.

The 19-year-old has been charged with violent disorder and affray, following an incident on March 13 when 23-year-old Alier Riak was fatally stabbed and his 26-year-old brother Kuol was seriously injured. Read more here.

UPDATE, 9 am: Headlines to start the day

Were you caught without power last night?

It’s looking as though the cause was a cockatoo sadly zapped on a powerline in Batman Ave last night, unfortunately one of our own, Anna McGuinness, fell victim to the outage and now knows what it’s like to shower with only the iphone torch as a light.

The outage left around 2,500 homes without power across Shepparton, Shepparton North, Congupna, Katandra West and Pine Lodge.

When hospital staff told Shepparton’s Breeanna Poar to call her partner to be with her she knew it was going to be bad news, her two-year-old son Alexander was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Read more on Alexander’s bravery and how to support them here.

Shepparton Christian College’s annual school fete was held on Thursday, March 24, with $5700 raised for charities.

New Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals City of Greater Shepparton’s population actually shrank in the 12 months to June 30, 2021.

Billions of dollars worth of tax offsets, cash payments and fuel excise relief underpins Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's fourth budget, ahead of the May federal election. Read more on the ins and outs of the budget released last night here.