News Brief

Sydney trials LED street lights

The City of Sydney (COS) has installed 250 sustainable street lights across Sydney CBD and surrounding villages as part of an LED street lighting trial.

COS is one of the largest users of street lighting in NSW with 22,000 street and park lights.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP called the trial “an outstanding success.”

“Lighting makes up six per cent of greenhouse gas emission globally,” she said. “Roughly double the emissions from global air travel.”

The Climate Group’s Australian director, Caroline Bayliss said the technology has the potential to slash Sydney’s greenhouse gas emissions and the city’s energy bills.

Man charged over Woolloomooloo incident

Police have charged a man over an incident where a police officer was hit by a car in Woolloomooloo on March 3.

The 35-year-old man has been charged with using a weapon to avoid apprehension, Skye’s Law and furious driving.

He was refused bail and appeared in Central Local Court on March 4.

The charges relate to the incident which occurred about 12.15am Thursday March 3, when police attempted to stop a car on Wylde Street.

Police discharged their firearms after the officer was struck by the vehicle as he attempted to arrest the driver.

As a result of the incident the officer was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital suffering a leg injury. He has since been released.

Man faces court over child abuse material

A man will face court this month after he was allegedly found in possession of almost 20,000 images and video’s of child abuse material.

Newtown detectives commenced an investigation in October last year following reports of inappropriate material allegedly located on the 63-year-old’s laptop.

A search warrant was applied for and granted, with officers raiding the man’s Ermington home on 27 October 2010, allegedly discovering thousands of video’s and images of child abuse material.

He was charged with 10 counts of producing, disseminating or possessing child abuse material and one count of using carriage service to access child pornography.

He was granted strict conditional bail and will appear in Newtown Local Court on 29 March.

Sydney gets all cleaned up

Over 700,000 volunteers tackled more than 7000 sites across the country last Sunday, to mark the annual Clean Up Australia Day.

Ian Kiernan, founder and chairman of Clean Up Australia, said team registrations were higher than previous years.

After Mardi Gras left Oxford Street in knee-deep rubbish, other volunteers spread throughout the City to help assist the clean-up process.