For generations they have been the champions of rural communities, providing tried and true recipes from the nations favourite cooks. Country Womens Associations across the state have been doing it tough lately.

The Department of Consumer Protection is distributing 'Do Not Knock' stickers to all corners of Western Australia, after a landmark Federal Court ruling.

The City of Albany has chosen to hold an extraordinary election in February, to fill the vacancy created after the sudden resignation of the former deputy mayor.

Western Australian gold explorer Ausgold is launching a capital raising effort, which it says will facilitate further expansion of its Katanning project.

Consumer Protection is urging people to look beyond the price tag when shopping online this Christmas.

The AFL has announced it will hold a number of community camps in regional Western Australia next year.

Western Australia's bulk grain handler says it has already received about 12.5 million tonnes of grain during this year's harvest and there is still more to come from southern areas.

The receivers of the collapsed Rare Coin Company say the return of stock, owned by customers caught up in the company's demise, will not begin until next year.

An investor, who has been left waiting months for the return of rare bank notes he owned through a collapsed Albany dealer, says further delays to that process are distressing.

Albany local John Chandler sees the world from a very different vantage point, with a device that is the source of a lot of controversy.

A campaign is being launched to improve public awareness of the dangers of rock fishing in an effort to substantially reduce the number of fatalities across Western Australia.

The Department of Fisheries has released the results of a survey of WA's recreational fishing take, which has found the blue swimmer crab is the most commonly caught species.

The public will soon have an opportunity to comment on new guidelines being developed for companies who want to use fracking to access gas deposits in Western Australia.

The state Opposition Leader Mark McGowan has labelled as "out of control" fee increases for TAFE courses from next year. The Government flagged the increases months ago but the new fees were only published yesterday. Mr McGowan says the cost of a Diploma of Nursing will rise 390 per cent next year. He says the increases will result in fewer people enrolling and lead to skills shortages.

The Royal Life Saving Society says WA's latest drowning figures, which reveal a 50 per cent increase on the previous year, should serve as a warning ahead of the festive season. A new report shows 31 people drowned in the state in 2012. Children under the age of four were the highest risk group for drowning and near drowning. Older people over the age of 55 were also at risk.

A storybook that celebrates and shares experiences from the Goldfields, Esperance and Great Southern regions was launched on Tuesday.

Thieves have caused significant damage to a shopping centre while trying to steal an automatic teller machine in Albany.

A bobcat was used to ram an ATM at an Albany shopping centre.

Police in Albany suspect an attack on an automatic teller machine may be linked to a similar incident on the south coast a a few months earlier.

Demand on accommodation pushes tourists out from hotspots

Nationals MP Wendy Duncan says the State Government is paying the price for the shortage of doctors in regional Western Australia. She says the Commonwealth should fund efforts to attract doctors to regional areas.

With extremely hot inland conditions being experienced and forecast in Western Australia, farmers are warned of potential threats to livestock.

Pledging to quit smoking, lose weight and get fit is pretty popular on New Years' Eve, so why do many people fail?

A business commentator has warned the relief felt by the local nickel sector, after an Indonesian move to restrict exports, could be extremely short-lived.

The Masters Builders Association (MBA) says it is highly encouraged by improving demand for commercial and housing developments in Albany.

The Shire of Kondinin says there has been a big impact on the Wheatbelt community of Karlgarin from a major storm that occurred a year ago today.

Clubs WA has hit out at the recommendations in a review of Western Australia's liquor laws released yesterday, claiming its interests have been ignored. The review of the Liquor Control Act released by the State Government makes 141 recommendations, including the introduction of secondary supply laws which make it an offence to supply liquor to a juvenile on an unlicensed premise without parental consent.

New modelling shows a proposal to create a national body for research and innovation in the forestry sector would create hundreds of jobs in Western Australia's south.

A Western Australian Government survey has found the Great Southern has one of the state's lowest rates of people looking to relocate to another region.

Main Roads says there are improvements being made to Western Australian roads to try to prevent crashes being caused by cattle.

Iron ore miner Grange Resources has launched an internal review of its proposed Southdown magnetite mine, near Albany, to see if the project start-up can be cheaper than the estimated multi-billion-dollar cost.

The developers of a proposed multi-million dollar shopping centre development in Denmark say they are appealing against a decision to refuse planning approval.

Analysts say it makes sense for Grange Resources to examine trying to get its Southdown project, near Albany, off the ground sooner by starting on a smaller scale.

The Town of Narrogin says the latest proposal to merge with the neighbouring Narrogin Shire is just weeks from being finalised.

Albany's peak business lobby is calling for closer cooperation between the city's businesses, in a bid to ensure the region capitalises on November's Anzac centenary commemorations.

The Maritime Union says it has made concessions and lowered a pay claim to try to forge a new wages deal for support staff in the offshore oil and gas industry. The union is now seeking pay rises of 22 per cent over four years from marine contractor, Tidewater, down from its original claim of 24 per cent over the life of the agreement.

A prominent businessman on Western Australia's south coast has been sentenced to eight years and six months in jail for attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged daughter-in-law. Brian Vincent Attwell paid $10,000 to an undercover police officer who had posed as a hitman in September last year. The court heard the 74-year-old was angry over legal action after his son's divorce and he was motivated by "sheer hatred" of Michelle Attwell. The trial was played recordings of the businessman saying his daughter-in-law had cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he wanted her "strangled and buried".

Research into doctors in regional Western Australia has found there is an increase in city-based medical students working in country postings after enjoying training in the regions.

The State Government says it has sent a serious warning to the owners of one of Albany's prime vacant lots, by signing off on a plan that would allow it to forcibly reclaim the site.

Farmers are gathering in Merredin this weekend to give thanks for what they believe was 'divine intervention' in the last cropping season.

The State Government says it's sent a serious threat to the owners of one of Albany's prime vacant lots, by signing off on a plan that would allow it to reclaim the site. But the Opposition maintains it's a hollow threat.

A 40-year-old Albany man is due to appear in court this month after being charged with deliberately lighting three fires in Narrikup.

The City of Albany is launching a new tourism marketing campaign in Perth, aimed at attracting visitors in off-peak periods through the south coast's cooler climate.

Agricultural lobby group WA Farmers has urged the Federal Government not to forget struggling growers in parts of Western Australia, in talks over a drought assistance package.

Nigerian police have arrested a man after the death of a West Australian woman who was caught up in an online romance scam.

The Katanning Shire says it still expects to be the first area in Western Australia's Great Southern to have fixed line access to the National Broadband Network (NBN), despite earlier work being carried out in Narrogin.

Aboriginal teaching assistants whose jobs have been axed, have appealed directly to the Education Minister for their jobs to be reinstated.

A 55-year-old man has been charged after police allegedly uncovered a hydroponic set-up being used to grow cannabis at an Albany house.

Lawyers representing a West Australian farmer who is suing his neighbour over genetically modified canola which allegedly contaminated his property, say the court case will hinge on the principle of negligence. The landmark case has been taken by Kojonup organic farmer Steve Marsh. They say the neighbour Michael Baxter had a duty to contain his own crop of GM canola.