AN 11th hour decision by councillors to spare its education and culture budget from the burden of Eden Court's spiralling costs means the controversial theatre project has been baled out for the third time.

FRUSTRATED ambulance staff in Inverness are considering taking industrial action over single manning, long-distance call outs and lack of ambulances.

A FLY-PAST of veteran planes at Inverness Airport to commemorate aviation pioneer Ted Fresson — had to be aborted yesterday due to concerns about the weather.

A HIGH-FLYING police constable who lied about his previous convictions in his application to join Northern Constabulary has been admonished by a sheriff.

THE unclaimed ashes of more than a dozen cremated people are to be scattered on the waters of Loch Ness next month.

A CONTROVERSIAL riverside site in Inverness — which has been an eyesore for years — could be redeveloped into a hotel.

TULLOCH Homes has invested more than £30 million in buying land in Inverness and on the Black Isle — its largest-ever land acquisition.

AN Inverness councillor is demanding an investigation into how a multi million pound project to refurbish Eden Court Theatre has ended up wildly over budget.

"MUCH more nail-biting than any election count," is how Inverness MSP Fergus Ewing described the birth of his first child, Natasha.

PASSENGER numbers at Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) reached a record high of 1,270,023 in the past year, according to new figures.

A POLICE officer who lied about his previous convictions in his application to join the force has been admonished.

MOTORISTS in Inverness are likely to face disruption this week as work is carried out to mark the completion of parts of the streetscape project.

HEALTH officials have agreed to recruit a second consultant neurologist and two specialist nurses at Raigmore Hospital after it emerged the department is failing to meet waiting time targets.

SCHOOL pupils are being taught how to shoot at a local gun club.

THE minister of a new church which could be demolished to make way for the long-awaited Inverness bypass is urging planners to opt for an alternative scheme.

A REVIEW of the opening times of Inverness' two canal bridges is to take place following increased pressure from motorists and local communities.

THE owner of the Inverness branch of McDonald's claims he has been unfairly singled out by police over allegations the restaurant is being used as a base by drug dealers.

A PUBLIC consultation on visiting times at Raigmore Hospital has been branded a waste of time and money by a patients' representative after the results were partially ignored.

BRITISH Telecom wants to remove 194 payphones from its network in the region, Highland Council has revealed.

POLICE who had been searching for a man who had not been seen for ten days say he has been found safe and well.

OPEN space experts have been appointed by Highland Council to help improve the surroundings of new housing developments.

FOUR youths have been charged in connection with 28 incidents of wilful fire-raising in Inverness.

POLISH Constitution Day celebrations will be held in the Eastgate Centre, Inverness, on Saturday.

AROUND 25 police support jobs are to be axed by Northern Constabulary so it can pay to put extra officers on the beat.

MP Danny Alexander has called for more help for small independent filling stations during the current fuel crisis.

THE chairman of Clachnacuddin David Dowling yesterday hoped the football club would not be dragged into court over the repossession of its home ground — Grant Street Park — after councillors decided to start legal proceedings to take it back.

MEMBERS of the Abriachan Forest Trust (AFT) will vote next month on proposed changes to its constitution, which will extends its powers to buy up land and property in the area.

A PROPOSED waterfront development for a derelict industrial site at South Kessock could help to solve housing problems for key workers such as nurses and teachers moving into the area, according to a housing expert.

A REQUEST for a Polish consulate in Inverness was supported by Highland councillors at a meeting of the city committee yesterday.

FIREFIGHTERS were offering free fire safety checks to Cromarty residents just hours after an elderly woman was found dead following a blaze at her home.

HIGHLAND Council is to repossess Grant Street Park, home of Clachnacuddin Football Club, after the club said it would not give up the lease.

A COMPREHENSIVE review of the city’s CCTV system will be undertaken as part of a Highland review, Inverness City Committee was told today.

EIGHT people have appeared in court charged with drug dealing offences following a police operation in the city last weekend.

INVESTIGATIONS into the cause of a fire in which a Cromarty woman died continue today.

RAIGMORE Hospital staff will be able to buy fresh, organic vegetables from a market stall next month – thanks to Inverness High School pupils.

A DERELICT industrial site in South Kessock could be the location of a 14-storey building — the tallest in the Highlands — as part of an ambitious waterfront housing development.

MOTORISTS in Inverness will be restricted in the amount of fuel they can buy and some filling stations will be designated for use by the emergency services only, if a plan to tackle fuel shortages is implemented.

POLITICIANS have called for a new Inverness jail to be built as a matter of urgency in the wake of a report by the HM chief inspector of prisons highlighting overcrowding and lack of decent living conditions.

A REPEAT drug trafficker was caught by police with a handwritten note telling him how to disappear from the authorities.

POLITICIANS have backed The Inverness Courier's FireGuard campaign, reinforcing the message that simple steps can save lives.

INVERNESS is regularly one of the most overcrowded prisons in Scotland, and prisoners sometimes have to sleep on mattresses on the floors of cells.

A NEW feature on Highland history and culture website Am Baile was launched today to celebrate Scottish Literature Development Day.

HIGHLAND Council's Countryside Rangers have organised two dawn guided walks so early birds can enjoy the sights and sounds of the natural world awakening on a spring morning. 

INVERNESS is to launch a one-day crackdown on litter louts in June amid growing concerns over the amount of rubbish being dropped in city streets.

FORTROSE Academy pupils are the first in the Highlands to use the High Life - Young Scot National Entitlement Card, which enables them to access school meals, library services, leisure facilities and public transport via one card.

FIRE chiefs today rubber stamped plans to introduce a six-month pilot scheme aimed at reducing the number of blue light call-outs to automated alarms.

A NEW website - www.buyintohighland.com –  has been launched to provide a one stop shop for promoting the growing number of social enterprise businesses in the Highlands.

AN additional four community fire officers are to be taken on in an attempt to reduce the number of house fires in Inverness and other parts of the Highlands.

THE STUC Annual Congress in Inverness this afternoon welcomed the commitment of Scottish Labour leader, Wendy Alexander, that the voice of the Scottish trade union movement will be heard at the heart of the Constitutional Convention.

AN Inverness businessman is to be reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with alleged embezzlement offences.

POLICE seized a significant quantity of class A drugs destined for last year’s RockNess music festival, near Dores, Inverness Sheriff Court heard today.

SENTENCE against a pensioner who struck another resident with a walking frame at a Daviot care home has been deferred for good behaviour.

AN Inverness petrol station ran out of fuel yesterday amid growing fears that a planned strike at Scotland's only crude oil refinery will spark mass fuel shortages.

GORDON Brown strongly defended the Union during a speech to trade unionists at the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) in Inverness yesterday — the first Labour prime minister to address the organisation in 25 years.

EDEN COURT Theatre has received the final block of money promised for its two-year refurbishment programme with the award yesterday of £894,000 of funding from the Scottish Government.

KAISER Chiefs fans had to be quick off the mark — or very patient — to snap up tickets for the band's two shows in Strathpeffer next month.

GORDON Brown is in Inverness today to address the Scottish Trades Union Congress being held at Eden Court.

THE A82 between Inverness and Fort Augustus was closed for a total of eight hours over the weekend following two separate road accidents.

THE revamped Highland Youth Voice website went live today, 12 months after upgrade work began.

POLICE in Inverness have appealed for information following a fire yesterday at a house on Anderson Street, Inverness.

A VISION to transform a derelict industrial site in South Kessock — the most deprived area of the Highlands — into a vibrant waterfront housing development will be unveiled to the public next Thursday.

MOST people think it will not happen to them, but the reality is fires do occur and they ruin lives.

THE family of Inverness knife victim Joshua Mitchell yesterday held a moving public procession to the spot where the teenager tragically died.

THE overthrow of capitalism, a minimum wage of £4 a week and employment in the Highlands were among the hot topics for Scottish trade unionists during their first gathering in Inverness.

EIGHT Merkinch mums are aiming to reach the roof of Western Europe.

NEIGHBOURS have been warned to stay indoors with windows and doors closed following a fire at an Inverness farm.

CHILDREN from all over the Highlands gathered at Inverness Sports Centre yesterday for the first Junior Road Safety Officer conference.

YOUNGSTERS are being invited to take part in a Paint a Plate Competition starting next Monday in Highland libraries.

HOSPITAL staff in NHS Highland have turned around their performance on hand hygiene standards, a new report has rebealed.

AN open meeting will be held on Monday to create a Highland Schools Highland Games Association.

A PROPOSED new homeless hostel in Inverness will not be enough to meet the city’s needs, MP Danny Alexander was told today.

THE new Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre was officially opened this afternoon with a helping hand from six-year-old Philip Nicol of Inverness.

A SERVICE bus, with three passengers, and a car collided at traffic lights on Academy Street, Inverness, earlier today.

TODDLERS and their parents celebrated the launch of a new book of play ideas in Gaelic by enjoying fun and games in an Inverness park today.

A LEADING campaigner in the fight to save the Janny's Hoose healthy living centre says she is now more determined than ever to secure the future of the Merkinch facility after being diagnosed with a fatal lung complaint.

THE public is to be asked for its views on Highland Council proposals to raise taxi fares in June.

TWO men were taken to hospital after a fire broke out at a flat in Inverness early this morning.

BELLADRUM Tartan Heart Festival has announced that The Waterboys will headline the event on Saturday, 9th August.

THE father and his toddler son tragically killed when a fire ripped through their Foyers home were today reunited in the same coffin.

AN Inverness man brandished an imitation gun at three shop assistants when he stole a case of lager – then drank his booty during a five-hour siege by an armed response unit.

TWICE former chairman David Sutherland has increased uncertainty about the future direction of Inverness Caledonian Thistle by revealing he will not return to the helm of the SPL club when Alan Savage steps down at the end of the season.

A DECISION to ban parents from using a new Inverness primary school car park is causing traffic problems within days of being introduced.

THE former convener of Highland Regional Council, Duncan McPherson, has died aged 77.

MAJOR Bollywood blockbusters could soon be adding some spice to Scotland's film industry.

THE chairman of Caley Thistle football club will step down at the end of the season, it was announced today.

Alan Savage says he is no longer able to devote the time and energy needed to lead the club because of growing business pressure.

CON men claiming to be workmen are on the prowl in parts of Inverness, police have warned.

A FORMER head teacher of a Fort Augustus school has been spared a jail sentence after she admitted embezzling funds from the school.

A CONSORTIUM of local businessmen could be about to take control of financially-troubled Inverness football club Clachnacuddin.

IN a few weeks time, superstar DJ Fatboy Slim will be playing to tens of thousands of festival goers on the shores of Loch Ness.

THE controversial shake-up of Inverness-based Highlands and Islands Enterprise has resulted in £4.4 million in redundancy and early retirement packages.

BANK of Scotland has acquired a 40 per cent stake in Tulloch Homes Group in a deal worth £27.5 million.

Chairman and chief executive David Sutherland will remain Tulloch's largest shareholder with a 43 per cent shareholding.

THE woman whose husband and son died in the Foyers fire has thanked friends, neighbours and the emergency services for their efforts during and after the blaze.

POLICE in Inverness are appealing for information about a missing man.

CALLING for a zero tolerance approach to drink-driving in Inverness and the Highlands would annihilate social activity in rural areas, a councillor claimed today.

COUNCIL binmen are to stop collecting black bin bags in a move to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill sites.

A KERBSIDE recycling scheme for waste materials including plastics is to be rolled out across Inverness.