COMMUNITIES west of Inverness are being urged to support the campaign seeking Scottish Government funding for a city bypass amid claims that more than half the traffic travelling towards the Highland Capital on the A82 is bound for the A9 or A96.

THE ex-wife of a man who was injured at Bunchrew level crossing when his car was hit by a train claims that people's lives have been irreversibly changed because of failings by Network Rail.

AN Inverness doorman has been cleared of raping a woman while she was being sick in the toilets of a city restaurant.

EVERYONE knows porridge is good for your health, but now a group of Inverness scientists want to prove the nation's favourite breakfast can also reduce the side-effects of type two diabetes.

THE family of Inverness man Mark Connor — stabbed to death celebrating his three-day-old daughter's birth — feels justice has not been served by the 10-year prison sentence handed to his killer yesterday.

James Mackenzie stabbed Mr Connor (27) twice in the chest and stomach at his flat in Abbey Court on 14th June last year.

DESPITE emotions running high, the staff of Woolworths in Inverness will walk out of the store for the final time today with their heads held high, according to the manager.

AN Inverness primary school teacher has died, aged just 43.

HUNDREDS of children in the Inverness area got an unexpected extension to their Christmas holidays yesterday after several schools were affected by burst pipes or heating problems due to the ongoing cold snap.

THE leisure pool at Inverness Aquadome which was the scene of a fire in September is now not due to reopen until March — two months later than expected.

THE first football banning order to be issued in Inverness has been given to a Rangers supporter who was arrested for sectarian chanting when his team played Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Sunday.

TWO Inverness sporting clubs are anxiously waiting to see how the controversial omission of the city bypass from the Scottish Government's transport plans for the next 20 years will affect their own development plans.

A MAN has appeared in court charged with attempted murder following a house fire in Inverness.

INVERNESS woman Sandra Murray has been behind several creations worn by people attending investitures and also designed the Queen's thistle-coloured outfit for the historic re-opening of the Scottish Parliament.

A POPULAR Inverness minister who led more than 20 pilgrimages to the Holy Land has died.

A WOMAN rescued from her burning home could have died if a set of ladders used only days earlier to erect Christmas lights had been chained up, it has emerged.

By chance Bruce Murdoch, of Hawthorn Drive, had left the set of ladders propped up against the building, near the first-floor bathroom window from which his wife Monica was rescued.

THE controversial decision by the Scottish Government not to include the full Inverness bypass in its transport plan for the next 20 years is to be questioned in parliament next month.

ALCOHOL and glass bottles will be confiscated at the entrance to tomorrow night's Hogmanay celebrations.

ONE of four Merkinch brothers banned from South Kessock has been fined £500 for entering the area on Christmas Day.

THEATRE goers will now be able to book their Eden Court tickets on-line — but will have to pay extra to do so.

NEW moves could be made to instal closed circuit television cameras on Inverness's Ness Islands after vandals badly damaged a spectacular £28,000 lights display.

The main illuminations — which attracted 10,000 visitors last weekend and formed a centrpiece of the city's Winter Festival — have had to be removed because they were left in a dangerous conditon.

UNCERTAINTY remains over the future of a major project to bring Sainsburys to Nairn after the developer behind the plans collapsed into administration.

A SHARP rise in the number of flu cases in Inverness has prompted health experts to recommend that doctors prescribe anti-viral drugs to patients most at risk.

A £50 million shortfall to complete the Inverness by-pass, including a crossing of the Caledonian Canal and River Ness, should be easy to find, according to Highlands and Islands MSP Dave Thompson.

FORMER Scotland manager Craig Brown was among the prominent footballing figures who attended a funeral service for Caley Thistle's life president John "Jock" MacDonald on Wednesday.

GRIEVING relatives and patients who park for longer than three hours at Raigmore Hospital face having to explain their stay to avoid a fine, it has emerged.

From 1st April, visitors parking at Raigmore will only be allowed to leave their cars for a maximum three-hour stay.

A SEVEN-year-old gypsy girl in Bulgaria has received the millionth shoebox from the appeal organised by the Highland Christian charity, Blythswood Care.

IT is the spot where most tourists get their first glimpse of Loch Ness.

A MAN has been refused bail after he allegedly poured boiling water over a naked man and woman.

THE tills at the Inverness branch of Woolworths will ring for the last time in the new year before the store shuts for good on 5th January.

ANOTHER politician has called for the long-awaited Inverness bypass to be completed by 2015 as originally planned.

STORES in Inverness are being warned to prepare themselves for a spate of thefts this weekend as new figures show shoplifting in the city centre is up almost 50 per cent on last Christmas.

The credit crunch is being suggested as one reason for the increase, and the problem is so acute this year that police area commander Julian Innes wants repeat offenders to be banned from city centre shops.

BUSINESS and community leaders are warning that traffic congestion in the centre of Inverness will worsen unless the long-awaited southern by-pass is completed.

A CRUEL nursing home assistant who taunted elderly men in her care has been described as "sadistic" by relatives of a woman who stayed in the same home.

CONTROVERSIAL plans to axe funding to a specialist unit dedicated to tackling antisocial behaviour were scrapped yesterday.

THE funeral of a key founding father and life president of Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club will take place on Wednesday.

SECURITY surrounding the old Millburn Academy could be stepped up after police confirmed yesterday that a weekend fire which destroyed a classroom had been started deliberately.

The blaze, which gutted a derelict music classroom and badly damaged a neighbouring storeroom, was spotted by a women living locally who saw flames shooting out of the building on Saturday evening.

MINISTERS have been challenged to reverse their decision not to fund the completion of Inverness's southern by-pass by the leader of Highland Council's ruling administration.

AN emergency city centre base for dealing with drunken revellers could be set up over the busy festive period in an effort to reduce the number of people being taken to hospital.

SIX people have appeared in court following a major drugs bust in Inverness.

INVERNESS'S largest private-sector employer is blaming the "hard economic times" for its decision to shed 45 jobs.

THE long-awaited southern bypass for Inverness could be shelved for at least another 20 years after transport minister Stewart Stevenson revealed yesterday he did not regard it as strategically important.

His comments follow the exclusion of the city's Trunk Link Route (TLR) — which would link the A96, A9 and A82 — from the much-anticipated Strategic Transport Projects Review announced this week.

THERE has been mixed reaction across the Highlands to the Scottish Government's 20-year transport plans which include dualling the A9 between Inverness and Perth and the A96 from Inverness to Nairn.

SEVEN people have been arrested following a major operation by police to crack down on city drug dealers.

LIFESCAN Scotland yesterday announced the loss of 46 jobs.

ONE of the world's most influential chefs has announced plans to open his first Scottish restaurant in Inverness.

FREE late-night buses will start operating in Inverness tonight, offering party-goers an easy and cheap way to get home.

MORE than 30 jobs could be created when a company which makes money from extracting oil from an indigenous Highland plant is established near Beauly.