Six lucky tenants in Northumberland are celebrating after winning £1,000 worth of prizes in a special raffle draw.
They were automatically entered into the draw, run by Homes for Northumberland, by virtue of having clear rent accounts at the end of the last financial year on March 31.
The cash prize draw aims to encourage tenants to pay their rent promptly and help avoid costly arrears being run up.
People in two areas of Northumberland have asked the county council for help amid fears over gangs of young people gathering in local parkland.
Dog walkers in the South Newsham Road area of Blyth say they feel unsafe and intimidated because of youths using a makeshift den in nearby woodland as a meeting place to drink alcohol.
And concerns were raised at Holywell Dene near Seaton Delaval about possible fire damage to a number of trees and the amount of litter left behind by youths who hang around there.
A presentation on plans to revamp the region's hospitals takes place in Northumberland next week.
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is proposing a new specialist emergency care hospital near Cramlington for people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside, improvements to Wansbeck and North Tyneside general hospitals and rebuilding community hospitals in Berwick and Haltwhistle.
A presentation on the plans takes place at a meeting of Warkworth Parish Council on Thursday, June 4 at 6.30pm in the Memorial Hall on Castle Street.
A blood sport swoop saw three men arrested in Northumberland.
The Operation Seal inquiry was set up jointly between Northumbria Police and the RSPCA's special operations unit. It followed an intelligence-led operation into badger baiting and cock fighting in Northumberland.
The operation also investigated the baiting of other protected animals with dogs.
Put a new sunspot on your travel list - the Costa Blyth. That's the message from the town's MP after his coastline was invaded by thousands of bank holiday visitors.
Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell said: "On a bank holiday it is always a worry how the weather will turn out.
"This week though there has been great weather and it has vindicated all the work done by the old Blyth Valley Council.
A scheme has been launched to reduce the risk of flooding from a burn in Blyth.
The Newsham Burn passes through the South Beach estate, draining surface water and collecting debris and litter. The level of the burn rises quickly when there is heavy rainfall, risking flooding to around 20 houses when it becomes blocked.
That risk has led to a clean-up of the burn by the Environment Agency in the hope of improving the flow of the river.
A new alliance has been formed in the North to drive forward offshore wind power.
The New and Renewable Energy Centre at Blyth (NaREC) and Envirolink Northwest are to deliver the Northern Wind Innovation Programme, funded through the Northern Way partnership.
The North East has played a pivotal role in the development of offshore wind in the UK, with the first experimental offshore turbines situated off Blyth.
The same three clubs as last year - Walker Central, Gillford Park and Harraby Catholic - filled the leading places in the Northern Alliance Premier Division table.
Harraby Catholic Club ended up four points behind their fellow-Cumbrians after beating their visitors Blyth Town 2-1.
Harraby's first attempt on goal, a speculative 25-yarder from Aaron Roberts, saw Blyth goalkeeper Scott Earle misjudge the flight of the ball and it slipped through his hands into the net.
Hopes for a multi-million pound extension of the Metro system to Blyth have been dashed for the near future.
The Metro Link campaign by politicians in south east Northumberland was given a boost two years ago after a Government minister paid a secret visit.
Junior Transport Minister Tom Harris had a look for himself after Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell urged him in a Commons debate to see the disused rail link from his constituency to the Tyne and Wear Metro system, which the campaigners want reopened.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of Class A drugs were seized in a year-long crackdown by police vying to rid rural Northumberland communities of drug barons.
The Journal can today reveal the scale of the drug problem that plagues the county's isolated countryside, with a massive haul of drugs confiscated by police specialists.
Earlier this year a top judge said drug dealing gangs were targeting rural villages in sophisticated cannabis production operations.
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Journal Extra, Northumberland's free weekly, is inside copies of The Journal across the county every Thursday, and can also be picked up from these locations around Blyth »
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