#newsbites

Here’s a quick summary of stuff that happened today:

The foster father of Queensland schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer was charged with her murder, 11 months after she went missing. Three other members of her foster family were also taken into custody. 

The Federal Government wants to find a better way to tackle long-term welfare dependency - and they're prepared to pay for help. They've put $96 million on the table to encourage groups and stakeholders to put forward their ideas on how to get people off social service payments.

Colin Barnett is still the WA Premier after a leadership spill motion failed. Dean Nalder, who resigned from Mr Barnett's ministry at the weekend, had indicated he would challenge for the leadership if the spill motion had passed. Awks.

Kids are spending too much time in front of screens. But you knew that, right? An ongoing national survey has shown those aged 12 to 13 are spending at least three hours a day in front of a device. The Australian recommendation is only two hours.

A couple of months ago an app billed as “Tinder for fighting” turned out to be a hoax. Before that, Rumblr had introduced itself as the place where “recreational fighters” could set up meetings with other “brawl enthusiasts”.

Sounds ridiculous, right? But police in Queensland appear to be dealing with this exact problem - among teenage girls.

Girls as young as 13 are planning fights and broadcasting them on social media.

“We can't access a lot of things that they're accessing. New apps start every day and we can't keep up with all the stuff that's going on,” Queensland Police Senior Constable Adrienne Harries said.

The identity of a man whose body was found in Melbourne seven years ago remains a mystery. This is despite a distinctive tattoo that covered his back and public appeals for help using reconstructed images of the deceased man.

There were other clues - a diamond stud earring and he had smoked illegally imported cigarettes - but not enough for detectives or the coroner to say for sure who the man was.

The case remains open and the body will be stored for 10 years in the hope any information about the man surfaces, so he isn’t buried as a John Doe.

Bec Hunter describing the immediate aftermath of a one-punch attack in Canberra in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

In the first two weeks of 2016, three people across Australia were the victims of these types of attacks. One of them, 18-year-old Cole Miller, later died in hospital in Brisbane.

Hoverboards were pretty popular gifts for Christmas 2015, but unfortunately they haven’t been harmless fun for everyone.

Apart from embarrassing dad spills, some had caught fire in the US and the UK while charging.

This is exactly what happened to a hoverboard that was bought as a Christmas gift for a young girl in Melbourne.

Her dad said he checked to see if the hoverboard he purchased complied with Australian standards - it did, he said.

Despite this, the charging hoverboard ignited and the family home was partially gutted.

This throw-away comment from dad Ash Ibraheim is kinda worrying too, in a 21st century way.

"The beeping of the fire alarm sounded like the beeping of the fridge when it's left open, so no-one paid attention for a bit.”

Everyone got out safely.

Hoverboard that sparked Strathmore house fire 'compliant' with Australian standards

We as Americans are too wasteful. We waste billions of dollars’ worth of food each year. Wasting that much food is not only a waste of our labor and resources, landfills holding that waste create the toxic greenhouse gas methane that will produce long term environmental problems, and there are hundreds of American families (14.3 % according the USDA) that face food insecurity and would love to have the food the rest of us take for granted on a daily basis. (Side note: food insecurity is the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.). 

Some of the reasons we are so wasteful in this country include 

1) we are impulse shoppers 

2) we want all our fruits and veggies to look perfect and throw away the ones that do not fit that standard 

3) confusing food labeling standards and laws have tricked us into throwing away a lot of the food we buy before it has even gone bad. 

The good news is we can do something about it! 

Here is what you can do 

1) Stop being an impulse shopper. 

This is America, there will always be more. So if you don’t need it or are not actually going to eat it don’t buy it 

2) Reduce your waste by recycling or composting. 

Your local community garden may be able to take some of your plant waste off your hands 

3)Educate yourself. 

I’m a believer that the more you know the more you can do. I may not be the one to write a strongly worded letter to my congressman/woman but I continue to educate myself and do my part to make our country a better place…but if Trump becomes president then I’ll have to say deuces to America