A Victorian woman who killed her husband by feeding him temazepam-laced lemon biscuits before stuffing him in a freezer has had her murder sentence reduced to 12 years behind bars.

A fast-moving fire has flattened a house, severely damaged another and gutted 1,300 hectares of timber plantation and bushland in Victoria's west.

Victoria's Mallee and Wimmera districts are on alert as a burst of early summer season heat prompts the issue of extreme fire danger ratings.

The family of father of four Joe Koumera has been left waiting for answers after he died in the Riverland in October.

The Victorian government's goal of having an equal number of men and women in local government has fallen well short, especially in regional areas.

This global religious sect has restrictions around television, eating with others and attending university. Its members also run schools and a charity that have received millions of dollars in funding from taxpayers. 

The Privacy Commissioner finds Bunnings Warehouse interfered with the privacy of its customers by using facial recognition without consent in 63 of its stores over a three-year period.

Areas that had multiple fires prior to 2019–20 had greater biodiversity losses when Black Summer fires hit compared to areas that had burnt once or not at all beforehand.