After 1 million kilometres on country roads, a western Victorian stock agent has finally parked his faithful four-wheel drive for good.
Nhill local Gary Driscoll averaged more than 180 kilometres a day in his 2009 Toyota LandCruiser, travelling to properties across the Wimmera to inspect livestock.
“It’s sometimes 3 to 4 hours a day in the car, but then there are days where you might be in the car for up to 14 hours,” Mr Driscoll said.
“That’s why we call it the mobile office.“
The odometer of his LandCruiser, which is now on display in the Horsham Toyota dealership, actually reads 999,999 kilometres. The decision was made not to click it over to 1 million kilometres, as that would reset the odometer to zero.
Mr Driscoll began his career driving a HZ Holden Kingswood between Stawell and the Newmarket Saleyards in Melbourne’s inner north-west.
Over the years he has traversed Victoria’s country roads in a range of Holden, Mitsubishi and Ford sedans — a far cry from the larger vehicles now more commonly used in agricultural professions.
He said he preferred the higher, smoother drive of a four-wheel drive, especially when navigating potholes.
“There are plenty of those around our roads today, and when you get a smaller vehicle, wow, they’re rough.”
The odometer showing 999,999 kilometres on Gary Driscoll’s LandCruiser. (ABC News: Rebekah Lowe)
In good nick
Mr Driscoll kept his milestone car regularly serviced at the Horsham dealership where he bought it in 2009.
Service manager Tim Barnett said the vehicle had been serviced almost 100 times and that it was the most travelled he had seen.
“I’ve been here at the dealership for 15 years and in automotive for over 20 years.
“This is the first time I’ve seen one hit a million, particularly with the original engine and driveline,” Mr Barnett said.
Mr Driscoll’s car will be displayed at his local dealership for the next two months according to Toyota Australia.
The manufacturer was unable to confirm the highest mileage Toyota vehicle in Australia.
“However, we are aware of several customers whose Toyota vehicles have passed the million-kilometre mark,” a spokesperson said.
Gary Driscoll’s 2009 LandCruiser in full work mode. (Supplied: Gary Driscoll)
Cars lasting longer
Automotive journalist Toby Hagon said it was rare to find a car with more than 1 million kilometres on the odometer.
“I had a look online to see how many cars were being sold with more than 1 million kilometres. There were 41 listings, but I couldn’t see one that was genuine.”
He said rising prices in both new and used car markets meant owners were increasingly keeping vehicles longer.
“In Australia, the cars on our roads tend to be pretty old, so I think as a nation we’re pretty good at stretching it out.“
Mr Hagon said popular models were easier to maintain because parts were readily available.
“If the manufacturer doesn’t have those parts anymore, the aftermarket suppliers will step in for things like headlights and major mechanical components.”
Elon Musk became the first person in history to reach a net worth of more than $700 billion following a court ruling that reinstated a massive compensation package tied to his role at electric‑vehicle maker Tesla, reports news agency Reuters.Last week, the Delaware Supreme Court restored stock options from Musk’s 2018 pay package that had been voided by a lower court, leading to a surge in his estimated wealth to about $749 billion. The options are now valued at roughly $139 billion, far more than the original $56 billion figure when the deal was first approved.The high court said the earlier decision to cancel Musk’s pay package was unfair and wrong. This reversed a 2024 ruling that had called the deal “unfathomable.” With the package restored, Musk’s wealth increased significantly and made him the richest person in the world by an absurd margin.Earlier this week, Musk’s wealth passed $600 billion for the first time, following reports that his space company SpaceX might go public, which could increase his fortune even more.In November, Tesla shareholders approved a new pay plan for Musk worth $1 trillion, the largest ever for a corporate executive. The step showed strong support from investors for his plans to make Tesla a leader not in electric cars and also in artificial intelligence, robotics.Musk’s expensive ventures extends beyond Tesla, where he owns a hefty share of stock. He is also the founder and CEO of SpaceX, the aerospace manufacturer and space transport company behind reusable rockets and the Starlink satellite internet network. In addition to Tesla and SpaceX, Musk’s ventures include Neuralink, a neurotechnology firm developing brain‑computer interfaces, and The Boring Company, which focuses on tunnel construction and innovative transport systems. He also oversees X Corp., the parent of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and xAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) research company.Musk’s wealth now far exceeds that of his nearest rival, Google co‑founder Larry Page, by nearly $500 billion on the Forbes list.The billionaire also briefly worked with the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, under US President Donald Trump in the White House. DOGE was set up by executive order to cut government waste and make federal operations more efficient, and Musk served as a special government employee and senior adviser on the initiative without a salary, providing guidance on cost‑cutting measures and restructuring efforts.
by John Forbes, Fort Worth Report December 20, 2025
THC shop owner Alex Noriega sold nearly everything, including his family home, to open Natural Buds on 7th Street. Now his livelihood is on the line.
New federal limits on THC will force cannabis shops in Fort Worth and across the nation to close, according to advocates and proprietors. Business owners say the new regulation, which goes into effect next fall, will cripple a budding industry.
However, President Donald Trump on Thursday recategorized marijuana to a drug along the lines of Tylenol with codeine and ketamine and asked Congress to revisit the THC prohibition. Marijuana remains illegal at the federal level.
Noriega supports his family through his THC shop, which has found success since opening two years ago. His shop was profitable enough to even expand to a second location and start his own manufacturing and cultivation. Those plans now could go up in smoke.
“I am very scared,” Noriega said. “Voters should be active in this.”
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, added the limit into a bill reopening the government from the longest shutdown in history. The move closes what some legislators called the THC loophole left in the 2018 Farm Bill that limited the concentration of Delta-9 THC, the primary chemical in marijuana that induces a high, but left other compounds — such as tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, or THCA, which converts to Delta-9 when heat is applied — unregulated.
Inserted midway through the 161-page appropriations package, the language limits the sale of consumable hemp to no more than 0.4 milligrams of total intoxicating tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, compounds per container.
The cap is detrimental, said Candice Stinnett, a Texas Hemp Coalition board member who owns a Fort Worth THC shop and smoke lounge.
At Stinnett’s shop, Emerald Organics Cannabis, even the lowest-level THC-infused edibles contain 5 milligrams each, with multiple sold per container.
All edibles in Noriega’s shop contain 10 milligrams of THC, the amount typically sold in states with less restrictive hemp legislation such as Colorado and California.
“We would close our doors for good,” Stinnett said.
Candice Stinnett is pictured with her dachshund, Bruce, in her new smoke lounge, Emerald City Lounge, on Dec. 13, 2025. (John Forbes | Fort Worth Report)
The new language also expands the definition of hemp to include all THC compounds within the cannabis plant. Previous law only limited Delta-9 THC, the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana.
All THC compounds must total 0.3% or less. Cannabis with a higher concentration is considered marijuana, which is a prohibited federally controlled substance alongside heroin and LSD.
Removing THC compounds out of cannabis entirely to comply with the new regulations is not viable, said João Mitchell, legislative director for the Texas Cannabis Collective.
“Taking the THC out of the cannabis, even if it’s low THC cannabis, is like taking the vitamin C out of an orange,” Mitchell said. “If you do that, then you’ve turned the product into something it’s not.”
An illuminated sign behind Emerald City Lounge’s bar reads “Baby, let’s get stoned,” a quote from Mac Miller’s song, “Stoned,” pictured Dec. 13, 2025. (John Forbes | Fort Worth Report)
The new federal regulations come five months after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vetoed a state ban on consumable hemp products. Abbott asked the Texas Legislature to impose more regulations on the product — a stance some hemp advocates now support.
“Seeing the progress that Gov. Abbott has made and what he said in his proclamation, I would trust what Gov. Abbott would want,” Stinnett said.
For Mitchell, who spent months talking with state legislators, the veto sparked hope that cannabis had surpassed being a partisan issue, he said. He was disheartened after hearing about the new federal regulations, he said.
Texas’ hemp industry contributes over $267 million in state tax revenue each year, Whitney Economics estimates.
Stinnett expects the new regulation to adversely affect those who rely on the substance, she said.
Veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress, older people who endure chronic pain, and general customers who ingest THC products to calm anxiety or help themselves sleep are regulars at her shop and lounge storefront, she said.
Those customers would no longer have access to the same products, making “criminals out of everyday, law-abiding citizens,” Stinnett said.
“It’s heartbreaking because that’s what I think about first — the faces and the people in Fort Worth that we see daily or weekly that rely on these products for their quality of life,” she said.
Stinnett worries her customers would look for similar, unregulated products on the black market, she said.
Boxes of THC-infused Sonder Space Crystals, a candy similar to Pop-Rocks, sit on a shelf behind Emerald City Lounge’s bar on Dec. 13, 2025. (John Forbes | Fort Worth Report)
Some of Noriega’s customers prefer THC products as an alternative to alcohol and other drugs, he said. He worries the new legislation would strip them of a safer alternative, he said.
Mitchell worries reclassification of the substance would open marijuana up to pharmaceutical companies who wish to file patents that would make accessing the substance more difficult, he said.
“The Texas Cannabis Collective really advocates just completely removing it from the Controlled Substances Act and treating it like a drug like nicotine or alcohol or caffeine,” Mitchell said.
Advocates plan to turn their voices to Washington, D.C.
“Money talks, and the only way to get stuff done these days politically is to put your money where your mouth is,” Mitchell said.
Noriega, the Fort Worth THC shop owner, intends to double down.
He said he believes hemp is a safer alternative to other substances like alcohol, and he is optimistic that the truth will keep the substance in shops. Noriega will begin offering franchise locations of his shop to investors in April, he said.
His family depends on it.
John Forbes is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at john.forbes@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2025/12/20/new-federal-thc-regulations-could-snuff-out-fort-worth-shops/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&quality=80&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>
A paraplegic engineer from Germany blasted off on a dream-come-true rocket ride with five other passengers Saturday, leaving her wheelchair behind to float in space while beholding Earth from on high.
Severely injured in a mountain bike accident seven years ago, Michaela Benthaus became the first wheelchair user in space, launching from West Texas with Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin. She was accompanied by a retired SpaceX executive also born in Germany, Hans Koenigsmann, who helped organize and, along with Blue Origin, sponsored her trip. Their ticket prices were not divulged.
WATCH: Blue Origin’s latest mission takes a professor and entrepreneur to the edge of space
An ecstatic Benthaus said she laughed all the way up — the capsule soared more than 65 miles (105 kilometers) — and tried to turn upside down once in space.
“It was the coolest experience,” she said shortly after landing.
The 10-minute space-skimming flight required only minor adjustments to accommodate Benthaus, according to the company. That’s because the autonomous New Shepard capsule was designed with accessibility in mind, “making it more accessible to a wider range of people than traditional spaceflight,” said Blue Origin’s Jake Mills, an engineer who trained the crew and assisted them on launch day.
Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin launches its 37th flight, carrying six people seated in a capsule atop the New Shepard rocket, including engineer Michaela “Michi” Benthaus in Van Horn, Texas, Dec. 20, 2025 in a still image from video. Image provided by Blue Origin/Handout via Reuters
Among Blue Origin’s previous space tourists: those with limited mobility and impaired sight or hearing, and a pair of 90-year-olds.
WATCH: William Shatner goes to space on Blue Origin rocket
For Benthaus, Blue Origin added a patient transfer board so she could scoot between the capsule’s hatch and her seat. The recovery team also unrolled a carpet on the desert floor following touchdown, providing immediate access to her wheelchair, which she left behind at liftoff. She practiced in advance, with Koenigsmann taking part with the design and testing. An elevator was already in place at the launch pad to ascend the seven stories to the capsule perched atop the rocket.
Benthaus, 33, part of the European Space Agency’s graduate trainee program in the Netherlands, experienced snippets of weightlessness during a parabolic airplane flight out of Houston in 2022. Less than two years later, she took part in a two-week simulated space mission in Poland.
“I never really thought that going on a spaceflight would be a real option for me because even as like a super healthy person, it’s like so competitive, right?” she told The Associated Press ahead of the flight.
Her accident dashed whatever hope she had. “There is like no history of people with disabilities flying to space,” she said.
When Koenigsmann approached her last year about the possibility of flying on Blue Origin and experiencing more than three minutes of weightlessness on a space hop, Benthaus thought there might be a misunderstanding. But there wasn’t, and she immediately signed on.
It’s a private mission for Benthaus with no involvement by ESA, which this year cleared reserve astronaut John McFall, an amputee, for a future flight to the International Space Station. The former British Paralympian lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident when he was a teenager.
An injured spinal cord means Benthaus can’t walk at all, unlike McFall who uses a prosthetic leg and could evacuate a space capsule in an emergency at touchdown by himself. Koenigsmann was designated before flight as her emergency helper; he and Mills lifted her out of the capsule and down the short flight of steps at flight’s end.
“You should never give up on your dreams, right?” Benthaus urged following touchdown.
Benthaus was adamant about doing as much as she could by herself. Her goal is to make not only space accessible to the disabled, but to improve accessibility on Earth too.
While getting lots of positive feedback within “my space bubble,” she said outsiders aren’t always as inclusive.
“I really hope it’s opening up for people like me, like I hope I’m only the start,” she said.
Besides Koenigsmann, Benthaus shared the ride with business executives and investors, and a computer scientist. They raised Blue Origin’s list of space travelers to 86.
Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, created Blue Origin in 2000 and launched on its first passenger spaceflight in 2021. The company has since delivered spacecraft to orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida, using the bigger and more powerful New Glenn rocket, and is working to send landers to the moon.
A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.
The CITB Employer Network Fund, established by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), aims to make training and funding more accessible for construction employers. Through this program, eligible businesses could receive up to 70% off the cost of a training course, with the employer contributing the remaining 30%. This funding helps companies upskill their workforce while maintaining industry compliance.
St John Ambulance is available for you to choose as your trusted training provider. Ask for us by name when you SPEAK to your CITB Adviser about First Aid Training.
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
New restrictions on temporary foreign workers are harming smaller towns in northern B.C., business and economic leaders say.
It comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney forges ahead with plans to reduce the numbers of both foreign workers and students in an effort to curb population growth over the next few years.
In Prince Rupert, on B.C.’s North Coast, the population is stagnating despite being home to Canada’s third-busiest port.
Employers say they simply aren’t able to find enough locals to hire for much-needed jobs.
“We’ve done numerous job fairs,” said John Farrell, the executive director of Community Futures in Prince Rupert, a non-profit focused on supporting small business and community development.
“We’d rather hire local — but the locals just aren’t there, and if they are, they’re already working.”
WATCH | Farrell says Prince Rupert will collapse without foreign workers:
‘We depend on these people’: community leader on temporary foreign workers
John Farrell, a small business owner and the executive director of Community Futures, says his community of Prince Rupert, B.C., needs the temporary foreign worker program because there is a ‘chronically short, limited local workforce’ in his region. This comes as Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling for Ottawa to scrap the program in its current form.
Making matters worse, he said, the changes are resulting in existing temporary foreign workers, once on track for permanent residency in Canada, having their applications to remain in the country denied or delayed.
“Some of them are [restaurant] servers and some of them are managers, and they’re all going home,” he said.
“There just isn’t anybody that’s picking up those jobs.”
WATCH | Massive cuts to immigration:
Why Canada’s making massive cuts to immigration | About That
The federal government is cutting the number of new permanent and temporary residents to be welcomed into Canada as part of what’s been described as a ‘dramatic revision’ to its immigration plan. Andrew Chang explains the reasons behind the government’s stated goal of pausing population growth by breaking down the struggle to keep up with a post-pandemic population boom.
Prince Rupert isn’t alone.
Concerns about limits on foreign workers and students have been raised by other northern communities, including Fort Nelson and Prince George, where cuts have been felt at both job sites and on college campuses.
Coast Mountain College, which serves northwest B.C., has closed one of its campuses in response to the reductions.
‘Left behind and helpless’
Among those currently in limbo are Samjhana Khatri and Sudhan Battari, who until recently worked at the Crest, one of the most prominent hotels and restaurants in Prince Rupert.
Waiting for word on their future, they say, has been very stressful — as they are unable to save money or pay bills while waiting to find out if their work permits will be renewed.
“I feel left behind and helpless because I want to work, support myself and continue living legally in Canada,” Battari said.
Samjhana Khatri and Sudhan Battari have been unable to work in Prince Rupert, B.C., after changes to the temporary foreign worker program made it harder for them to renew their work permits. (Submitted)
Khatri’s and Battari’s employer is the Gitxaala First Nation, which owns the Crest.
Gitxaala business director Blair Mirau estimates they’ll be losing upwards of 30 people in the coming months to similar circumstances.
While some of those holes can be plugged by hiring locally, he doesn’t expect all of the positions will be filled.
“Prince Rupert is a small, rural and remote community, so there’s not a whole bunch of people … where they’ve got a degree in hospitality and ten years’ experience managing five-star hotels,” he said.
“And if it does exist in Prince Rupert, I guarantee that we’ve already hired them.”
LISTEN | The impact of temporary foreign worker cuts on Prince Rupert residents:
Daybreak North8:00Paperwork delays put Prince Rupert residents out of work
Temporary work permit problems concerning for businesses as well.
Earlier this year, Farrell led local businesses in delivering a “call to action” to their MP Ellis Ross, asking that exemptions to the foreign worker cuts be carved out for rural, remote and northern communities.
But Farrell says Ross declined to bring it forward.
Skeena-Bulkley Valley Conservative MP Ellis Ross, seen here with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on April 7, did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News. (Aaron Whitfield/The Canadian Press)
Ross did not respond to requests for comment from CBC News, but he is a member of the Conservative Party, whose leader Pierre Poilievre has called for the complete scrapping of the foreign worker program.
Poilievre has argued the program shuts youth out of jobs by instead relying on poorly-paid workers from other countries who are “ultimately being exploited” by the businesses they work for.
Farrell said that may be the case in bigger cities.
But in Prince Rupert, he says his experience is that businesses will not only pay fair wages, but also put funding towards travel and housing, in order to get people to work in everything from hospitality to construction.
Over the past few months, the non-profit leader has seen multiple employers on the ropes due to the federal changes.
“We definitely need a different approach to immigration in the north,” he said.
Liverpool’s geographical location usually spares it from heavy snow
Fifteen years ago a white Christmas came a week too early to Merseyside.
As people hoped to party in Liverpool on Friday 17 December thick snow began falling.
The city’s geography means it can usually escape the worst of a snowfall but on this occasion people stranded on a night out and with little or no public transport rushed to find hotel rooms.
Elsewhere in Merseyside Keith Jones from Maghull shot scenes of the morning after which showed the extent of the white-out.
Keith Jones
Keith Jones helped drivers stuck in the snow
“The first four photos I took were of the A59 when I got down there,” he recalled.
“The road was totally different to its normal bustling self.”
Mr Jones explained: “Only one lane open each way, but enough for me to manage to get to my mums house.”
Keith Jones
People were caught out by the snow
He said his mum lived alone and he was walking out that morning to see if the main road (A59) was clear so he could get to hers.
“I also remember helping quite a few motorists who had got stuck in the snow.”
Keith Jones
The usually bustling A59 was down to one lane
Further afield hundreds of vehicles spent Friday night stranded on the M6 after a lorry jackknifed in the snowy conditions.
Premier League fixtures in Liverpool, Wigan and Blackpool were called off.
Up to 10in (25cm) of snow fell in parts of Cheshire, Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside.
“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “It was really busy, a lot of people were on the platform. I do have very cold hands, but it was worth it.”
Tickets for the Pathfinder Finale journey, which features a locomotive built in Swindon in 1962, sold out in just 54 minutes.
“It’s a mix of people [aboard],” Mr Watts said.
“There are people who just have a general appreciation and enjoyment from looking out the window, to those who know every nut and bolt on every locomotive.
“From trainspotters through to the armchair enthusiasts, it’s quite a wide section of interest.”
The Mayor of Cheltenham has personally thanked racegoers for their generosity in helping to raise more than £1,000 for charity.
The Mayor of Cheltenham has personally thanked racegoers for their generosity in helping to raise more than £1,000 for charity.
Councillor David Willingham was struck by the good will and spirit of punters attending the Christmas Meet at the town’s racecourse last week (12 – 13 December).
The collection raised £1,025.28 and the funds will help support the mayor’s charities which this year are: Cheltenham Sea Cadets, Men in Sheds and The Rock.
Mayor of Cheltenham, Cllr Dr David Willingham, said: “I would really like to thank the racegoers for their generosity of their donations after the Christmas Meeting on the 12th December 2025. Every penny raised will go to helping charities which make a wonderful positive difference to the lives of people in Cheltenham. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the Jockey Club for their support by allowing us to run this collection.”
Anyone could make a donation online by visiting Cheltenham Borough Council’s website and searching for mayor’s charities.
ENDS
For media enquiries contact: communications telephone 01242 264154, email [email protected]
