While most Queenslanders are returning to the office as COVID restrictions continue to ease, new Google mobility data shows Brisbane workers are staying home, with office visit numbers remaining well below pre-COVID levels. In contrast, the data shows the majority of Queenslanders are still avoiding public transport, with only Noosa, Townsville and Mackay’s bus networks back to normal levels. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the state government are trying to coax inner-city workers back into the office in a bid to revive the struggling CBD business ecosystem.

The skull of an 8 million-year-old crocodile found in the Northern Territory in 2009 is now thought to be part of a new extinct species scientists never previously knew existed. Dr Adam Yates, senior curator of Earth Sciences at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, says the fossil is the best specimen ever found of a crocodile from the extinct Baru genus. He also says the find, 200 kilometres from Alice Springs, also shows Central Australia once had a river system capable of supporting life.

The US Supreme Court will hear a challenge to Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban in a case which could set the precedent for other restrictions to abortion rights. The trial is set to examine whether a foetus is viable outside the womb at 15 weeks and therefore whether terminating it is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court is currently stacked with conservative judges and this will be the first reproductive rights case heard by Justice Amy Coney-Barrett, who vocally opposes abortion.

Election watchdog The Asian Network for Free Elections says its observers have concluded Myanmar’s general election in November last year was free and fair. This contradicts the Myanmar military’s own claims the election was rigged, which they used to justify seizing power and arresting the country’s democratically elected government in a coup d’état in February. The Asian Network for Free Elections had four hundred observers at polling booths around the country in November and says the military’s refusal to accept the result of the election is “indefensible”

Brisbane City Council has selected the final locations of two West End green bridges linking West End to Toowong and St Lucia.

Brisbane amateur historian Magnus Eriksson has set out to walk and kayak the entire length of the Brisbane River while filming the experience for Youtube after researching the idea when stuck in lockdown last year. Mr Ekriksson and his co-walkers will walk a day a month stopping along the way to speak to locals and hear their stories. The group say there is no timeline and the enjoyment and personal fascination is the driver. Each Youtube video is around thirty minutes detailing the places and people along the way.

Brisbane City Council is consulting with the state government as it looks to crack down on unsightly and obstructive advertising around Brisbane. The proposed changes to the Advertising Devices Local Law come as a result of significant concern around Brisbane regarding advertising which hinders pedestrians and vehicles. Several committee submissions regarding the issue suggest an overall reduction in the amount of advertising in Brisbane should also be considered.

Despite repeated warnings from the national regulator and health authorities, popular plastic water beads toys remain on sale across Australia even though they can cause fatal blockages in a child’s intestines. The brightly coloured polymer balls sold in major retailers across Australia are often sold in packets of thousands and expand more than 100 times their original size when wet. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission raised warnings as far back as 2015 saying although the toy was marketed to children above the age of five, younger children are likely to be attracted to the

Joel Greenberg, a Florida politician and friend of embattled pro-Trump congressman Matt Gaetz, has plead guilty to 6 counts of child sex trafficking in an Orlando court. Greenberg was originally facing thirty three charges but reportedly accepted a plea deal in which he agreed to cooperate fully with other investigations. Congressman Gaetz is the subject of a federal probe into his own involvement in the alleged child sex trafficking ring and related abuse-of-power allegations, with Greenberg’s lawyer saying, quote, “I am sure Matt Gaetz is not feeling very comfortable today.”