Highly respected, retired Wagga doctor and specialist dermatologist, Allen Collins passed away after a long battle with illness.

A meeting called by council in response to community concerns was told that volunteer-based dementia day care services are being stretched to the limit with suggestions that Greater Murray Area Health cutbacks may be to blame.

Anglican Bishop of the Wagga region, The Right Reverend Godfrey Fryar, opened the doors of St John's Anglican Church to all who wished to express their concern for ethnic Albanian refugees driven from their homes in Kosovo in recent weeks.

Commonwealth Bank general manager, Dick Perkins, said that there were no plans to close either of Wagga's Commonwealth Bank branches.

Council's director of corporate services, Tony Elphick said that council was on top of the millennium Y2K bug problem having identified any systems which might not be compliant and taken appropriate measures.

Wagga Agents Association president, Mark Logan, said that cattle prices at the Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre are the highest they have been for seven years.

The licence of the Hotel Shirley at Bethungra is likely to be transferred to Sydney following its shock closure this week.

More than 120 people gathered for the official reopening of the Wagga War Cemetery.

Maternity patients at Calvary Hospital are now occupying the new 12 bed extension of the Saint Gerard's Wing which is part of the latest stage of the hospital's multi-million-dollar redevelopment.

Gissing's Soul Pattinson Chemist are having a grand opening sale at the Sturt Mall with 6 pack toilet rolls, 2 for $5, nappy rash cream $3.85 and assorted soaps 4 for $1.

Francis Smith, Amanda Smith and Marena Douglas were among those attending the Wagga Dressage Championships.

Murrumbidgee River flooding has closed the caravan park and is within inches of isolating North Wagga as the river at Wagga reached 29 feet 3 inches the highest since February 1970.

Ald Dick Gorman, who is also secretary of the Wagga Flood Warning Association, told Wagga City Council that 1974 could be a bad flood year in the Murrumbidgee Valley as both Burrinjuck and Blowering Dams were very full.

Police radar speed traps operating in the Riverina over the Easter period caught 133 motorists exceeding the speed limit.

The Murrumbidgee Turf Club has named a race, the Lionel Robinson Flying Handicap, in honour of Lionel Robinson who has been a race day employee of the MTC for 59 years, missing only two meetings in that period - when he injured himself falling off a haystack.

Among the 102 students who graduated this week from the Riverina College of Advanced Education were 16 students who are the last to graduate from the Wagga Teachers College which was replaced two years ago by the RCAE.

Mitchell Shire President, Councillor R F Harris, said the shire is currently negotiating a $100,000 loan to assist people wanting to set up residence within the shire. The council has also purchased 10 acres of land at Uranquinty.

Kooringal Primary School P&C Association, Tony Howarth said he was surprised at councils' comments that the need for a second swimming pool had been reduced by the large number of private pools being installed throughout the city.

Traffic lights will be erected in Bourke Street adjacent to St Maria Goretti School.