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ANGUS HOLLAND 6:01am Melbourne Express is a live daily blog bringing you what you need to hit the day running - news, weather and transport updates, and compelling content from The Age and beyond.

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Restaurants to encourage diners photographing their meals

LARISSA DUBECKI Diners, grab your cameras. People keen to immortalise their meals have won, with restaurants set to adopt a national policy encouraging the practice.

Health fears as ash blankets Morwell

Darren Gray and Beau Donelly A fire under the surface at the open-cut coal mine at Hazelwood power station could take weeks to extinguish, fire authorities have confirmed, as locals grow increasingly worried about the impact of lingering smoke on their health.

Lonsdale St is CBD's crash hot spot

Craig Butt, Aisha Dow More than one in five crashes involving vehicles hitting pedestrians in the CBD occurred in Lonsdale Street, analysis of VicRoads data has found.

'I can't afford to keep doing this,' foster carer says

Beau Donelly Fiona Hill, who is the sole foster carer of two teenage children, said government payments fell short of covering essential costs by $170 a fortnight per child, or $4420 a year.

Coalition water consultants Peter Coombes and Simon Want given top jobs in the Office of Living Victoria

Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie Consultants hired by the Coalition in 2011 to develop its water policies have been appointed to highly paid public-service positions without the jobs being advertised.

Foster families out of pocket, sparking $6m top-up plea from Foster Care Association of Victoria

Beau Donelly Victorian foster carers are chipping in millions of dollars to prop up the ailing child protection system, the state's peak body for carers says.

Office link to infection in Geelong tuberculosis case

Kate Hagan An open-plan office and recirculated air may have contributed to a Geelong office worker infecting at least 10 of his colleagues with tuberculosis, doctors say.

Pro-picketing picket

Clay Lucas Thousands of protesters are expected to close the intersection of Bourke and Spring streets at lunchtime on Tuesday in a Victorian Trades Hall Council-organised rally against planned Napthine government laws targeting picket lines and blockades.

Motorists warned over 'panic buying' fuel

Matt O'Sullivan 11:46pm Victorian transport authorities have urged motorists not to resort to panic buying at petrol stations in the wake of the grounding of Cootes' fleet of LPG and fuel tankers.

Babysitter in manslaughter trial blames parents for baby's death

Mark Russell 7:04pm A babysitter accused of killing a 10-month-old baby girl has blamed the parents, a court has heard.

Fatigue decisive in fatal crash, truck driver's trial hears

ADAM COOPER 10:11pm A jury has been told been fatigue was the decisive factor in a truck driver's failure to slow his semi-trailer before it hit the back of a car in a crash that claimed the life of a woman.

Rail link shift might close Russell Street, not Swanston, for two years

Adam Carey, Richard Willingham 6:08pm The alignment of the Melbourne Metro rail link could be shifted one block east to Russell Street to avoid the nightmare scenario of shutting down Swanston Street for two or more years.

No decision on closure of smelter, says Alcoa

CLAY LUCAS 5:34pm Alcoa says no decision has been made to shut its aluminium smelter at Geelong, and will tell employees if the Point Henry plant will continue to operate by the end of March.

Schoolgirl stabbed in fight at a Geelong secondary school

RANIA SPOONER 6:28pm A teenage girl has been hospitalised with a suspected knife wound following a fight with another girl at a Geelong secondary college.

Luke Batty's mother seeks to generate light from her tragedy

DEBORAH GOUGH 4:10pm Rosie Batty says she wants to continue to strive to be a better person despite the murder of her son Luke at the hands of his father, hoping to bring some good from her tragedy.

Three police chases end in crashes

CAROLINE ZIELINSKI 3:50pm Three police pursuits ended in crashes overnight, leaving a number of people injured.

Knowledge test will 'weed out' Melbourne's worst taxi drivers

ADAM CAREY 2:17pm The forthcoming taxi Knowledge test will put Melbourne's prospective cabbies and some current drivers through a rigorous, three-hour exam in which they must answer 85 per cent of 155 questions correctly to pass.

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Police officer caught drink driving

JESSICA WRIGHT 1:50pm An off-duty police officer was nabbed drink driving on Sunday night and was fined more than $400 for his troubles.

Judge attacks solitary confinement for young people in prison

Steve Butcher 1:22pm A judge has attacked the use of long-term, virtual solitary confinement for young people in the Victorian prison system as "serving no worthy purpose except to punish and degrade".

Victorian Karting Association apologises in court for nut allergy death of boy, 15

ADAM COOPER 1:10pm Victoria's peak body for go-karting has apologised in court to the family of a teenage boy with nut allergies who died after eating a cookie supplied at a development camp.

Swanston Street rip-up for Melbourne Metro rail akin to Berlin Wall: Napthine

RICHARD WILLINGHAM 1:28pm Tearing up Swanston Street for at least two years to build the Melbourne Metro rail project would divide Melbourne worse than the Berlin Wall, Premier Denis Napthine says.

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Electronic tracking bracelet plan in wake of Luke Batty tragedy

HENRIETTA COOK 1:27pm The Victorian government has not ruled out electronic tracking devices to monitor people with intervention orders against them.

Electronic tracking bracelet plan in wake of Luke Batty tragedy

HENRIETTA COOK 1:27pm The Victorian government has not ruled out electronic tracking devices to monitor people with intervention orders against them.

Thousands of Victorians blacked out as pole fires ignite, lines fall

CAROLINE ZIELINSKI 11:12am Most Victorians cut from power supply at the weekend have been put back on the grid after a mass power outage saw about 90,000 homes and businesses left without electricity across the state.

Boy stabbed at Broadmeadows train station

CAROLINE ZIELINSKI 8:05am A 14-year-old boy has been stabbed in a brazen daylight attack at a busy train station in Melbourne's north.

Woman injured as car flips on Williams Road, South Yarra

CAROLINE ZIELINSKI 7:29am A teenage driver has been injured after her car flipped onto its roof during a horrific smash in Melbourne's inner south-east, trapping her inside.