A woman has faced court accused of stealing a portion of her son's compensation payout from the Dreamworld ride tragedy.

Michelle Hanson and her son Tom, who was 16 at the time, were in the raft behind the ill-fated one that flipped in 2016, killing four people.

Tom was one of the first people to attempt to help Kate Goodchild, Luke Dorsett, Roozbeh Araghi and Cindy Low.

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A compensation claim launched by Ms Hanson on Tom's behalf for psychological trauma paid out $179,000.

It is claimed she kept more than $149,000 and only gave her son $30,000.

Because she was on the ride herself, Ms Hanson also launched a compensation claim which was successful, although it is unknown how much it paid.

West Australian police became involved when Tom approached them about the money last year.

Ms Hanson did not enter a plea and will face court again in July.

Her lawyer has indicated she will fight the charge.

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A Chicago cat may now have eight lives after jumping out of a fifth-floor window yesterday afternoon to escape an apartment fire.

Chicago Fire Department personnel were taking a video of the exterior of the building as firefighters were extinguishing the blaze when a black cat appeared through billowing smoke at a broken window.

The fire-fleeing feline briefly tested the side of the building with its front paws and then jumped.

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Onlookers gasped as the cat fell. But it missed a wall as it hurtled downward and instead landed on all four paws atop the grass, where it bounced once and immediately ran away.

“It went under my car and hid until she felt better after a couple of minutes and came out and tried to scale the wall to get back in,” fire department spokesman Larry Langford said.

https://twitter.com/CFDMedia/status/1392939570380029953

Mr Langford said the cat was not injured, adding he was trying to track down its owner.

No injuries were reported after the fire, which was confined to one apartment.

The cause of the fire hasn't been reported by officials, nor how much damage occurred.

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