Victoria's election-year state budget has been handed down by Treasurer Tim Pallas today and the health sector has come out on top.

Debt and deficit are better than expected, with debt $7.8 million less than previously forecast, according to the State Budget.

Treasurer Tim Pallas described his 2022-23 Budget as a "budget for every Victorian".

READ MORE: Health centrepiece of Victoria budget as hospital system receives huge cash injection

Budget papers also confirmed multiple blowouts to key projects, including:

• A $121.5 million blowout on the Suburban Parks Program
• A $503 million blowout for the Footscray Hospital
• A $512.8 million blowout for the Frankston Hospital upgrade
• A $317.2 million blowout for Stage 2 of the City Loop Safety upgrade
• A $106.2 million on Metro Tunnel due to COVID payments

Here are some of the winners and losers from the Victorian Budget.

WINNERS

Hospitals and health services – metro 

Hospital infrastructure is one of the major winners, with more than $2.9 billion allocated to build new hospitals and upgrade existing ones.

The new Melton Hospital will receive more than $900 million which will include 24-hour emergency department, more than 100 medical and surgical beds, an intensive care unit, as well as maternity and neonatal services. 

Werribee Mercy Hospital and Casey Hospital will see their emergency department doubled under an $236 million investment.  

Up to 7000 new healthcare workers will be hired and trained up, including 5000 nurses to help ease the pressure on the system. 

Hospitals and health services – regional 

Regional health projects will be funded through a $300 million boost to the Regional Health Infrastructure Fund. 

More than $500 million will be allocated to deliver the Barwon Women's and Children's Hospital. 

Regional and rural local public health units across the state will also share in a statewide investment of $40 million. 

Mental health services 

A record $372 million will be invested in workforce initiatives which will see more than 1500 mental health workers hired. 

More than $490 million will be allocated in acute, hospital-based care. This will open an extra 82 mental health beds at the Northern Hospital and Sunshine Hospital. 

15 more acute beds will be opened in Shepparton and land will be acquired for a further 49 beds in Ballarat and Wangaratta under an $196 million investment.

Emergency services and ambulance response 

The budget will invest more than $333 million to add nearly 400 new staff to increase Triple Zero call taking and dispatch capacity for Triple Zero services and training more operators to allocate calls across the state. 

The funding is expected to address the immediate COVID-19 related demand throughout the pandemic. 

A $124 million investment will respond to increased demand, including hiring more paramedics – which will see another 90 paramedics hit the road.

Nearly $36.2 million will be put into the state's control centre, while VICSES will receive $28.5 million to maintain their facilities and upgrade vehicles to help assist in emergencies. 

More than $16 million will be invested to build female-friendly changing facilities at three campuses and upgrades to 40 CFA stations across the state. 

Schools and education 

Under the budget, $1.6 billion will help build new schools and improve the existing ones. 

Under this, $581.5 million will be invested to build 13 new schools, which will open in 2024. 

A $326 million will deliver upgrades for 36 special schools. 

Weekly face-to-face teaching hours will be reduced by one hour in 2023, then a further half-hour in 2024 for each teacher. 

Everyday Victorians

Earlier this week, it was announced that the budget would include a $250 payment for every household that seeks out a better power deal, along with measures to ease cost of living pressures and billions of dollars for health service.

The rebate will be available from July 1, is designed to encourage people to find a cheaper deal online or by phone and is expected to cost $250 million.

Commonwealth Games

The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be backed by $2.6 billion of investment in this year's budget. 

As expected, four regional hubs will benefit from the spend, with new sporting and transport infrastructure to roll out as part of the event.

Women and domestic violence services 

Refuge and crisis accommodation for victim survivors will expand, with a 69.1 million boost to two refuges, six new crisis accommodation properties and support for three organisations.

Funding of $18.9 million over three years will support Respect Victoria – alongside funding for new community-based consent education to prevent sexual violence.

Others 

The budget will provide $55.6 million to implement recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence. 

An $11.3 million investment will help implement the government's sex work decriminalisation laws. 

Hospitality and diners

Previously announced in March, the budget will invest $245.6 million to create fairer conditions for workers, including the Sick Pay Guarantee pilot scheme for eligible casual and contract workers. 

Roads and infrastructure

The budget will see $213 million allocated for a 1.6 kilometre road upgrade to improve travel on Mickleham Road in Greenvale. 

The improvements will include upgraded intersections, new traffic lights and new paths for pedestrians and cyclists. 

An additional $226.7 million will go towards high-priority and intersection upgrade projects at locations across the state including the Bass Highway in Kilcunda. 

A further investment includes 12 brand new VLocity Trains for the regional rail network.

Losers

Police services

There will be an additional 502 police and 50 protective service officers over the next two years as part of an investment of $342 million. 

Two new police stations will also be built in Point Cook and South Melbourne. 

However, the Police Association has previously called for 1500 more officers to be introduced.

Melbourne's outer-northern suburbs

There was no funding to help build a freight terminal which could create up to 20,000 jobs at Beveridge, as was sought by the Commonwealth.

However, the government committed funding to Mickleham Road.

Regional schools

There will be $581.5 million for the construction of 13 new schools.

However all schools announced are situated in the outer suburbs of metropolitan Melbourne.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has urged Speaker Trevor Mallard to talk to other political parties about trespass orders to former MPs after former deputy PM Winston Peters was issued with a two-year ban from Parliament. As a result,…

A couple in the US has been left shaken after a black bear charged at them in an attack that was caught on camera and has quickly gone viral.

The incident happened on Tuesday (local time) in the city of Apopka in Central Florida.

Jason and Rachel Smith told local media they were taking their small dachshund for a walk when the bear began charging at them.

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The doorbell video shows the couple barreling back inside, followed by their tiny dog, who turns back for a last bark at the bear before being called inside.

Seeing bears around the neighbourhood isn't uncommon for the couple.

"We're used to living with the bears. We see them fairly often," Mr Smith said.

But being charged at and then chased by one is.

"It was horrifying," Mr Smith said.

Security video from in front of the couple's home caught the two of them running for their lives.

Their dog Prince ran behind them.

"The dog was already nervous about something," Mr Smith said.

"My wife came back in. She said there might be something out there, you know, so being curious, we go back out slowly, look everywhere.

"We don't see anything. I go a little further out, don't see anything.

"Looking all around, I said alright well let's go ahead and come out and let the dog out."

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The couple says that's when the bear came out from behind their neighbour's car, which was about nine metres and charged at them.

"My first gut reaction was I need to grab the dog, but then I'm like I need to start yelling, trying to wave my arms around and make myself as big and scary as possible, but I only had a second," Mr Smith said.

"He was covering that (about nine metres) very quickly and it was just time to run."

"He was getting in my neighbour's trash and I think we disrupted his meal maybe and that's why he charged. I don't know," Ms Smith said.

After posting the video on social media, they received comments about not picking up Prince first.

They say after trying to scare the bear away and making a split-second decision to run, they did make sure Prince was running too.

"If the bear would've grabbed him, I would've been more than happy to put myself in danger and try to save my dog," Ms Smith.

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There have been several incidents with black bears in Central Florida so far this year.

In January, a Daytona Beach man went viral on TikTok when he faced off with a black bear while defending his beloved dachshunds.

Kerry Hickox called 911 and told dispatchers her husband had been attacked by a bear outside their Daytona Beach home around 7:30 pm on Wednesday (local time).

"My husband was just attacked by a bear, who do we get hold of to get this thing removed?" Ms Hickox asked the 911 dispatcher.

"He's got puncture wounds and scratches, but not enough for an ambulance or anything."

Also in January, a woman told WESH 2 she was attacked by a bear while walking her dog in DeBary.

Neighbours helped save the woman, who identified herself as Aydee, from a mother bear protecting her three cubs.

She recalled the bear tackling her as she was heading into her house.

"I took off running that way and then she was running behind me. And she grabbed me by my shoulders and, I mean, I fell to the ground," Aydee said.

Aydee suffered scratches on her face, a concussion, and bites and scratches on her lower back that required a trip to the hospital and stitches.

New Zealand is now welcoming tourists from the US, Canada, Britain, Japan and more than 50 other countries for the first time in more than two years after dropping most of its remaining pandemic border restrictions.

The country has long been renowned for its breathtaking scenery and adventure tourism offerings such as bungy jumping and skiing.

Before the spread of COVID-19, more than 3 million tourists visited each year, accounting for 20 per cent of New Zealand’s foreign income and more than 5 per cent of the overall economy.

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But international tourism stopped altogether in early 2020 after New Zealand imposed some of the world's toughest border restrictions.

The border rules remained in place as the government at first pursued an elimination strategy and then tried to tightly control the spread of the virus.

The spread of Omicron and vaccinations of more than 80 per cent of New Zealand's 5 million population prompted the gradual easing of restrictions.

New Zealand reopened to tourists from Australia three weeks ago and yesterday to about 60 visa-waiver countries, including much of Europe.

Most tourists from India, China and other non-waiver countries are still not allowed to enter.

Tourists will need to be vaccinated and to test themselves for the virus before and after arriving.

The border reopening will help boost tourism ahead of New Zealand's upcoming ski season.

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But the real test of how much the tourism industry rebounds will come in December, when the peak summer season begins in the Southern Hemisphere nation.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said more than 90,000 people had booked flights to New Zealand in the seven weeks since the reopening was announced and 21 international flights were scheduled to land Monday in Auckland.

Ms Ardern said there were no immediate plans to ease virus testing and vaccination requirements for tourists.

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The 2022 Met Gala is here and stars have pulled out all the stops to show off the latest theme: Gilded Glamour to celebrate the opening of the 'America: An Anthology of Fashion' exhibition.

The Madeleine McCann mystery is full of big questions. None more important than how does a little girl vanish off the face of the earth, never to be seen again?

Johnny Depp's agent has testified that his ex-wife's 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post describing herself as a victim of domestic abuse was “catastrophic” to his career and coincided with the loss of a US$23 ($32m) million deal for a “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel.

Amber Heard's lawyers pushed back aggressively against the agent's assertion on cross-examination, suggesting that the article was inconsequential amid a stream of bad publicity for Depp brought on by his own bad behaviour.

Depp is suing Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court, saying her article defamed him when she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” The article never mentions Depp by name, but Depp's lawyers say he was defamed nevertheless because it's a clear reference to abuse allegations Heard levied in 2016.

In testimony, agent Jack Whigham said Depp was still able to work after the initial allegations made against him in 2016. He was paid $8 million for “City Of Lies," $10 million for “Murder on the Orient Express” and $13.5 million for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” all of which shot in 2017, albeit under contracts reached prior to the allegations made against him.

But he said The Washington Post piece was uniquely damaging to Depp's career.

“It was a first-person account, extremely impactful,” Whigham said of the op-ed.

After that, he said Depp struggled to get any kind of work. He had to take a pay cut — down to $3 million — to do the independent film “Minimata," and a $22.5 million verbal deal he had with Disney for a sixth “Pirates” film was scuttled, Whigham said.

On cross-examination, though, Heard's lawyers asked whether the “Pirates” deal had already gone south by the time Heard's article was published. Whigham acknowledged he never had a written deal for Depp to appear in a sixth “Pirates" film." And while he said “Pirates” producer Jerry Bruckheimer talked favourably throughout 2018 about Depp coming back to the franchise, Disney executives were noncommittal at best.

By early 2019 — weeks after Heard's op-ed — Whigham said it was clear that Depp's role in any “Pirates” film was scuttled and that producers were instead looking to move ahead with Margot Robbie in a lead role.

Heard's lawyers have cited a variety of factors — including reports of heavy drug and alcohol use, a lawsuit by a crew member in July 2018 who says he was punched on set by Depp, and a separate libel lawsuit Depp filed against a British newspaper in 2018 — as things that damaged Depp's image more than the Post article.

For Depp's Virginia lawsuit to be successful, he not only needs to show that he was falsely accused, but he also needs to show that the op-ed piece — not Heard's abuse allegations in 2016 when she filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order — is what caused the damage.

Depp's lawyers also presented testimony from an intellectual property expert who testified about the negative turn in Depp's reputation. But his own data, showing trend lines from Google searches, showed negative spikes occurring after the 2016 abuse allegations, but negligible or non-existent changes after the Post article.

The trial has now entered its fourth week. Much of the testimony during the first three weeks centered on the volatile relationship between Depp and Heard. Depp says he has never struck Heard. Her lawyers said during the trial's opening statements that she was physically and sexually abused by Depp on multiple occasions.

Heard is expected to testify later this week.

Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a jail official they say helped an inmate awaiting trial on a murder charge to escape from an Alabama jail.

Inmate Casey Cole White, 38, was shackled and handcuffed when he and Vicky White, the facility's assistant director of corrections, left the Lauderdale County Detention Centre in Florence, Alabama, on Friday morning.

They have not been seen since, although the patrol vehicle the pair, who are not related, used when leaving the detention centre was found at a nearby shopping centre parking lot after their absence was discovered.

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Authorities have no idea where they are, although the inmate should be recognisable by his size. He stands 2.06m tall and weighs about 118kg.

Authorities warned anyone seeing the pair should not approach them.

"We consider both of them dangerous and in all probability, both individuals are armed," US Marshal Marty Keely said at a press conference on Monday.

He noted White "will stand out" because of his size even if he has changed his appearance.

Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Monday they had issued an arrest warrant for Ms White on charges of permitting or allowing an escape.

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She violated a policy that required more than one official to be involved in transporting him, according to Sheriff Singleton.

The policy was put in place when White was jailed two years ago and authorities believed he was planning to escape.

"We know she participated, whether she did that willingly or if she was coerced, threatened somehow to participate in the case, not really sure. We know for sure she did participate," Sheriff Singleton said.

Ms White told co-workers she was taking him to the courthouse for a mental health evaluation.

But Sheriff Singleton later said no such evaluation was scheduled. He said video showed the pair left the jail and went straight to that parking lot.

"Casey White, as you've heard me say over and over and over is an extremely dangerous person and we need to get him located and get him off the street," Sheriff Singleton said.

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https://twitter.com/BrittanyHarryTV/status/1520866162313211909

White was already serving a prison sentence for attempted murder and burglary when he disappeared.

He was set to go to trial next month for stabbing a 58-year-old woman to death. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

The US Marshals Service is offering up to $10,000 for information.

The sheriff said police were shocked by the events that transpired.

"This is not the Vicky White we know, by any stretch of the imagination," the sheriff said.

Sheriff Singleton said Ms White had been an exemplary employee and jail employees are "just devastated".

Ms White had planned to retire and that Friday was to be her last day. He said she had sold her home about a month ago and "talked about going to the beach".

The sheriff said officers had no leads at this point on where the two were located.

"If we knew where they were at, we would be there and not here," Sheriff Singleton said.

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