Valdoria and Kestrany will resume talks on 12 November in Port Ellery over the Aune river dams, after a year's deadlock. Each side is sending its water minister. Kestrani farmers blame the dams for sharply lower summer flows; Valdoria says they power two million homes.
From January, 40 Valdorian public bodies will test a four-day week. Roughly 6,000 civil servants will do 32 hours with no pay cut for a year. Quarterly reports will assess service, sick leave and retention. Opposition parties call it costly; unions are supportive but watchful.
Valdoria's annual inflation fell to 2.1% in September from 2.6% in August, the lowest since 2023 and the fifth monthly fall in a row. Household energy prices dropped 4% as new wind farms started up. Economists say a November interest rate cut is now more likely.
Storm Ilsa, the first major storm of the season, should hit Kestrany's coast by Thursday. Forecasters expect winds up to 120 km/h and flooding. Wednesday and Thursday ferries to the Ostra islands are off, and three coastal districts will send pupils home early.
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Harbour FC are into the Valdorian Cup final, their first in 22 years, following a Sunday semi-final victory over Carrow Athletic by two goals to one. Seventeen-year-old substitute Ollie Brannagh scored the 88th-minute winner. They meet holders Ostra United on 9 November.
A new semiconductor plant in Carrow has begun production two years after building started. Run by Lumen Silicon, it makes low-power chips for cars, hearing aids and heart monitors, employs 1,400 people and should reach full output by next summer. It recycles water for 80% of cooling.
The City Gallery is showing sixty works by the Tidewater Circle, painters active in 1890s Port Ellery. Many have not been displayed for a century. Thought lost after private sales, they resurfaced when a family gave away a warehouse of canvases. It runs to March; Sundays are free.
A harbour operator plans to double its container capacity with a 1.2 billion crown expansion. The project would bring four deep-water berths and about 900 lasting jobs. Environmental groups warn that dredging might damage seagrass meadows in the bay.
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A University of Port Ellery survey finds Ellery Bay's seagrass meadows have doubled in area in five years. Volunteers planted over 200,000 shoots from small boats since 2021. The meadows house young fish and hold carbon. Researchers say dredging and anchors remain the main dangers.
Councillors in Port Ellery backed a plan, by 31 votes to 18, for 40 kilometres of kerbed cycle lanes by 2028. They will connect nine districts with the centre and harbour. The 85 million crown bill is largely covered by national funds. Some Merrow Street traders fear losing parking.
Kestrany's Amira Selk won the women's race at the Port Ellery marathon in 2:21:40, taking almost two minutes off a course record set in 2015. About 18,000 runners finished in cool, dry weather.
Astronomers say Comet Vessa can be seen without a telescope this weekend. Look low in the west shortly after sunset on Saturday and Sunday, ideally from somewhere away from city lights.
Port Ellery's transport authority is offering developers free live tracking for 600 buses and 14 ferries. Updated every ten seconds, it includes delays, crowding and accessibility details. Three apps adopted it within a day. The authority says this costs less than building its own features.
Three villages on the Ostra coast have shut their high streets to passing vehicles each weekend this year, hosting markets, children's play and open-air dining. Takings are reportedly up a fifth. Some outlying farmers find deliveries harder. Residents decide in December whether to keep the scheme.