Good morning, Canberra! Welcome to a frosty Wednesday. It's chilly out there at the moment (expected to hit lows of minus 4), but it will warm up to a sunny 15 degrees by the afternoon.
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So rug up, grab a hot beverage and check out today's headlines.
The idea that could help save millions
An idea that started with a beer at an Australian National University bar could soon help doctors save millions of lives.
A team of researchers and biochemists at the university has invented and trialled a bio-optics diagnostic device that can help doctors identify patients at imminent risk of having a heart attack or stroke.
The device reveals the formation of blood clots by creating a 3D digital hologram from a blood sample in a fraction of a second.
Read Blake Foden's story on their remarkable journey here.
Government knocked back rates reform
The Barr government quashed another proposal to shift the base for general rates away from average unimproved land value, after it baulked at the cost of calculating the charge on the market value of a property.
As rates notices land in letterboxes, the ACT Greens released a discussion paper that called for the territory to move from average unimproved land value (AUV) to market value as the basis for general rates.
Rates are increasing this year by an average of 7 per cent for houses and 10 per cent for units, as the territory government gets rid of stamp duty in favour of land-based taxation, which is widely considered to be more efficient.
Katie Burgess has more details here.
Canberra butchers bring home the bacon
Turns out we have some of the best bacon in the country on our doorstep.
Wes Dempsey, from Elite Meats, Holt, and Cameron Fenson, from Meatways Butchery, Kambah, have placed third nationally at Australian Pork's national awards, in the short cut and full rasher categories respectively.
In 2017, Richard Odell, from Griffith Butchery won the overall national award and Pialligo Estate Smokehouse won overall in 2014 and 2015.
Karen Hardy spoke to the award winners for the story here.
Alternative electorate name knocked back
Two members of the Australian Electoral Commission's augmented committee argued in favour of naming the ACT's newest federal electorate after Aboriginal reconciliation activist Ngingali Cullen over war historian Charles Bean, a new report shows.
The final 77-page report from the Commission on the redistribution of the ACT's electoral boundaries in order to introduce a third seat shows two members of the committee argued naming the new electorate after Bean didn't fit with previous decisions.
It was previously only known that four members of the committee had voted in favour of retaining Bean and two had voted against it. The report shows the two wanted the name Cullen instead, believing it would balance out the names in the federal electorates of the ACT.
Sally Whyte has more details on the naming here.
Raiders to negotiate stadium deal
The Canberra Raiders will meet with ACT government officials in the coming weeks in the hope of securing flexibility to their stadium contract after shifting a home NRL fixture to Wagga for the next two years.
The Raiders have a deal with the government to play every home match at Canberra Stadium until the end of 2019 and it's understood changing or breaking the arrangement could incur a fine if the parties cannot agree.
The Raiders will play one game in Wagga in 2019 and 2020 as part of an agreement with the NSW government, but they would need to negotiate a one-game reduction for the 2019 season to ensure it goes ahead.
Caden Helmers has more here.
Today's cartoon
