Melbourne Express: Friday, July 21, 2017

That's all for the blog today. 

Have a great weekend! 

As for the Mystery Melbourne, it was taken at the Cranbourne Botanic Gardens. 

A man who was driving around in a car containing weapons has been intercepted in a McDonalds drive thru. 

Police had spotted a sword sticking out of the boot of the 27-year-old man's vehicle and pounced as he was waiting in line at the Maccas in Skye just before 4am this morning. 

They seized a number of items from the car, including the sword and a tomahawk. 

The Pearcedale man is expected to be charged on summons with weapons offences, while his passenger, a 17-year-old Oakleigh South girl, was also arrested in relation to outstanding warrants.

I asked Victoria Police if police had noticed the weapons earlier and tailed the vehicle to the Maccas, or if the officers who made the arrest had just happened to be waiting in line for some McNuggets when they noticed the sword... but unfortunately they did not have that detail handy. 

I've been getting a few emails this morning on the subject of whether trains are too cold (see 7.22am post) 

Here's a response from a Metro Trains spokesman: 

"All our trains have heating/cooling units designed to keep the temperature at 22 degrees," he said. 

"These units can't be altered on a day by day basis and are not controlled by our drivers. There will be variations in temperature due to factors including where a passenger is sitting, how full the carriage is and the time of day."

"We do encourage our passengers to notify us if they believe the heating/cooling unit is not working, noting the service time and carriage number located above the Passenger Emergency Intercom in each carriage, by speaking with our staff or contacting the PTV Customer Feedback line on 1800 800 007."

Meanwhile, reader Kevin has this to say: "What a pack of wimps we've become! Back in the 'good old days', we travelled in Red Rattlers and W class trams." 

The lead singer of Linkin Park, Chester Bennington, has died. He was 41. 

Check out the full story

Another breakdown in a tunnel/bridge that was quickly cleared (see posts below on a breakdown on the EJ Whitten Bridge). 

At 7.31am, VicRoads sent out an alert on a vehicle breakdown in the Domain Tunnel, causing a lane to be closed. 

At 7.36am, VicRoads sent out an alert that the disruption had been cleared. 

Whoever responds to broken down cars is on the ball this morning. 

The 7:54 Sandringham to Flinders Street train has been cancelled.

The 7:58am Blackburn to Flinders Street train has also been cancelled. 

And... all lanes are open on the EJ Whitten Bridge. That didn't take long to clear. (see post below) 

There has been a vehicle breakdown eastbound on the EJ Whitten Bridge in Keilor East, VicRoads reports.

The left lane is closed and traffic is heavy on the approach.

The 7:58am Blackburn to Flinders Street train has been cancelled, Metro reports.

A couple of people in The Age's morning team have been saying the heating is not turned up high enough on morning trains.  

One colleague says he shivers all the way into work on the Frankston line, while another wears her puffer jacket on the train in from Belgrave.

Klaus I says we can add the Pakenham line to this list. "Heating doesn't work well on the old trains," he writes. 

And Emma says trams are just as bad: "The Number 70 trams are always freezing," she writes. "Do they even have heating/aircon? They are ancient and way, way too small for their loads these days."

What do you think? 

22-year-old disability advocate Jordan Steele-John has decided to take up the Green's Senate seat left vacant by Scott Ludlam.

In an exclusive interview with Fairfax political reporter Adam Gartrell, Mr Steele-John said he has the full support of Richard Di Natale and his parliamentary team.

The first question Adam asked him was: "Are you an Australian citizen?" 

"I am confident of that, yes," was the reply. 

Check out the full story

And below is a neat Matt Davidson livedraw of the party's recent troubles.

We have an update on that Rowville service station ram-raid overnight:

The hungry thieves who drove a vehicle into the Stud Road United stole just six chocolate bars and two bottles of coke.

As noted by 3AW's Pat Mitchell, that's an awful lot of effort to go to for just a snack.

He said it was the second time the service station had been ram-raided in the past two months. 

Some lighters were stolen the last time it was raided, he said. 

There are some good stories on the front page of The Age today: 

The front page of The Age, July 21, 2017. Photo: Craig Butt

• The developers who illegally demolished Carlton's historic Corkman Irish Pub (and then promised to rebuild it) are suing Planning Minister Richard Wynne in a bid to allow high-rise construction on their site.
• A Church of Scientology group has been targeting Victorian schools with propaganda about the dangers of psychiatrists, antidepressants and ADHD medication. 
• The man seen walking armed through Bourke Street mall in the wake of the tragic killings will face court on more than 130 charges. 

An unattended United Petrol station in Rowville has been ram-raided by hungry thieves overnight.

Workers arrived at 5am to find the doors of the Stud Road business had been smashed in. Radio station 3AW reports the thieves entered the store and stole mostly food.

It's believed to be the second ram-raid at the business in two months and comes just days after a a ram-raid spree in nearby Wheelers Hill on Tuesday where a jewellery store, supermarket and primary school were targeted.
 

The chief executives of Seven, Nine and Ten want to be freed of their obligation to produce at least 132 hours of kid's TV each year, Karl Quinn reports. 

One claimed they are "spending millions to make programs that are watched by thousands".

"It's clear that children are not watching the C [children's] and P [pre-school] content that is designed for them on commercial television," said Seven's Tim Worner.

"We're spending millions of dollars on children's content for just a few thousand viewers. Some of the audiences are down to an average of 6000."

If they brought back A*mazing, there's no way that show would get an audience of just 6000 people. 

Check out the full story

It's about four degrees outside at the moment, but some of The Age's morning team reckon it would be even colder if you're sitting in a train carriage right now. 

One colleague says he shivers all the way into work on the Frankston line, while another wears her puffer jacket on the train in from Belgrave.

Are you also freezing on the train this morning? Tell us what line you travel on and what time. Click this link to send me an email or use the form below:

A teenage boy has been charged after two children were pricked by a concealed syringe at a Coles supermarket in Broadmeadows on Thursday.

The 14-year-old Coburg boy was arrested in Warburton on Thursday night, and has been charged with two counts of recklessly causing injury.

The boy has been bailed to appear at a Children's Court in September.

It's not official yet, but it looks like yesterday had the coldest maximum temperature of any day this year. 

It reached a top of just 10.6 degrees at 3.30pm. 

The reason why it's not official yet is that weather bureau measures temperatures from 9am each day, so if it gets warmer than 10.6 in the next three hours then it will no longer be the day with the coldest maximum temperature, even though the warm bit was recorded on a Friday. 

Anyway, let's take a look at what today has in store: 

It won't be as chilly today, but it's certainly a cold morning. It's about four degrees outside a the moment. 

As for the extended forecast: 

Victoria Police spokeswoman Natalie Webster says Victoria Police carried out an "arrestathon" last night. 

Among the arrests were: 

• A 21-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy, both from Heidelberg West, for a string of armed robberies in the northern suburbs. 
• Two 17-year-old boys and two 14-year-old boys, following an aggravated burglary in Melton West just after midnight.
• A 14-year-old Coburg boy, over a case in which children were pricked with syringe at a Broadmeadows supermarket. 

Police are also looking to speak to several female teenagers over a robbery in Dandenong last month, in which a 13-year-old girl has been charged. 

Clearly younger people are quite over-represented in this morning's crime news. 

Happy Friday and welcome to the Melbourne Express blog. 

I'll be keeping track of the morning's developments until 9am. Send me an email or a tweet if anything crops up, or if you have anything to share. 

To kick off the morning, can you guess today's Mystery Melbourne? This one is a bit hard so here's a hint straight off the bat - the word 'Botanic' should be in there somewhere.