Tune in tomorrow as Mark Rayner takes you out for your working week! If you want to contact him about the Grill shoot him an email to mark.rayner@fairfaxmedia.com.au

In the mean time why don't you check out our websites?

DUBBO | NARROMINE | WELLINGTON | THE RIDGE | NYNGAN | WESTERN MAGAZINE

8.45: Checking out entertainment news today

REALITY TV: An entrepreneur walks down a dimly lit corridor, alone and nervous, with nothing but a business proposal. The large wooden doors open. $1 billion stares back from leather seats. Welcome to Shark Tank, Ten's newest reality TV show where hopeful entrepreneurs ask five Aussie multimillionaires to invest hundreds of thousands, millions even, in their idea. In return, investing sharks get an ownership percentage. After contestants make their pitch, the sharks pick apart every fine detail in a swirl of facts and figures. It's an impressive display of expertise. Contestants who withstand the firing line of questions are made an offer.

TELEVISION: When Troy Quigg finds himself on the wrong side of a dodgy drug deal his world comes crashing down. Within days he, his wife and his two teenage kids are plucked from their Gold Coast surrounds and dropped into witness protection in the heartland of inner west Sydney. With new names and identities, they are completely cut off from the life they once knew and forced to start all over. That's the plotline for the coming ABC thriller Hiding, and the basis of what actor Jimmy Stewart calls his new "hobby."

REALITY TELEVISION: It's easy to forget that when The Block launched 12 years ago, it aired for just one hour each week. Since then, the franchise has become Channel Nine's sacred cash cow. Viewers keep demanding more – and the network, of course, keeps obliging. Which is why, in 2015, there will be up to five versions of the series.

8.36: Is it your birthday today? If so HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We hope you have a fantastic day. 

You share your birthday with Oprah Winfrey, 60, actor Tom Selleck, 69, actress Heather Graham, 44, Home and Away actress, Isabel Lucas, 29, True Blood actor Sam Tramell, 45, 10 Things I Hate About You actor Andrew Keegan, 35 and celebrity Brynne Edelsten. 

Poor Andrew Keegan in 10 Things I Hate About You he was very unlucky in love for some reason...

8.24: Check out what's making sports news around the region

KART CLUB: Dubbo Kart Club is predicting 2015 will be its biggest year yet with a packed calendar of local and national events drawing talented drivers from across Australia. The season gets under way in less than a fortnight with the first round of the Dubbo Championship acting as a warm-up for three massive races in March.

SWIMMING: Dubbo City Swimtech congratulates four of its swimmers who qualified for the NSW State Swimming Championships this season.

RUGBY UNION: Dubbo Rhinos president Ian Burns believes a number of people in Dubbo will miss out on the chance to play rugby this season after admitting it was unlikely the Rhinos will be able to field two men's teams in 2015.

8.15: Here are the Fairfax front pages from around the region. To see all the Fairfax front pages click here.

8.07: Here's a little Thursday humour for you, courtesy of Buzzfeed.

7.58: It's our favourite day of the week here on the Grill. Make sure you have a lid on your coffee cup this morning as we take you into our time portal.

Take your choice in destinations today: 

NARROMINE is going back to January 2010! Check out everything that was happening half a decade ago here.

DUBBO travelled back to January 1983, check out what was making news 32 years ago.

7.52: Looking at today's front page story

Fletcher International Exports has closed its doors for a week in response to industrial action from the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU).

Yesterday afternoon a member of the public posted a photo on Twitter of a Fletchers notice signed by plant manager Adam Isbester.

“Due to industrial action by the AMIEU and Employer action response the abattoir will not operate at all on the following:- Thursday 29th January 2015, Friday 30th January 2015, Monday 2nd February 2015, Tuesday 3rd February 2015, Wednesday 4th February 2015. Work to scheduled re-commence [sic] Thursday 5th February 2015.”

Director Roger Fletcher said the company was always ready to meet with the union but an employee who did not wish to be named said negotiations over a pay rise had been ongoing for two years.

READ MORE HERE

7.40: Making national and international news

HOUSING: Australia has it wrong when it comes to housing policy for an ageing society, a new report has found. The problem stems from a presumption that older Australians are "rattling around" in houses that are too big for them and that downsizing is the only option, it says. Per Capita, a thinktank, has published a new paper called The Head, the Heart and the House, arguing that Australia's housing policy has not kept pace with improved life expectancy and the latest in psychology research. It says many people do not want to leave their homes when they reach a certain age and housing policy needs to reflect that.

PEANUT ALLERGIES: More than 80 per cent of children with peanut allergies were able to tolerate peanuts after being given a new treatment by Melbourne researchers, providing hope for a cure. About 60 children aged one to 10 were randomised to receive the daily treatment or a placebo over 18 months, before their ability to tolerate peanuts was assessed two to five weeks later. Researchers found that more than 80 per cent of children who received the treatment were able to tolerate peanuts at the end of the trial, compared to less than 4 per cent in the placebo group. .

MH370: Malaysia will release an interim report on its investigation into Flight MH370 on March 7, a day before the first anniversary of the jet's mysterious disappearance. However, deputy transport minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi declined to comment on whether the report would contain any revelations on the fate of the Malaysia Airlines jet. MH370 vanished on March 8 of last year with 239 passengers and crew aboard en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in what remains one of history's great aviation mysteries.

STATE POLITICS: Liberal MPs and opposition strategists say Prime Minister Tony Abbott's toxic standing in the electorate could directly cost the Coalition up to six or seven seats at the NSW March state election. Amid a horror start to the political year – typified by his widely ridiculed decision to award Prince Philip a knighthood – Mr Abbott has been kept conspicuously off the campaign trail in Queensland at the insistence of Premier Campbell Newman. According to a poll released on Wednesday night, Mr Newman is on track to lose his own seat, with federal issues like the uproar over knighting a British Royal thought to be a negative factor in his republican-leaning Brisbane electorate of Ashgrove.

RUPERT MURDOCH ON PRINCE PHILLIPS KNIGHTING: Conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch has called on Tony Abbott to show leadership and make the "cruel choice" to sack his controversial chief of staff - and if the Prime Minister won't act, Peta Credlin should resign. Mr Murdoch's intervention is the second since Mr Abbott's decision to honour Prince Philip with an Australian knighthood on Australia Day - a choice that has also prompted serious chatter amongst Liberal MPs about the Mr Abbott's leadership.

We want to know you think

7.30: Check out the news in regional Australia

AVIATION ACCIDENT:  A Balgownie pilot killed in a plane crash on the Illawarra escarpment late Tuesday was communicating with a second pilot who flew in tandem shortly before the accident. Experienced airman Robert Greig set out from Wedderburn Airfield about 7.30pm in a camoflage-coloured "home built-style" light aircraft. He navigated rain and heavy fog and became separated from the second pilot. The men spoke mid-air, but Mr Greig gave no sign he was on fatal course, Wollongong Local Area Commander Supt Kyle Stewart said.

KNIGHTING: Nationals’ MP Michael McCormack has confirmed there are “rumblings” within the government, and some members have reached “tipping point” over Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s leadership. Mr McCormack, who is a parliamentary secretary, publicly criticised the Prime Minister for his decision to make Prince Philip a knight and said it set the government on the “back foot”.

CHILD DEATH:  A man has been charged with the 2004 murder of baby Charlotte Keen at Wodonga. Brett Noel Penrose, 42, who has been living at Doreen, handed himself in to police on Wednesday and was arrested by homicide squad detectives. The Doreen man appeared in the Victorian Supreme Court and was charged with the murder of Charlotte Keen, 11 months, on December 17, 2004. 

CAR ACCIDENT: Tributes have flowed for four men who died when their car became airborne, ploughed into a tree and was cut in two on the Northern Highway on Wednesday. The crash victims have been identified as Chris Reddin, Joshua Taylor, Nick Mongta and Corey Bray. Friends and family have remembered the victims as outgoing young men whose deaths have left many shocked and heartbroken. 

7.15: Taking a look at local news this morning

COURT: One teenager charged after an alleged joyride from Orange to Dubbo has been released on bail but another has been denied bail for a second time. A 16-year-old girl was given her bail orders in Dubbo Children's Court on Tuesday. She had pleaded guilty to driving a stolen car and dishonestly obtaining 31 litres of fuel from a Wellington service station on January 21.

ENTERTAINMENT: Brace yourselves Dubbo, the McClymonts are gearing up to rock out at the Dubbo RSL Club Resort on Saturday, February 7. The three sisters have been on the country music radar for more than eight years, and one third of the trio, Mollie McClymont, said the girls had no plan to slow down any time soon. It has been a while since the sisters toured at Dubbo, but Mollie said they were looking forward to it more than ever.

CRIME: An investigation is underway after a man was stabbed in Coonabarabran. About 12.30am Wednesday, the 37-year-old was walking on Castlereagh Street when he was attacked from behind by an unknown number of people.

ELECTRICITY BILLS: Dubbo residents could face higher electricity bills if they use power during peak times of the day when new tariffs are introduced. Under the changes, which are scheduled to be introduced in NSW in mid-2017, electricity usage would be charged different rates, depending on the time of day and the demand on the network.

PETS: Petbarn Dubbo and RSPCA NSW are encouraging residents to use Valentine's Day as an opportunity to go on a date with a furry friend and potentially save a life. On February 14, Petbarn is hosting a day of pet dates where locals can go on a mini-date with the cuddly animals looking for new homes. The aim of the event is to raise awareness of the importance of pet adoptions.

BANGARA IN DUBBO: Bangara Dance Theatre is on the hunt for Dubbo's young dancing talent. The city is one of four locations in the country chosen to host auditions, along with Adelaide, Brisbane and Mackay. Indigenous youth at Dubbo are being encouraged to reconnect with their heritage through the Rekindling program.

PLAYMATES: Playmates Cottage Childcare Centre will have a new location, new building and all of it will occur before the lease runs out at the centre's current location on the grounds of Dubbo Base Hospital, according to Dubbo MP Troy Grant. Mr Grant reacted angrily to suggestions the state government would look to avoid helping Playmates secure a new location, levelled at him by Playmates management committee chairman Jim Jane and Labor candidate Stephen Lawrence.

SCHOOL: There were big smiles for twins Addison and Zali Lovett, and Harry and Sienna Cavanagh yesterday on their first day of Kindergarten at St Mary's Primary School. Zali and Addison were quick to deny there was anything scary about big school, but Sienna said she had been a little nervous.

7am: Good morning everyone and happy Thursday! Welcome to your Thursday Grill. 

You're with Grace Ryan from Narromine. Anything you want to let me know about please email me grace.ryan@fairfaxmedia.com.au 

DUBBO / TRANGIE / NYNGAN: will all have mostly sunny days. Dubbo will get to 27 and Trangie and Nyngan 28. Dubbo and Trangie will both have windy afternoons with winds expecting to get above 20km/h

COBAR / BOURKE: are both mostly sunny days. Cobar will reach 30 and Bourke will get to 33.