THERE’S just one more sleep until Santa arrives in Portlaoise!A festive feast will get underway on Main Street at 6pm for the big Christmas lights switch-on with choirs, carols and even free selfies with Santa himself.

STUDENTS and teachers from Mountmellick got powerful tips on how to conserve electricity, during a Green Schools regional energy workshop.

PEOPLE in Laois are invited to have their say on the development of a new greenway between Portarlington and Monasterevin.

A DONATION of over €6,823. 50 from the Road to Recovery charity event enabled Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise to purchase two vital pieces of equipment this summer.

A NEW book by a Laois author is so good they launched it twice. Preston House in Abbeyleix and The Palace Bar in Dublin were both buzzing with banter and lilting with laughter, at the loquacious launches of poetry collection ‘Stoked’.

LAOIS Co Council has issued a cold weather alert, as temperatures plunge across the county. A Met Éireann Status Yellow Low Temperature/Ice warning is in place for Laois from 11pm tonight (Thursday) until 8am tomorrow morning.

Forest Fest has unveiled the first ten acts set to perform at the 2026 festival, which will return to Emo village from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 July.

A LAOIS father and son have been sentenced for assaulting three people while the son’s stillborn child was being waked at their home.

A TRAMPOLINE was among the items dumped and set ablaze in a laneway near a Portlaoise housing estate. Flames came very close to some fences and there could have been a serious incident had winds been strong, according to a local councillor.

Margaret Galvin (née Greene), Lixnaw Village West, Lixnaw, Kerry and formerly Ballyadams, Laois passed away peacefully on 19 November, under the wonderful care of staff at University Hospital Kerry and surrounded by her loving family.

Laois Heritage Society's monthly talk takes place tomorrow night, Thursday 20 November, at 8pm in the Midland Park Hotel.

THE town of Mountmellick came out in force for the launch of the Town Centre First Plan, marking a memorable evening for the entire community.

IT’S always 5. 45pm in Portlaoise, at least if you’re in Market Square. The landmark clock on the square’s busy roundabout has been stuck at 5. 45pm since the end of summer.

A woman passenger was screaming at him to stop because she feared that they would all be killed

LAOIS Hospice Foundation supporting patients with cancer and other life limiting illnesses at home, is delighted to announce the presentation of new syringe pumps to the Laois Palliative Care Team.

A DRUNKEN barefooted man, walking out in front of traffic and being aggressive towards gardaí, was given a six-month custodial sentence at Portlaoise District Court last week.

FIVE Laois schools will receive grants for climate action works as part of a funding scheme announced today. Three primary schools and two secondary schools in the county will receive the grants, under the Climate Action Summer Works Scheme.

A CARLOW man was on temporary release from prison when he called to his friend’s mother’s home and threatened that he would chop her up if she didn’t pay an alleged drug debt.

A FAMILY got the fright of their lives when three masked men broke in through their front door on Saturday night. The door of their rural home wasn’t locked and the men entered at around 7. 45pm, disturbing the occupants.

HISTORY was made on a memorable night in Mountmellick, when an amazing paralympian became the first amputee to pull a Tug of War team in Ireland.