Price rise for SMH paper editions. Circulation is falling, the paper will halve in (physical) size next month, but readers of The Sydney Morning Herald will have to pay more for their daily edition. While Fairfax isn’t talking, we hear a cover price rise is on the cards over the next fortnight. The Monday-Friday paper is set to rise 30 cents, we hear, to $2 — the same as Melbourne sibling The Age. The Saturday edition will also apparently jump in price. Stay tuned on how they spin that one.

ASIO is hiring, geeks. Nerdy internet forum Whirlpool was offering plenty of IT jobs at ASIO late last week. As one reader asked: “How many ‘telecommunications interception specialists’ do you think there are in Australia?” Not many, surely. And what happened to all the ASIO geeks to need so many replacements?

Council stonewalls on planning. Who’s the local councillor in a Sydney shire threatening legal action against a constituent for asking too many questions on planning projects? One anonymous insider says the resident sought answers after the councillor presented flawed financial analysis to council:

“Four email requests for information  were sent over a period of about four weeks and no response was received to any of these. A follow-up request for a response was made last week and this was met with an intimidating threat of legal action if any further requests for information were sent. There was nothing harassing or intimidating in any of the email requests sent.”

We’re told locals have regularly experienced frustrations getting the Liberal-controlled council to answer any questions on the local project …

Bankstown business grounded? What’s going on at Bankstown Airport in Sydney? One mole reports management are driving aviation business off the site. We’ll investigate, but what do you know? Drop us a line and let us know …

‘Straya Day roadside cheer. More of those funny signs from roadsides across Australia. One reader spotted this one before dark on a Saturday morning in Adelaide. Seems one rogue figured out how to change what the sign says …

*Heard anything that might interest Crikey? Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au or use our guaranteed anonymous form.