In today's Gazette: Equity Insurance Group is to axe 100 jobs at its Colchester office.

The firm says it will minimise redundancies by offering transfers to its bases in Brentwood and Swansea.

* The daughter of a woman killed by a convicted murderer says her mother would still be alive today if Essex Police had done their job properly.

Maria Stubbings, 50, was murdered by Marc Chivers at her home in Chelmsford ni 2008.

An Independent Police Complaints Commission report published today found Essex Police had missed several chances to protect Ms Stubbings.

* Hundreds of chickens were killed when a shed caught fire at a poultry farm.

The blaze broke out in one of the six industrial coups at Elmwood Farm in Tolleshunt Knights. Workers saved as many chickens as they could but about 300 died.

* The National Grid has been criticised for installing a series of 9ft tall posts in Constable Country.

The poles, marking high pressure gas pipelines, are designed to be seen from helicopters monitoring the network.

For more on these and other great stories, see today's Gazette. There is always more in the paper than there is online.