The generous donation came from the Robertson Trust who will work closely with Scotland’s foremost alcohol charity on the new project. The project will work with local people and organisations to identify how alcohol misuse affects the community and how to best have a real and positive impact on local alcohol issues.

A family are celebrating after winning their fight to get their disabled son’s overnight care reinstated. Glasgow MSP Paul Martin pushed for talks with health and social work bosses after the Evening Times highlighted the plight of Marie and Thomas Adams from the city’s East End.

The extent of Edinburgh’s homelessness crisis was laid bare today as it emerged 700 people are begging for help every week.

A carer faces jail after downloading child porn images at his workplace. David Yates, 33, of Blantyre, Lanarkshire, was a support worker at the Richmond Fellowship care centre in Rutherglen,

A council has moved to end a disabled access row which ended up going before the Scottish Executive at one stage.

A prison which was once “notorious” for violence has been praised by inspectors for its improvements. Shotts Prison is “unrecognisable” from the institution where less than two decades ago clashes between staff and inmates were common, a report has said.

An elderly woman died yesterday and two other people are seriously ill from E-coli poisoning in cases linked to eating cold meat.

Families of children with a rare disease were devastated yesterday after a drug commonly available in England was rejected for use on the NHS in Scotland.

Most young ethnic minority people in Scotland see the police as racist, according to the first independent study of their attitudes to law and order.

A care worker who saved an elderly couple from a fire could be honoured for her “exceptional bravery”. Gayle Stevenson led the pair to safety from their burning home after their chip pan went up in flames in Larbert on Thursday.

{mosimage}She and the pensioners, who were both in their 80s, needed hospital treatment for the effects of breathing smoke.

The 26-year-old has now been recommended for a civic award from Falkirk Council.

Ms Stevenson told the BBC Scotland news website she had been visiting a client when she noticed thick, black smoke coming from a house in Waverley Terrace at about 2100 BST.

She managed to persuade the couple to leave the house, but the man went back into the burning kitchen.

Ms Stevenson said: “I didn’t think about it. I just wanted to get the man out. The smoke was so thick from the ceiling to my shins, I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. I crawled back in on my hands and knees and brought him out.”

Ms Stevenson then flagged down a passing fire engine, which had been dealing with another incident.

Kenneth Taylor, from Central Scotland Fire and Rescue, praised Ms Stevenson for rescuing the couple, who did not have a smoke alarm fitted in their home.