text: Lismore police Inspector Matt Kehoe said police, paramedics and NSW Fire and Rescue were called to Casino's Glen Villa Resort in Johnston St about 11.20 am after reports of an explosion.
  Insp Kehoe said while paramedics treated the man at the scene, the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter took him to hospital.
  The area was preserved with the assistance of NSW Fire and Rescue and paramedics for further investigation.
  The man was airlifted by the rescue helicopter in a critical condition, Insp Kehoe said, to the Brisbane hospital's burns unit.
  "Do be careful and wherever possible don't use gas bottles in confined spaces because this sort of accident can happen."
  Anyone with any information about the explosion is urged to call Casino police on 6662 0099 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
  
  The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference comes off of an excellent season in which it produced a top-shelf champ — North Carolina Central — and a successful relocation of the conference tournament, to Norfolk. N.C. Central advanced to the NCAA tournament just three years after moving up from Division II. The Eagles rewarded coach LeVelle Moton with a new contract, and they will challenge for the title again. The league's current power base appears to swing from Durham, N.C., through Hampton Roads and north to Baltimore.
  REPEAT. It's not often that a championship team loses a conference Player of the Year and an able point guard, and still gets picked to win the league. But Moton has holdovers from last year's 28-6 team and several key transfers. POY Jeremy Ingram and point guard Emmanuel Parks are gone, but Jamal Ferguson (Marquette), Nimrod Hilliard (Lamar) and JC transfer Rashaun Madison should man the backcourt. Forwards Jordan Parks (10.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg), Jay Copeland (7.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Karamo Jawara (7.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg) are veterans. The frontcourt will be supplemented by transfers Enoch Hood (JMU), 6-11 Nate Maxey (Texas A&M-CC) and JC Jeremiah Ingram.
  NEW COACHES. Sidelines will look a little different this season, with four new head coaches. Notably, Coppin State will be without MEAC institution Ron "Fang" Mitchell for the first time in 30 years. Michael Grant brings his up-tempo style from D-II Stillman College. Maryland Eastern Shore replaced Frankie Allen with Bobby Collins, who had a successful run at Winston-Salem State and was the former head coach at Hampton U. Another former HU head coach, Byron Samuels, has a major rebuilding job at Florida A&M, with no returning starters and a postseason ban due to poor APR scores. Keith Walker took over at Delaware State late last season, and had the interim label removed from his title.
  BACKCOURTS. A lot of terrific guard matchups throughout the conference. Start at Howard, where sophomore James Daniel (Phoebus High) was named preseason Player of the Year after he led the MEAC in scoring as a freshman (21 ppg) and was runaway Rookie of the Year. Hampton's tandem of Deron Powers and Brian Darden was named to the league's 15-man preseason all-conference team, as was Norfolk State point guard Jamel Fuentes. Coppin's Taariq Cephas (9.4 ppg, 4.1 apg) averaged 11.3 ppg last year and was preseason first-team. Bethune-Cookman's Mikel Trapp (11.3 ppg) made 73 3-pointers last season. Morgan State's Blake Bozeman, son of coach Todd Bozeman, is a veteran leader. Del State's Kendal Williams averaged 8.2 ppg and led the Hornets with 84 assists.
  MARQUEE GAMES. MEAC teams always dot the schedules of power conference teams looking for home games and willing to pay for them. Savannah State has a daunting non-conference schedule that includes Louisville, and in December, Indiana, Miami, Kansas State, Tulane and LSU. Coppin State has games against Notre Dame, Michigan, Illinois and Oregon. Hampton U. has Syracuse, Iowa and Illinois, though the first two are part of the 2K Classic. N.C. Central faces North Carolina, Maryland and Cincinnati. Norfolk State has games against Virginia, Vanderbilt and Baylor. UMES gets Villanova and VCU.
  ACROSS THE WATER. Norfolk State will be guard- and wing-heavy, starting with Fuentes (6 ppg, 4.8 apg) and transfers Jeff Short (Fordham) and D'Shon Taylor (Garden City CC), all of whom stand at least 6-4. Six-nine F RaShid Gaston nursed a leg injury last season, but still averaged 8.4 ppg and 6.5 rpg. The graduation of 7-footer Brandon Goode left the Spartans without an experienced post player. NSU lost 64 percent of its rebounding due to injury or graduation, which means rebounding will require a collective effort.