Four cases of swine flu were confirmed in Comet country. NHS East and North Hertfordshire reported that a family of three in Stevenage had tested positive for the H1N1 virus, having recently travelled back to the UK from a country affected by swine flu. A

Four cases of swine flu were confirmed in Comet country. NHS East and North Hertfordshire reported that a family of three in Stevenage had tested positive for the H1N1 virus, having recently travelled back to the UK from a country affected by swine flu.

And it was confirmed that a young person in North Herts had also contracted swine flu, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Herts to seven.

The wheels came off a business in Letchworth GC when the popular Super Karts track suddenly closed without warning, leaving some people angry.

One mother complained to the Comet about having a party for her son's 13th birthday ruined when they turned up at the venue in Pixmore Avenue to find the premises locked up

She said: "There were three other parties booked on the same night as ours which also never happened and they seemed booked up some time in advance, so there must be a lot of people that have paid and lost money."

A car park firm had continued to charge fees and issue fines at a town centre car park despite its contractors going bust six months previously.

The administrators of the failed Woolworths group said Euro Car Parks no longer had a contract to operate on the site of the now empty store.

A director of ECP said he was not aware that parking attendants were still enforcing the regulations - but acknowledged that the company still had a working ticket machine and enforcement signs across the car park. It ceased operations on the site the day before the Comet was published.

The beginning of the end of Letchworth Garden City Council was signalled by a landslide election victory for the campaign group set up to abolish the body.

Help Eliminate Letchworth Parish Council candidates won 22 of the 24 council seats up for grabs on an election pledge to scrap the town council as soon as possible. One of their first planned moves was to abolish the position of mayor.

A team of trouble-spotting street rangers took up their patrol duties in Hitchin as the town's new trading partnership began to roll out its big ideas to improve the shopping environment.

Hitchin Initiative manager Keith Hoskins said: "It's about providing a welcoming, safe and secure environment for businesses, their staff and their customers."

The sun shone down on the thousands of people who turned out for what may have been the last ever Stevenage Day.

John Wells, organiser of the 50th annual event, said: "It's probably the best day we have had." But he said it had been a struggle to raise the �30,000 needed to stage it, adding that there was a question mark over whether t would go ahead next year.

All MPs' expenses claims were published online, revealing that Comet country MPs had claimed a collective �746,218 for the year 2007/2008.

Stevenage MP Barbara Follett said that, after considering letters and feedback from her constituents, she had decided to pay back �32,976 in expenses money claimed. A big chunk of this was for security patrols around her London home.

She pointed out: "The (parliamentary) fees office did not ask me to do this, nor did they feel it was necessary for me to do this."

Mid Beds MP Nadine Dorries said her home had been targeted by vandals in what appeared to be an attack provoked by her expenses claims, and her daughter had fled the country amidst the expenses scandal.

Hitchin MP Peter Lilley claimed the joint highest second home allowance in the Commons - a total of �23,083 - as well as spending taxpayers' money on an inspirational audio book called Speeches That Changed The World.Ho