With so much happening in Canberra on Thursday, we've got a lot of news to share today. Penalty rate cuts, new smoking laws, and some stranger stories.

But first, the weather; it's still warm with a high of 32 degrees expected today. There's a 40 per cent chance of some showers and also a chance we could get a thunderstorm in the afternoon or evening.

It's cooling down over the weekend to tops of 24 and 23 for Saturday and Sunday. There's a 60 per cent chance of a shower on Saturday, and a 40 per cent chance the next day.

Now to today's headlines:

The news on Thursday that Sunday penalty rates would be cut displeased a lot of workers.

The Fair Work Commission announced most Sunday penalty rates paid in retail, fast food, hospitality and pharmacy industries would be cut from July, and some would be phased in over time.

In Canberra, more than 26,000 workers in the ACT will be affected. Some spoke of the impact it would have on them - for example, University of Canberra student Jessica O'Neill said it could force her to pick up another shift at her hospitality job to make ends meet.

Finbar O'Mallon reports.

A court heard on Thursday that four teenagers accused of extorting men they met through the gay hook-up app Grindr threatened to "out" their targets as paedophiles if they didn't hand over cash and mobile phones.

Police launched an investigation into the alleged blackmail scam in January after reports to the AIDS Action Council that men in Canberra had been targeted.

The teens, who are aged between 15 and 18, returned to the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday and have not yet entered pleas.

Megan Gorrey and Alexandra Back with this report.

If you're a smoker and light up while waiting for your bus in Canberra, things could be about to change.

The ACT government will begin consultation on Friday on whether smoking at bus stops, taxi ranks, train stations and future light rail stops should be banned. At the moment, the ACT is the only jurisdiction that has not outlawed smoking at bus stops.

Smoking would be restricted within five metres of both public and privately-owned public transport waiting areas if the proposed changes went ahead.

Read more of Katie Burgess' story here.

Transport and health minister Meegan Fitzharris said that in a bid to improve productivity, the ACT government's procurement processes will be reformed.

At the National Press Club on Thursday, she said the new procurement process would be a bit like Access Canberra at the front end.

The total goods and services the ACT government procures from Canberra businesses is in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year, Ms Fitzharris says.

The government's thinking is that the more efficiently it procures these, the more work it can get out to Canberra businesses.

Katie Burgess with this report.

The Breitbart news website was, until recently, led by Donald Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon. It's a far-right news and commentary publication closely linked to the White House.

Defence Jobs Australia advertised there - until recently. After a woman complained the site promoted racism, sexism and homophobia, Defence Jobs Australia has withdrawn its ads from Breitbart News and put the site on a blacklist.

Michael Inman and Markus Mannheim have the story.