Hunter roads: All Hunter roads are clear this morning.
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Hunter trains: There is a good service on the Hunter line and on the Central Coast and Newcastle line and the Hunter line.
Hunter weather: Sunny day with light winds in Newcastle (26 degrees), Raymond Terrace is in for a sunny day with light winds (26 degrees), sunny day for Maitland with some winds (30 degrees) and a sunny day with light winds in Scone (32 degrees).
Hunter beachwatch: Once again it’ll be partly cloudy with mainly on shore winds so very similar conditions to yesterday. The wind will be east to north-east with the swell from the south-east around 1 to 1.5 metres. Wave conditions will be a touch sloppy but most breaks will be surfable however most the sandbanks are wide with deep gutters close to shore. Around town try Nobbys, Flatrock, Newcastle, The Cliff, Merewether and Dudley. Down south try Hams, Catho and Soldiers. At Port Stephens try Samurai and Birubi. Some heavy edges and a few rips will persist so only swim in the flagged areas. The water temperature is 22 degrees.
► HUNTER man Tim Macpherson, who died earlier this month after he was crushed on a barge at Barangaroo, was working in “Third World conditions”, Labor Senator Doug Cameron says. More here.
► A CATHOLIC Church plan to build a 14-storey residential and commercial block on the site of the old Empire Hotel has been approved by state planning authorities. More here.
► FIRST came the steel bar attack on a man working out at the gym. Second came the glassing at a pub in Honeysuckle. Then came the hail of gunfire. More here.
► WHOLESALE electricity prices have risen by 48 per cent this year in NSW, with a 58 per rise in South Australia and a 72 per cent increase in Queensland, according to figures posted by the Australian Energy Market Operator. More here.
► WITH a snap and a crack, Munmorah Power Station’s twin chimney stacks gracefully fell to the ground – signalling the start of a new era and the sad end of one for others. More here.
► It was an all-Aussie pub rock affair at Roche Estate on Saturday and the bogan mullets were out in force. More here.
► OUT-of-control party laws like those in Queensland and Western Australia will be proposed for NSW, if a plan before Lake Macquarie council wins support on Monday night. More here.
► NEWCASTLE Jets’ slim finals hopes have come to an embarrassing end after they were thrashed 5-0 by an under-strength Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium on Sunday night. More here.
► Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison will write to new Roads Minister Melinda Pavey in a bid to enact “evidence-based thinking” over Testers Hollow. More here.
► A Rutherford student has picked up a national award for her efforts at university. Bree Bailey was named the 2016 Pearson Student of the Year in the art/education category. More here.
► Maitland's car parking crisis appears to have reached breaking point with residents, workers and shoppers struggling to find positions in the city centre. More here.
► Hundreds of chrome V8s rattled and roared through Kurri Kurri’s main street to the delight of thousands for the town’s Nostalgia Festival. More here.
► One of Maitland's oldest yet little known about cemeteries is in desperate need of remediation, even after thousands of dollars in State funding have been allocated in the past for its repair. More here.
► STUDENTS at Toronto Adventist School will participate in the Heart Foundation’s annual Jump Rope For Heart program for the 12th time on Wednesday, April 5. More here.
► A man is under police guard in hospital after a siege in Lake Macquarie overnight. More here.
► Jaguars in bold shades of red, classy silver and British racing green have descended on Port Stephens. More here.
Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered.
Regional News
WOLLONGONG. A 72-year-old British man jailed for repeatedly raping his young daughter in the 1970s while the family was living in the Illawarra has failed to have his 18-year prison sentence reduced on appeal.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, subjected the woman, now in her 50s, to ongoing sexual abuse from the age of 10, even putting her on the contraceptive pill when she was 13 so she didn't fall pregnant. Read more.
MANDURAH: Students from John Tonkin’s unique surf science program enjoyed a weekend on the water for their annual leadership camps, which give year 9’s the opportunity to train year 7’s, and year 10’s the chance to teach year 8’s.
“The older students run the programs, all the individual students, and the younger ones break up into smaller groups, and go round from station to station,” surf science teacher Geoff Hayes said. Read more.
NEWCASTLE: A Catholic Church plan to build a 14-storey residential and commercial block on the site of the old Empire Hotel has been approved by state planning authorities.
The modern-style concrete-and-glass structure is planned with 128 residential units, comprising 68 two-bedroom units, 33 one-bedroom units, 24 “studio” apartments and three three-bedroom units. It has 136 car-parking spaces on the first and second levels, and 700 square metres of retail and commercial space. Read more.
BALLARAT: A man who fought walls of fire and single-handedly saved a family’s life has been awarded one of the nation’s highest honours – a national bravery award.
Alfredton MICA paramedic and volunteer firefighter Brendan Walker drove towards Scotsburn on December 19 to lend his fellow paramedic mate Bruce Rae a small firefighting tank. Read more.
TAMWORTH: Dozens of Nashos, war widows, family and friends gathered at the Marius Street memorial on Saturday afternoon to mark the 66th anniversary of National Service in Australia.
Among them was Tamworth Nasho Jim Jordan, the president of the Oxley Sub Branch of the National Serviceman’s Association, who was conscripted in the early 1950s as an 18-year-old. Read more.
WAGGA WAGGA: The men who produce some of the nation's most popular satirical news by day have launched their own beer and are selling it in Wagga by night.
The Betoota Advocate - which purports to be 'Australia's oldest newspaper' and published in Betoota, an abandoned town in Queensland - has expanded into the beer market and Wagga’s Sportmen's Club Hotel has jumped on board. Read more.
National weather radar
National news
CANBERRA: Nicole Miller is owed more than $6000 in superannuation from her former employer, PR agency Kreab Gavin Anderson.
Miller worked as an office manager at what was one of Australia's top communications operations until it went into voluntary administration on December 23 and now, like millions of other Australians who get underpaid their superannuation every year, fears she may never get her money. Read more.
NSW: Police are imploring drivers to slow down and drive safely after six people died on NSW roads over the weekend.
Among those killed was a three-year-old girl, who was hit by a truck in South Grafton on Sunday morning, the latest victim in a horror 48 hours across NSW.
In a separate crash in Port Botany in Sydney's east on Saturday night, teen sweethearts Giovanni Santoro, 18, and Tamara Jordanoski, 17, died when their car crashed into a power pole and exploded in flames. Read more.
BELANGLO: At least two adults are recovering in hospital after a barbecue exploded in the NSW southern highlands during a large family picnic.
The family was trying to light the barbecue at a picnic area in the Belanglo State Forest about 12.30pm on Sunday when the explosion occurred, injuring three adults and two children, police said. Read more.
NSW: A court has allowed a four-year-old girl to be adopted by a same-sex couple despite her birth parents' opposition on the basis of their Catholic faith.
The girl was taken from her birth mother at four days old due to the mother's long history of drug use and conviction for the manslaughter of her infant son seven years earlier. Read more.
World news
JORDAN: Barely one year into the Syrian war, Abu Eyad made the hardest decision of his life.
With uncanny foresight of the horrors that were yet to unfold, one afternoon in mid-2012 Abu Eyad left his job with the Syrian Ministry of Water and did not come back. That night, together with his wife and three of their children they packed as much of their belongings as they could into suitcases and left Yarmouk camp, just outside Damascus, heading south towards the Jordanian border. Read more.
HONG KONG. Beijing's preferred candidate, Carrie Lam, was selected by an elite group of voters to become the fourth chief executive of Hong Kong on Sunday.
Only 1194 members of the Election Committee cast ballots, under Hong Kong's Basic Law.
They had a choice of just three candidates: Ms Lam, the former chief secretary of Hong Kong, its former financial secretary John Tsang and retired judge Woo Kowk-hing. All had been pre-vetted by Beijing. Read more.
On this day
1966 – Anti Vietnam war demonstrations in US, Europe & Australia
1958 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Premier as well as First Secretary of the Communist Party
1914 – First successful blood transfusion (in Brussels)
1625 – Charles I, King Of England, Scotland & Ireland, ascends English throne
Faces of Australia –
Hamish French –
Fossils from ancient Australia, the skull of a woolly mammoth and stunning gemstones from across the world were all in East Devonport at the weekend.
The Devonport Lapidary Club held its annual Gem and Mineral Fair at the East Devonport School gym. Read more.