Trains: Passengers travelling towards Sydney on the Central Coast and Newcastle Line should allow additional travel time due to a passenger disturbance and the train requiring mechanical repairs at Hamilton earlier. Passengers are advised to allow plenty of extra travel time, listen to announcements and check station indicator boards. Buses replace trains between Scone and Hamilton.
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Weather: Shower or two in Newcastle, Nelson Bay (both 22 degrees), Raymond Terrace, Wallsend and Toronto (all 23 degrees).
Traffic: No major incidents reported on Hunter roads.
Beachwatch: This bad run of beach weather is set to continue today with onshore winds and the odd shower. The wind will be south to south-east with the swell from the south-east around 1 to 2 metres. Once again wave conditions will be very messy with only the southern corners offering any protection. In the city try Stockton and Nobbys, to the south try Blacksmiths, Catho and Norah Head and at Port Stephens try Fingal and One Mile. Heavy edges and strong rips at the open beaches will see the beach closed signs up and there’ll be lots of bluebottles so be extra careful if you venture in. The water temperature is 21 degrees.
Hunter headlines
A SPLIT-second incident has devastated two families, with a teenage boy having to undergo surgery after he was injured by a dog and the animal’s owners facing the heartbreaking choice of keeping the one-year-old in a cage, or having him destroyed. Read more.
A Port Stephens traffic engineer has called into question federally-funded upgrades to a Salamander Bay intersection, fearing it is only a matter of time before a serious collision occurs. Read more.
A POLICE strike force investigating a series of violent armed robberies and shootings across the Hunter have released vision of two bandits wanted over the hold-up of McDonald’s at Williamtown just over two months ago. Read more.
STAFF and patients can wait an hour or more to leave the John Hunter Hospital, prompting renewed calls for a full interchange to be built as part of the Newcastle Inner City Bypass to relieve congestion. Read more.
IT was a minor collision between a truck and forklift in the yard of a Sandgate transport company that should have ended with an apology and a repair bill. Read more.
THEY didn’t call her Monster for nothing. Read more.
WILLIAMTOWN residents have again pleaded with Defence Minister Marise Payne to stick to her promise and visit the embattled community “to hear our stories first-hand and see how this disaster is affecting us in so many ways”. Read more.
Country cottages to seaside suits, take a look at the houses that have featured online this year. Read more.
Regional news
► BERRY: A girl was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition in the wake of a car crash that claimed the lives of a woman and child at Berry. Full story.
► PORT MACQUARIE: A POLICE strike force investigating a series of violent armed robberies and shootings across the Hunter have released vision of two bandits wanted over the hold-up of McDonald’s at Williamtown just over two months ago. Full story.
► SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS: Investigations are underway after an abandoned car was found on fire in Moss Vale on April 2. Full story.
►TASMANIA: Opposition Leader Rebecca White used her first Question Time in the role to go head-to-head with Premier Will Hodgman over the state’s hospital issues on Tuesday. Full story.
►NOWRA: A Parkinson’s grief workshop for carers will be held next month. The workshop will be held at the Bomaderry Bowling Club on Friday, May 19 from 11am to 1pm. More details.
►BALLARAT: A Delacombe ice addict who said he "didn't care about having a licence" was caught unlicensed three times in three months before crashing his car, a court has heard. Full story.
National news
► Midway through The Testament of Mary, the Mother of God was recounting the miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead, when the sound of fireworks burst through the theatre. The impromptu interruption unsettled the audience somewhat. Actor Alison Whyte ploughed on with her performance, despite the din of unscripted pyrotechnics outside. Full story.
"You feel invincible when you're taking them. The thought of feeling the pain again was too confronting," Ms Proud, 45, said. Full story.
►In 2008, with much of Australia deep in the torment of what became known as the millennium drought, a new Governor-General set out across the backblocks of NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Full story.
►The freedom you have to do your job and the support you get from colleagues and bosses is more likely to make you happy than your pay packet, a new study has found. Full story.
National weather radar
World news
►LONDON: Downing Street has explicitly ruled out that Brexit Britain will go to war with Spain over Gibraltar - an extraordinary step made necessary after it backed a former Conservative party leader's sabre-rattling comments over Britain's big Mediterranean rock. Full story.
►BANGKOK: Australian miner Kingsgate is seeking compensation from Thailand's military government over its controversial order to shutdown the company's gold mine in northern Thailand, forcing the sackings of more than 1000 Thai workers. Full story.
►BEIJING: Young Australians aren't the only ones feeling locked out of a red-hot housing market that seems unfairly skewed towards their parents' generation. Full story.
On this day
1985 - An estimated 5,000 radio stations around the world simultaneously played the song "We Are the World".
1993 - Construction began on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH.
1993 - In Beverly Hills, CA, Marky Mark Wahlberg had assault charges against him dropped. He had reached an out-of-court settlement with the man he allegedly beat in 1992.
1994 - Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) killed himself with a shotgun. He was found three days later.
2000 - Ziggy Marley became the official spokesman for the Hemp Bar.
Faces of Australia: Frank Hunt and Bill Wilcox
As two veterans sat discussing the war that brought them together on the battlefield, it seemed as if they had known each other forever.
This week, Bega’s Frank Hunt was emotionally reunited with Bill Wilcox, one of the two men who saved his life after being severely wounded by an M16 anti-personnel landmine in the dense jungle of the Long Hai mountains in Vietnam almost 48 years ago. Read all about it.
