Weather: A shower or two in Newcastle and Nelson Bay on Friday (16 degrees), with morning showers Saturday (18 degrees) and a partly cloudy Sunday (19 degrees). Similar conditions in Raymond Terrace (20 degrees Sunday), while Toronto will receive the same chance of rain but a bit more warmth (18 degrees Friday, 20 degrees Saturday and 22 degrees Sunday).
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Traffic: No major incidents reported on Hunter roads.
Trains: Good service on the Newcastle and Hunter lines.
Beachwatch: Even though the little east coast low moved away quite quickly we’ll see very little improvement in the weather. A few more showers and a thunderstorm are likely with the wind being south to south-west. The swell is from the south around 1 to 1.5 metres but wave conditions will be a bit sloppy. Like yesterday the southern ends are going to be the better value.
Hunter headlines
IT’S an image that shows what might have been, and what still could be the case if the state government was to listen to the people. Read more.
Rio was supposed to be the realising of an Olympic dream for Hunter hockey player Simon Orchard. Instead, the Games and life as he knew it quickly turned upside down. Read more.
Masters stores, including one at Heatherbrae, will close their doors for good on or before December 11, Woolworths said. It first flagged its exit from the business in January. Read more.
FIVE pre-polling booths with be open around Lake Macquarie in the lead up to the 2016 local government election. Read more.
FRIENDS, neighbours and colleagues of women suspected to be in abusive relationships have been encouraged to forget about minding their own business and “break the silence” instead. Read more.
AMONG the nearly 80,000 runners in last week’s iconic City2Surf road race there was at least one standout, particularly to the Cooranbong community. That was 95-year-old Cooranbong resident Enid Webster. Read more.
FOR almost four months, the Newcastle Slasher had somehow managed to stay one step ahead of police as she took to a suspected 138 tyres of vehicles parked in and around Mayfield and Tighes Hill. Read more.
TONY BUTTERFIELD: The Knights have rolled over too often at the judiciary. Read more.
State of the Nation
Need a national news snapshot first thing? We've got you covered. But also check out what's happening around regional Australia …
►Illawarra: Lauren Darlington looked every bit the sweet sixteen-year-old with a mouth full of braces when her mum forged her birth certificate so she could work as a prostitute. Seven years later she is real, raw about her demons, blogging to touch others.
“I wasn’t eating well or sleeping and I was using drugs the clients would give me at work to keep me awake,’’ Lauren said of her time as a Sydney escort.
“Mum got half of what I made for ‘driving me around’.’’
► LEETON: There was something not right in what Vincent Stanford was telling police about his movements the day Stephanie Scott went missing.
It was one of the earliest clues that the 24-year-old cleaner was keeping a murderous secret and it was picked up by the officer in charge of investigating the disappearance of 26-year-old Ms Scott, Detective Sergeant Tim Clark.
On April 8 last year, three days after Ms Scott vanished from Leeton High School where she worked as an English and drama teacher, police received certain information about Stanford, Detective Clark told a sentencing hearing in Leeton this week for Stanford’s twin brother, Marcus.
► LAVINGTON: A drug-dealing prostitute was found with ice, ecstasy and $400 during a traffic stop at Lavington, police allege.
Carli Kreyts, 21, appeared distressed and dishevelled during her appearance via video-link in Albury Local Court on Tuesday following her arrest last week.
She dropped her head in her hands when told she wouldn’t be able to be bailed from the Junee Correctional Centre until at least Friday.
► NOWRA: The cancer that killed a servicemen at HMAS Albatross was in all likelihood caused by exposure to asbestos fibres and toxic chemicals, according to an Australian Defence Force report.
The Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force concluded Petty Officer Greg Lukes’ exposure to respirable asbestos fibres, petroleum, petroleum by-products, toxins or a combination of these while serving with the 817 Squadron, the home of the Sea King Helicopter, had in all likelihood caused his cancer.
In early 2012, Petty Officer Greg Lukes was a fit 35-year-old, married with two adorable kids.
► BENDIGO: When Kelly Turley got the news her donated pancreas and kidney had finally arrived a year ago this week, her husband nearly turned them down by mistake.
“I'm walking out the door, running late for fire brigade training, got in the car and the phone rang and it was a private number,” Jason Turley said.
Initially reluctant to answer the phone, expecting yet another cold-calling salesperson, Mr Turley nearly hung up on one of the most important calls of his life.
►NEWCASTLE: Rio was supposed to be the realising of an Olympic dream for Hunter hockey player Simon Orchard.
Just days after being knocked out of medal contention with favourites the Kookaburras, the 30-year-old spent a night in a Brazilian police station facing fraud charges without a passport.
National news
► William Summer was not alone on census night. He and millions of Australians wasted hours trying to log on to complete the form to no avail.
When it was later revealed that the Australian Bureau of Statistics had taken the census offline fearing foreign hackers, what Mr Summers, a communications professional, couldn't understand, was why the census Twitter account had continued to urge Australians to keep trying to log on, even though it was an impossible endeavour.
Turner told analysts at last year's earnings briefing that "there's no way fares could go any lower".
But they have.
Airfares to eight of Flight Centre's top 10 destinations are now cheaper than last year with "London and LA [Los Angeles] significantly down on last year," said Turner.
National weather radar
Did you know
August 26 is the 238th day of the year (239th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 127 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Wednesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Monday or Tuesday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Thursday or Saturday (56).
On this Day in History
►1768 – Captain James Cook sets sail from England on board HMS Endeavour.
► 1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote.
► 1978 – Papal conclave: Albino Luciani is elected as Pope John Paul I.
► 2002 – Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.
International news
►USA: On November 3, 1948, the newly victorious US President Harry Truman triumphantly held up a copy of the Chicago Tribune. On the front page was written the bold headline: "Dewey Defeats Truman".
Smiling for the cameras, Truman told the assembled press: "That ain't the way I heard it!"
With about a 6 percentage point lead in the polls and less than 80 days left before the general election, the Democratic Party's Hillary Clinton should be a shoo-in to win the presidency over Republican Party dark horse, Donald Trump.
► ITALY: Massimo Piermarini was among the last to reach his grandchildren's home in the small mountain town of Arquata del Tronto after the earthquake hit, early Wednesday morning.
"They didn't want me to go because it was too dangerous, but I said I didn't care, I had to go looking for them," he told Italian media.
"But unfortunately for the little girl there was nothing I could do."
His granddaughter Marisol Piermarini, 18 months old, had died in the night as the house collapsed on her.
Faces of Australia: Abbey Boon
ABBEY Boon can’t explain how she knows she’s a girl – she just is.
Some of the 11-year-old’s earliest memories include asking her parents for a fairy dress, taking Barbies to preschool, playing with her grandmother’s makeup and throwing a Ben 10 watch received as a gift across the room in disgust.
Abbey was born a boy and until about a year ago went by Ethan at home and school.