Hunter Breakfast | Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Traffic: No major incidents reported on Hunter roads.

Trains: Good service on the Hunter and Newcastle lines.

Beachwatch: We’ll see a bit of cloud but it’s going to be another fantastic start to the day if you’re lucky enough to be beachside. The wind will be north-west for starters but will head south-west to south-east later in the morning. The swell is trying to pick up and should be around half to one metre from the south at first but then be up to around 1.3 metres by the afternoon. The cleaner waves will be found before the wind heads to the south. Around town try the Cowrie Hole, Newcastle, the Bar to Merewether stretch, Dudley and Redhead. Down south try Hams, Catho and Frazer Park. At port Stephens try Samurai and One Mile. All beaches are good for a swim but a few tricky edges will develop. The water temperature is 17 degrees.

Investigators are still to determine why the four-wheel-drive plunged down the steep embankment and started to roll, killing the three men and injuring the little boy who was forced to witness the unthinkable. Read more.

"Adam was a young man, he had a young family, he came to Scone and he fit in very well. If the world was made up of more people like Adam, it would be a better place." Read more.

THE state government has unveiled a broad regional plan for the Central Coast but it will require state and federal government funding to bring to fruition. Read more.

WHEN it comes to sculpting, Aberdeen’s Stephen Irwin has the Midas touch. And, now, he’s got the plaudits to prove it. Read more.

FORMER representative rugby league player Dean Simpson’s secret life as a drug dealer has been formally exposed, with the Taree businessman admitting to supplying “speed” dozens of times. Read more.

A MARATHON game of ping pong is set to take place in Raymond Terrace next month, all in a bid to serve a blow to human trafficking. Read more.

A television drama partially filmed in Dungog has led the ratings table in its time slot for the second week in a row. Read more.

A small earthquake near Cessnock on Tuesday morning was the fifteenth in the Hunter in the past four months. Read more.

Members of a community club are reeling after thieves struck their home base twice in two days. Read more.

Getting communities talking about projects when they are still on the drawing board and having peer reviews of Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) are just a couple of suggestions contained in a NSW Planning Department and Environment discussion paper. Read more.

Most people don’t get the chance to don a graduation cap and set foot on the Great Hall stage until they’re in their 20s. But almost 300 students aged seven to 14 did that last night, at the inaugural Children’s University Newcastle Graduation. Read more.

NEWCASTLE Knights have David Fifita, the twin of Sharks and NSW enforcer Andrew, in their sights. Read more.

Hunter-based syndicators Australian Bloodstock will pin their Flemington spring carnival hopes on a revival from Articus in the Emirates (Mackinnon) Stakes after Longines Mile chance Tosen Stardom was spelled on Tuesday. Read more.

Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered. 

► MYALL LAKES: It was just hours following the accident, and Clayton Curnow was being released by police after being charged with being drunk behind the wheel of a utility when his best mate, Jake Collins, fell from the roof and died. More here.

► ORANGE: They might be direct, but Darryl and Vicky Prestwidge say the signs outside their home needed to be in order to make a difference to the greyhound ban. More here.

► ST ARNAUD: A man has been remanded in police custody after hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cannabis plants and hydroponic equipment were seized from a house on Friday. More here.

► MANDURAH: Motorcycle fatalities in the Peel-Mandurah region account for one fifth of WA’s motorcycle-related fatalities since the start of the year. In the wake of recent fatal motorbike crashes, acting road safety commissioner Chirs Adams has urged riders to take more responsibility and precautions on the road. More here.

► SCONE: Family and friends of Scone real estate agent Adam O’Regan have paid tribute to him a day after the Gundy car accident that claimed his life as well as those of two passengers. More here.

► BATHURST: The Wiradyuri community has called on Bathurst mayor Gary Rush to live up to what they say was his promise to add the word “Wahluu” to Mount Panorama. More here.

► DUBBO: A greater supply of resources and a different structure in the police force could help combat the rural crime epidemic in the central west. Member for Dubbo, Minister for Police and Justice and Deputy Premier Troy Grant said the current police model, Local Area Commands (LACs), may not be the best way to run police stations in western NSW. More here.

► HEATHCOTE: A footballer is fighting for his life in a Queensland hospital after overdosing on a powerful synthetic drug while on an end-of-season trip. Rikki Stephens, 27, was admitted to the Gold Coast University Hospital over the weekend after reportedly consuming the drug “flakka” and remains in a critical condition. More here.

► Two government MPs, including the deputy speaker, have joined calls to allow the rapid-fire Adler shotgun to be imported into Australia, just hours after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared the ban was "set in stone." More here.

► Australia lacks adequate protections for human rights defenders and has created "an atmosphere of fear, censorship and retaliation" among activists, according to a United Nations special rapporteur. More here.

► Australia is about to launch a fresh diplomatic drive to expose Japan's claim to kill whales in the name of science, but a threat of further international legal action appears to be on hold for now. More here.

► BALI: Accused Australian paedophile Robert Andrew Fiddes Ellis has insisted he does not deserve jail for allegedly molesting Balinese children, saying "it was not a serious thing" and he "paid them generously". More here.

► JAKARTA: Maverick Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, or Ahok, as he is known, has never had a filter. Impulsive and polarising, the city's first Christian and ethnic Chinese governor - a double minority in Indonesia - seems to court controversy. More here.

► Julian Assange claims his internet connection was intentionally cut "by a state party", at the end of a weekend in which he was visited by Pamela Anderson and published a series of cryptic, coded tweets. More here.

FAMILY day care educator Kate Delaney admits she is big on communication – both with her young charges and their parents.

It means that when a child in her care has a breakthrough moment, she likes to deliver the happy news to the parent, along with the evidence, as soon as she can.

“It might be that a child has been trying to learn how to ride a bike with pedals. If they manage to do it while they’re here with me, I’ll video it, and send it along to their parents at work, along with a short message saying: ‘We did it!’” Read more here.