Weather: Possible morning shower  in Newcastle, Nelson Bay, Raymond Terrace (all23 degrees), Wallsend and Toronto (both 24 degrees).  

Traffic: Breakdowns on the M1 at Morisset (near Mandalong Road) and Calga (just past the interchange) are closing breakdown lanes and hindering southbound traffic. Drivers are urged to exercise caution. 

Trains: Good service on the Newcastle and Hunter lines.

ANY lingering hope, or fear, that the King Edward Park headland could one day host a function centre is likely to be rubbed out after Newcastle City Council voted to begin the process of changing the types of development allowed on the site. Read more.

Hundreds gathered to remember Janice Callinan (nee Sands), the mother of professional surfer Ryan Callinan, in a sunrise reflection and paddle-out memorial at Merewether Beach on Tuesday morning. Read more.

Lochie Burke and Jack Cullen want to change the negative stigma attached to drones and are doing a good job of pitching their case. The pair co-founded Lake Macquarie-based company JAR Aerospace in January and have a bold five-year plan to change the face of aeronautics and aerospace engineering in Australia. Read more.

WHEN Ben Abel took to climbing five years ago, he never thought he would end up representing the country. But that’s what happens when you ignite a passion. Read more.

Win tickets to the 2017 Hunter Valley Caravan, Camping, 4WD, Fish and Boat Show. Read more.

Lyn Bowtell delivered a knockout performance tonight to make it through to the next round of The Voice. The Golden Guitar winner from Greta was up against fellow Team Boy George members Benjamin Caldwell and Taylah Harrington in an elimination round. Read more.

Former Newcastle Knights star Jarrod Mullen will not appeal against his four-year ban for taking an anabolic steroid. Read more.

Central Newcastle prop Jake Finn remained in critical condition in an induced coma in John Hunter Hospital on Tuesday evening. Read more.

►Police have arrested a 23-year-old man after a suicide bomber killed at least 22 people and injured scores more at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester which was packed with thousands of young people. Read more

►Children were among the 22 people who died in a suicide attack at the Manchester Arena in the UK on Tuesday. Read more

►NSW: Police investigating historical sexual assaults over a period of almost 20 years have charged a man in Newcastle. The 82-year-old Hamilton man was arrested on Monday and taken to Newcastle police station. Read more

►BENDIGO: Three men charged under Victoria’s racial vilification laws for allegedly staging a mock beheading in Bendigo have appeared in court in Melbourne for a second time. Read more

►BALLARAT: Stockland Wendouree will undergo a $37 million renovation starting July 6. The redevelopment will add 6,700 square metres retail floorspace to the shopping centre, including a laneway dining precinct with outdoor seating, and plans for an all-abilities children’s playground. Read more

►WAGGA WAGGA: A Wagga academic has waded into the public art debate, saying it’s a vital part of the city’s identity.

Senior art history lecturer Neill Overton criticised the anti-art movement as “knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing”. However, he also pointed a finger at the art community, questioning the “blind faith value of culture”. Read more

►TASMANIA: The Blood Service has called on 170 donors in the greater Launceston region to come forward and donate this fortnight to help reduce the effect of a blood shortage. Read more

►VICTORIA: A number of central and northern Victorian organisations have been struck off the national charity register by Australia’s charity watchdog. Read more

►CENTRAL NSW: An enormous crowd flocked to the small township of Batlow on Saturday to taste the flavours the region has to offer in the wake of this year’s cider production. Read more

►QUEENSLAND: Steve Wollaston reckons he has the solution to the issues around the Mount Isa Rotary Rodeo Mardi Gras. The rodeo copped criticism recently when it cancelled the Friday night Mardi Gras and although Mount Isa City Council later included it in its Wednesday night street party schedule, many parents are unhappy because it is a school night. Read more

National news

►The government has poured cold water on a push for a revamped national anthem that would delete words considered offensive by some Aboriginal Australians and introduce a third verse paying tribute to the Dreamtime and Indigenous history before colonisation. Read more

►Former Australian Open boys tennis champion Oliver Anderson has avoided conviction after pleading guilty to a match-fixing offence.

The 19-year-old admitted on Tuesday morning to throwing the first set of a match at the Traralgon Challenger tournament last year. Read more

►UNITED KINGDOM: On Tuesday morning, Katrina woke up shaking.

The memory of the blast, the screaming, the smell of smoke - the frantic search for her mother after the Ariana Grande concert was hit by a suicide bomber - came back to her all at once. Read more

►BANGKOK: Thailand's military government, opposition parties and human rights groups have denounced the targeting of patients in a bomb-attack at a military-run hospital in the Thai capital as one of the country's worst acts of terror. Read more

Lovingly encouraged eggs have made Larissa Robins’ life crazy in a good way.

About eight months on from having 1100 hens arrive on her property near Geelong, Larissa is preparing to sell the fresh free-range eggs in her hometown at next week’s Design Exchange winter market.

Money collected on the door will support Larissa and her Love Your Eggs venture. Read more