8.30am That's it from us this morning, have a fantastic Tuesday. See you tomorrow for the hump day edition of the Rush.

8.26am Get training for the Illawarra's first Big Red Kidney Walk. It's on March 1 from the Warilla-Barrack Point surf club.

8.24am LOCAL NEWS: A German tourist has died after he fell off his skateboard while riding down a steep hill in Kangaroo Valley and slid into the path of a truck. Read more.

8.22am GRAMMYS: Melissa Rivers & her son Cooper accepted a posthumous Grammy award for Joan Rivers at the ceremony.

8.20am NATIONAL: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says the government, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, is making daily representations in a bid to save death row inmates Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. (AAP)

8.18am Look at this bunch of excited owls. Try saying that 10 times fast!

8.16am It's National Pizza Day in the US. We can totally borrow that, right!?

8.14am Check out this delicious recipe from Neil Perry for pan-fried salmon with cucumber and radish relish. Yum!

8.12am EDUCATION: Another university vice-chancellor has broken ranks with the sector to call for the Abbott government to abandon its plan to fully deregulate university fees. Read more.

8.10am GRAMMYS: Beyonce has just posted this picture on Instagram of her and hubby Jay Z at the Grammys. Nice one!

8.08am LOCAL NEWS: A senior member of the NSW police fears several officers with mental health problems may have become suicidal as a result of their treatment during an ongoing NSW Ombudsman’s inquiry into historic police corruption allegations.

*Reporter Cyd Mardon has the story.

8.06am Don't forget A Fairy Grimm cabaret opens at Wollongong Workshop Theatre on Friday night.

8.04am NATIONAL: People accused of serious federal crimes could be left in NSW prisons with no immediate prospect of a trial because of cuts to Commonwealth legal aid funding. Read more.

8am Hate taking out the bins? Good news for Sydneysiders, now you can pay someone else to do it. Yep, seriously. Sadly for us in the Gong, we'll have to keep putting our own bins out. Sigh.

7.58am Good morning Illawarra! Welcome if you're just tuning in. We're in for a partly cloudy day with a top of 25. All good on the roads & rail.

7.56am TV NEWS: Missed MKR last night? Don't fret, we've got a recap here. Looks like Adelaide pair Annie & Lloyd didn't fare so well...

7.54am CELEB NEWS: Despite reports, Bruce Jenner was not texting when he was involved in a fatal car crash on Saturday. Read more.

7.52am Saw this one yesterday and thought it was very funny. Who comes up with these memes?! So clever.

7.50am STRANGE BUT TRUE: Speaking of milk, an Australian man has opened a cereal-only cafe in Melbourne. Why? He just really likes cereal.

7.48am HEALTH: So you've just done a huge workout. Ready to grab some water? Why not try milk? "Chocolate milk has a lot of benefits for muscle recovery," says Ingrid Nelson, a personal trainer in Washington. "It helps replenish the muscle tissue and actually gives you a shorter recovery time."

7.46am MUSIC NEWS: Did you get along to see One D in Sydney on Sat night? If you missed it, here's a review - seems it was pretty good!

7.44am GRAMMYS: Check out Rhianna hanging with Beyonce & Jay Z's little girl Blue Ivy at the Grammy Awards. Awww.

7.42am LOCAL NEWS: A Wollongong man threatened to shoot a child and slit his throat as he was due to give evidence against him, Port Kembla Local Court has heard.

*Reporter Bree Fuller has the story.

7.40am POLITICS: Premier Mike Baird is on track to comfortably return to power in next month's NSW election, but the unpopularity of Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his government is eroding the scale of his likely victory.

7.38am North Kiosk and Diggies will be closed today. The North Kiosk coffee cart will be in action until 11.30am today though for your coffee fix.

7.36am TV NEWS: Did you watch House of Hancock on Sunday night? I really enjoyed it. Thoughts?

7.34am LOCAL SPORT: They are already assured of the wooden spoon but the Wollongong Hawks can still avoid a place in the record books as the club’s all-time worst team. Read more.

7.28am Want to spoil your sweetheart this weekend? Why not whip up some of these heartbreak chocolate truffle cookies. Oh yeah.

7.26am LOCAL NEWS: An end to coal mining in NSW would not seriously damage the Illawarra, according to Greens candidate Elena Martinez.

*Reporter Glen Humphries has the story.

7.24am Aww even Symbio is getting into the Valentine's Day spirit.

7.22am WORLD NEWS: Same-sex couples began marrying in Alabama in the US yesterday, despite an attempt by the conservative chief justice of the state's Supreme Court to block judges from issuing marriages licences to gay men and women in open defiance of a January federal court ruling.

7.20am Want to win tickets to the Pixar Film Festival on Feb 21? We're giving some seats away - enter here.

7.18am TV NEWS: A friend of Bali nine member Myuran Sukumaran broke down in tears while conveying an emotional plea for mercy on his behalf on the ABC's Q&A program on Monday. 2GB radio host Alan Jones said the move to execute the pair was "barbaric". 

7.16am Don't forget it's Valentines Day on Saturday. Oooo. The Wollongong Sunset Cinema is screening V Day favourite Pretty Woman. Lovely.

7.14am A little sushi funny for your Tuesday morning...

7.12am Don't forget to grab your copy of the Mercury today for the Babies of 2014 lift-out. Aww.

7.10am WORLD NEWS: Drivers who use marijuana are at a significantly lower risk of being in a crash than drivers who use alcohol, a new study from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows.

7.08am STRANGE BUT TRUE: Two school boys have penned and published a breakup song about Peppa Pig. But within days, Joshua Lima, 10, and his brother Noah, 8, received a trademark infringement notice and were told to remove the song. Read more.

7.06am GRAMMYS: In some other crazy red carpet looks, Izzy Agalea rocked some very, um, different braids & Madonna dressed up as a matador.

7.04am LOCAL NEWS: A call for increased lighting at the Shellharbour Village War Memorial has been rejected by Shellharbour City Council.

*Reporter Alex Arnold has the story.

7.02am SYDNEY: Police are investigating whether a teenage boy who died at a dance party was competing with friends to see who could swallow the most ecstasy pills. Read more.

7am CELEB GOSS ALERT: Johnny Depp & Amber Heard have married - again. The pair tied the knot a second time in the Bahamas over the wkd.

6.58am Good morning Illawarra! Welcome if you're just tuning in. We're in for a partly cloudy day with a top of 25. All good on the roads & rail.

6.56am GRAMMYS: Taylor Swift was busting a move at the Grammy's but her seat neighbour Pharell Williams looks less than impressed. LOL.

6.54am TV NEWS: Did you watch Gallipoli last night? Good news if you enjoyed it - alll seven episodes of the series were released online ahead of their free-to-air broadcast.

6.52am NSW: A baby and toddler have been found alive, trapped in a car, after a crash that killed their mother in the state's south. Read more.

6.50am This is a "chocolate" birthday cake - but it's good for you. I know. Thank me later.

6.48am Look at these little corgis - oh so cute!

6.44am LOCAL SPORT: Josh Dugan will be part of St George Illawarra's whirlwind trip to England after scans yesterday cleared him of any serious injury to his left knee.

6.42am NSW: If you missed this story over the weekend, check it out now - three paramedics are being assaulted at work each week and police charges against attackers have more than doubled in two years, alarming new figures show.

6.40am GRAMMYS: Sia may have walked the red carpet (if it was her, she was wearing A MASSIVE wig so we couldn't see her face) but she got comedian Kristen Wigg to help out when she performed hit track Chandelier.

6.38am LOCAL NEWS: Shellharbour City councillors have endorsed the relocation of commemorative monuments in Warilla, forced by the council’s sale of the former Warilla council chambers and Warilla library.

*Southern reporter Alex Arnold has the story.

6.36am A little dog & cat funny for your Tuesday morning - who knows what these two are up to!?

6.34am Have you been snapped out & about in the Ilawarra? Check out this week's social photos - you never know who you might spot.

6.32am NATIONAL: A six-year-old girl who went missing in Ascot in QLD yesterday has been found safe and well. The blue-eyed girl was taken from Ascot State School at roughly 1.30pm and police feared she was at risk.

6.30am GRAMMYS: Kanye pulled a Kanye at the Grammy's ceremony, jumping on-stage when singer Beck was about to accept his award. Kanye looked like he wanted to interrupt but quickly jumped back down to his seat. But check out Jay Z's expression when Kanye hit the stage - hilarious!

6.28am Don't forget there's some great shows opening in the Illawarra this weekend - Evita starts at Roo Theatre & Once a Catholic opens at the Phoenix. Visit the company's websites to book tickets.

6.26am CELEB GOSS ALERT: MKR judge/chef Manu Fiedel and his wife Clarissa have had their baby - and it's a girl. Awww.

6.24am WORLD NEWS: Several men fired shots in the air yesterday in a suburb of Marseille where the French PM, Manuel Valls, was visiting to defend the government's local security plan, police officials said. No one was injured. Read more.

6.22am Tired of eating the same meals, week in, week out? Try this recipe planner - it's got some great meals including a some yummy fish tortillas.

6.20am RED CARPET: While it was all about music in the US, across the ditch, the Brits were celebrating the BAFTAS. Check out some looks from the red carpet - Julianne Moore = flawless.

6.18am LOCAL NEWS: Illawarra nurses are supporting a campaign opposing theNSW government’s move towards a US-style health system.

*Health reporter Lisa Wachsmuth has the story.

6.16am GRAMMYS: There were so many crazy red carpet looks but I think Rhianna's takes the cake. Is she a toilet doll or a loofah? You decide...

6.14am SYDNEY: A man has been charged with supplying ecstasy pills that led to the death of Sydney teenager Georgina Bartter at Habourlife festival three months ago. Read more.

6.12am TV NEWS: There were some intruders in South Africa last night as two new people joined the I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here line-up. Who were the love birds? My faves - Tim & Anna from The Bachelor Australia!

6.10am WORLD NEWS: At least 29 asylum seekers died of hypothermia aboard Italian coast guard vessels after being picked up from an inflatable boat adrift near Libya, the mayor of the Italian island of Lampedusa has said.

6.08am CELEB GOSS ALERT: Yesterday in Hollywood, it was ALL about the Grammys - here's some looks from the red carpet including Taylor "I can do no wrong in fashion" Swift & Kim Kardashian rocking Gaultier.

6.06am And in national news, via the SMH:

*Tony Abbott has bought himself the crucial months needed to rebuild his battered leadership by admitting failure in his first budget, and by promising to adopt more family-friendly policies.

*At least two Liberals appear to have been swayed by the Prime Minister’s public commitment to throw open the $25bn-plus purchase of new submarines to a competitive tender.

*Dozens of rescue crews on the NSW north coast were on watch for a shark, believed to be a great white shark, that fatally attacked a surfer yesterday.

6.04am Here's what's making news in your Mercury today:

*A Wollongong man threatened to shoot and slit the throat of a child who was due to give evidence against him, Port Kembla Local Court has heard.

*An international student working at a Warilla convenience store gave the morning’s takings to an armed robber at the weekend after the hooded thief produced a knife and told him: ‘‘Open the till or I will stab you.’’ Read more.

*NSW health and food authorities are continuing investigations into a salmonella outbreak at several aged care facilities across the Illawarra, with the number of confirmed cases rising to 20 on Monday.

6.02am Let's kick things off with the latest weather & traffic.

WEATHER We're in for a partly cloudy day with a top of 25 degrees. Expect a chance of showers this morning & early in the arvo.

TRAFFIC All good on our roads & for the drive to Sydney or south.

TRAINS There is a good service on the South Coast line.

6am Good morning Illawarra! Rise & shine, it's Tuesday morning. Stay with your host Emma Spillett for all the latest news etc.