8.55am That's it from us this morning. Thanks for joining, we'll be back tomorrow from 6am.
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8.50am Hip hop superstars Outkast will head up this year's Splendour in the Grass festival. Triple J has provided the full line-up just now.
8.40am ‘‘We are staying positive.’’ Kimberley Gillen, sister of suspected hit-and-run victim April-Lee Gillen, has thanked her family's supporters as Lake Illawarra police renew their appeal for information.
8.35am A journalist and photographer who visited a soldiers' cemetery at Gallipoli say pictures from the night may show a ghost in a wide-brimmed hat. See the pics for yourself here.
8.30am "I don't want to hide the fact that for some people, to pay that, it will be a challenge, but at the same time, what they're getting in return is the renewal of their city." Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery talks incoming fee and rate hikes.
8.25am Have you discovered the charms of The Vault Cabaret in Port Kembla? The variety show-style night is back on May 10 - get it in your diary!
8.20am UOW is entering a team in this year's City to Surf. Registrations close May 30.
8.15am Newcastle teen Chelsea James, known for being serenaded on stage by Beyonce, has lost her battle with cancer.
8.10am So long, Norton Street.
8.04am "We would rather the pictures weren't taken but it was no more than a gentle request." The Palace says it "would have been nice" if Australian paparazzi had given the visiting Royals the day off as requested, but denies candid images of galloping Kate and baby George have caused any row.
8.01am Good morning, Illawarra. A quick update:
WEATHER We’re set for a mostly sunny day with light winds becoming north to northeasterly 15 to 20 kmh in the late afternoon, then tending north to northwesterly in the evening. Right now it’s 13 in Albion Park and 18 in Bellambi and Kiama.
TRAINS There is good service on the South Coast line.
TRAFFIC It's a mostly clear run from Nowra to Sydney this morning, with the exception of ongoing roadworks at Gerringong and the top of Mount Ousley. At Beverly Hills in southern Sydney, an accident involving a car and a truck on the M5 Motorway approaching King Georges Road is causing a queue of 3.5kms.
7.59am Congratulations go to Drew Barrymore and her husband Will Kopelman, who just gave birth to a baby girl called Frankie.
7.53am The RSL has blasted as "insulting" a Melbourne cosmetic surgery company's Anzac Day competition, whereby women were asked to rate their breasts for their chance to win two tickets to April 25 AFL showdown between Collingwood and Essendon.
7.48am Stephen Sutton, a British teen who took to social media to chronicle his 15-month fight against cancer, raising money for charity, has farewelled his thousands of Facebook followers: "It's a final thumbs up from me!"
7.43am CELEB GOSS Actress of the hour Jennifer Lawrence has aired a chic new 'do after growing out her recent pixie crop.
7.38am "The transition between rugby league and rugby union is a big enough gap for the very best athletes," writes Daniel Gilhooly in his analysis of Benji Marshall's decision to quit rugby union. "It becomes a chasm when you jump straight in the deep end like Marshall did.
7.33am A Bulli man used a stolen credit card to pay for sexual services, a court has heard.
7.28am Happy birthday to William Shakespeare. The Bard would have been 450 years old today.
7.23am Check out this fantastic historic photo from Bulli Train Station in the 1920s!
7.12am Story of the day? The week? The "Stop Tony Meow" browser extension automatically swaps any picture of Mr Abbott encountered online, with pictures of cats. Curious as to what the Prime Minister and his staff thought of the plug-in, developer Dan Nolan submitted a Freedom of Information request. It turns out staff at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have used up more than 130 pages of correspondence talking about the plug-in. And Mr Nolan can see them - for a cool $700 in administration costs. SMH reports.
7.08am A fascinating pair of photos from Uluru, a generation (and a world) apart.
7.04am Sentencing for three people who murdered Wollongong lawyer Katie Foreman will begin in early July. The case got a brief mention in the Supreme Court yesterday.
7.01am Good morning, if you're just joining us. An update:
WEATHER We’re set for a mostly sunny day with light winds becoming north to northeasterly 15 to 20 kmh in the late afternoon, then tending north to northwesterly in the evening. Right now it’s 10 in Albion Park, 15 in Bellambi and 17 in Kiama.
TRAINS There is good service on the South Coast line.
TRAFFIC Looks like it’s a clear run from Nowra to Sydney this morning, with the exception of ongoing roadworks at Gerringong and the top of Mount Ousley.
6.58am Sally Fitzgibbons, go you good thing! The two-time Bells Beach winner and Gerroa lass will take on reigning world champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii in the first semi-final of competition at Bells Beach later today.
6.53am Yes BuzzFeed, these Melbourne stylista sisters do induce a mean case of the wardrobe envies.
6.48am Australia is buying 58 fighter jets in one of its biggest ever military purchases. The price tag? $12 billion. SMH reports PM Tony Abbott will announce the planned purchase, of Joint Strike Fighters, in Canberra today.
6.43am Wollongong's Anchors Away Art Studio is running some fun and affordable workshops for the kiddies these school holidays, including a printmaking class tomorrow. Fun!
6.38am A very cool (and very big) mural at an old-school Warrawong gym has won the approval of its subject, movie star Dwayne ‘‘The Rock’’ Johnson himself! Read our story here, and check out the video of the work being spraypainted.
6.33am Oh no. Commiserations to Albion Park's London Olympian Keiran Govers, who recently farewelled his family pet and "warrior", Muffin.
6.25am "Conformity is killing the Nation, its not trendy or hip when everybody looks the same," writes a reader in response to our story about the popularity of facial hair. "Take a walk along King Street Newtown, everyone has a Ned Kelly, short back & sides, same clothes and tattoos..." What say you, has the big beard become passe?
6.20am Julia Gillard sent Kevin Rudd an extraordinary email two days before she challenged his leadership, telling him the government was perceived as "incompetent and out of control". So says author Troy Bramston in his upcoming book, Rudd, Gillard and Beyond (released on April 30).
6.14am Hundreds of people have gathered at a silent vigil in Sunshine, Victoria, last night, to protest the brutal and public killing of mother-of-four Fiona Warzywoda.
6.10am CELEB NEWS So Miranda Kerr has had a crack at singing. The critics have been unkind.
6.05am ... and in national news
* Australia needs to rethink how it keeps sick, elderly people alive in hospitals and stop overtreating them at the end of their lives, the outgoing director of St Vincent’s Hospital’s ICU says. SMH
* Labor and the Greens have called for the immediate release of the federal government’s report into fatal violence on Manus Island after graphic images surfaced showing PNG guards attacking asylum seekers. ... and in national news
* Australia needs to rethink how it keeps sick, elderly people alive in hospitals and stop overtreating them at the end of their lives, the outgoing director of St Vincent’s Hospital’s ICU says. SMH
* Labor and the Greens have called for the immediate release of the federal government’s report into fatal violence on Manus Island after graphic images surfaced showing PNG guards attacking asylum seekers. SMH
* A police officer charged with raping a young child will remain at large in the community for two months before stepping foot in a courtroom. Daily Telegraph
* Liberal Party officials who try to privately influence government MPs as ‘‘strategic consultants’’ or ‘‘legal consultants’’ without identifying themselves as lobbyists face tough new regulations to limit influence-peddling after the resignation of Barry O’Farrell. The Australian
6.03am Let’s take a quick look at our local headlines.
* Fears of widespread cuts to council services have been put on ice after Wollongong City Council announced no services would be cut in order to plug a multimillion-dollar hole in the city’s finances. Council has flagged an approach of ‘‘minor shaving’’ in its 2014-15 draft annual plan. Bree Fuller reports.
* A Banksy-esque, Anzac-themed graffiti piece has been sprayed onto Corrimal Surf Life Saving Club and met with mixed reaction, ahead of the military commemoration on Friday.
* Patrick Autocare is planning to boost its car storage capacity at Kembla Grange by as many as 8500 vehicles, reports Glen Humphries.
* Police are treating a Facebook plea for help from suspected hit-and-run victim April-lee Gillen as ‘‘a vital piece of information’’, but say it is too early to know whether the teen was injured in a targeted attack.
* A Bulli man used a stolen credit card to pay for sexual services, a court has heard.
6.01am First things first ...
WEATHER We’re set for a mostly sunny day with light winds becoming north to northeasterly 15 to 20 kmh in the late afternoon, then tending north to northwesterly in the evening. Right now it’s 10 in Albion Park, 16 in Bellambi and 16 in Kiama.
TRAINS There is good service on the South Coast line.
TRAFFIC Looks like it’s a clear run from Nowra to Sydney this morning, with the exception of ongoing roadworks at Gerringong and the top of Mount Ousley.
6am Welcome to Tuesday's edition of Morning Rush. Stay with us until 9am for the latest Illawarra news.