Time’s up: Rather than the usual 18-month time frame people get to switch over to the NBN, it is revealed that Optus gives its customers just three months, calling it a “business decision”.

Dam drops: The water levels of Illawarra dams are at around half what they were the same time last year, due to a lack of rainfall and higher residential water use.

Beach bonanza: Wollongong City Council plans to spend $9 million on improving North Wollongong Beach, including a $6 million sea wall.

Oops: More than 1000 confidential medical records are found on the floor of the derelict building that was once part of the Garrawarra Centre at Waterfall.

Abuse charges: A convicted Illawarra child sex offender faces fresh allegation he molested a girl over two years after she started living with his family when abandoned by her mother.

Beer band: Wollongong band Tumbleweed teams up with Geelong brewer Valhalla to create a pale ale called Galactaphonic Tonic.

Burn study: University of Wollongong research into bushfires finds that earlier fires can make the bush more likely to burn.

Drivers scared: Faulty track sensors at some spots along the South Coast rail line are leading to boom gates not going down as trains approach. Train drivers says they are scared of the risk of crashing into a vehicle.

Fancy dress: Wollongong City Councillor John Dorahy calls on staff and fellow councillors to take part in a “dress like a farmer” day to raise funds for drought relief.

Tracked down: A court hears a man was caught violating his parole condition to stay out of the Albion Park Rail area after being tracked by the GPS monitor attached to his ankle.

Happy place: Residents in Corrimal have a win when their proposed name for a small laneway behind their houses is approved by council. The name is the Seinfeld-inspired Festivus Lane.

Cruel owner: Jason Mamo is convicted on animal neglect charges after starving his dog Marley and allowing her to live in chronic pain.

Take a seat: Wollongong Workshop Theatre bring in an “adopt-a-seat” program, where people can have their name engraved on a plaque and attached to the chair.

Bottom line: Port Kembla steelmaker BlueScope records a huge $1.5 billion profit for the last financial year.

Frightening: A 14-year-old supermarket worker is left shaken when a man threatens her with an axe before raiding the cash registers.

Hoax calls: A woman appears in court accused of making bomb threats to two Illawarra schools which her children attended.

Teen driver: Nineteen-year-old Luke Andrew Frost faces court on 18 charges, including allegedly crashing into cars in two separate crashes and running from the scene. Police allege he had also been involved in a high-speed chase two days earlier.

Not happy: Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery says voters will be “pissed off no end” about having to return to the polls for a byelection to replace the resigning councillor Chris Connor. Three meetings after being elected, Cr Connor announced he had taken a job in Tamworth.

Air crash: A pilot dies in a helicopter crash during the firefighting efforts near Ulladulla.

New owner: WIN Corporation takes over the Steelers share of the St George Illawarra Dragons.

Deer drama: A man driving along the M1 Princes Motorway to work in the early hours is startled to come over a rise and see a herd of deer on the road at West Wollongong.

Woonona is worst: The suburb of Woonona is revealed to be the worst in the entire regional rail network when it comes to obeying boomgates at level crossings.

They’re fake: Brett Lilley tells court replica firearms in his home are pieces of art made by a man named Yuri. But he pleads guilty to their possession and other offences and is sentenced to two years in jail.

Letter writer: Convicted Illawarra paedophile Andrew Morgan is in court over accusations he send emails to an American child actress in which he professed his love and asked her to marry him. This would be in violation of conditions of his child sex offenders registration.

Bad granddad: A South Coast grandfather is sentenced to 32 years in jail for the sexual abuse of five of his grandchildren for at least 11 years.

Bypassed: After months of speculation, Roads and Maritime Services confirms Dapto residents will have no southbound access to the Albion Park Rail Bypass and will use the existing highway instead.

Onesie bandit: Police are on the hunt for a burglar captured in CCTV breaking into a Tarrawanna post office while wearing a onesie. Next month police would charge 19-year-old Cory Milgate over the crime. His lawyer would say the evidence against him was weak.

One-eyed: Wollongong City Council will rapidly install CCTV cameras in the city’s crime hotspots.