► City Of Launceston has won one battle against TasWater on stormwater charges but another one is just warming up. Launceston Mayor Albert van Zetten said TasWater should not attempt to shirk its obligation over the system’s management. Read more.

► Two Victorian men have been charged with drug offences after Tasmania Police allegedly seized $100,000 of ice in Launceston on Thursday. Read more. 

► Plans to engage in a $4.5 million capital works redevelopment at East Launceston Primary School have caused controversy amongst the school community. Read more.

► Northern Tasmania students as young as 10 spent their Thursday morning investigating some of the world’s mysteries at the Science Investigation Awards challenge at the University of Tasmania. Read more.

► North Launceston coach Zane Littlejohn is confident his players can bounce back from their final round defeat at the hands of Burnie and turn that performance and result around in their TSL qualifying final at West Park on Saturday. Read more. 

Need a national news snapshot first thing? We've got you covered. But also check out what's happening around regional Australia …

►Illawarra: Lauren Darlington looked every bit the sweet sixteen-year-old with a mouth full of braces when her mum forged her birth certificate so she could work as a prostitute. Seven years later she is real, raw about her demons, blogging to touch others. 

“I wasn’t eating well or sleeping and I was using drugs the clients would give me at work to keep me awake,’’ Lauren said of her time as a Sydney escort. 

“Mum got half of what I made for ‘driving me around’.’’

► LEETON: There was something not right in what Vincent Stanford was telling police about his movements the day Stephanie Scott went missing.

It was one of the earliest clues that the 24-year-old cleaner was keeping a murderous secret and it was picked up by the officer in charge of investigating the disappearance of 26-year-old Ms Scott, Detective Sergeant Tim Clark.

On April 8 last year, three days after Ms Scott vanished from Leeton High School where she worked as an English and drama teacher, police received certain information about Stanford, Detective Clark told a sentencing hearing in Leeton this week for Stanford’s twin brother, Marcus.

► LAVINGTON: A drug-dealing prostitute was found with ice, ecstasy and $400 during a traffic stop at Lavington, police allege.

Carli Kreyts, 21, appeared distressed and dishevelled during her appearance via video-link in Albury Local Court on Tuesday following her arrest last week.

She dropped her head in her hands when told she wouldn’t be able to be bailed from the Junee Correctional Centre until at least Friday.

► NOWRA: The cancer that killed a servicemen at HMAS Albatross was in all likelihood caused by exposure to asbestos fibres and toxic chemicals, according to an Australian Defence Force report.

The Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force concluded Petty Officer Greg Lukes’ exposure to respirable asbestos fibres, petroleum, petroleum by-products, toxins or a combination of these while serving with the 817 Squadron,  the home of the Sea King Helicopter, had in all likelihood caused his cancer.

In early 2012, Petty Officer Greg Lukes was a fit 35-year-old, married with two adorable kids.

► BENDIGO: When Kelly Turley got the news her donated pancreas and kidney had finally arrived a year ago this week, her husband nearly turned them down by mistake.

“I'm walking out the door, running late for fire brigade training, got in the car and the phone rang and it was a private number,” Jason Turley said.

Initially reluctant to answer the phone, expecting yet another cold-calling salesperson, Mr Turley nearly hung up on one of the most important calls of his life.

►NEWCASTLE: Rio was supposed to be the realising of an Olympic dream for Hunter hockey player Simon Orchard.

Instead, the Games and life as he knew it quickly turned upside down.  

Just days after being knocked out of medal contention with favourites the Kookaburras, the 30-year-old spent a night in a Brazilian police station facing fraud charges without a passport.

► William Summer was not alone on census night. He and millions of Australians wasted hours trying to log on to complete the form to no avail.

When it was later revealed that the Australian Bureau of Statistics had taken the census offline fearing foreign hackers, what Mr Summers, a communications professional, couldn't understand, was why the census Twitter account had continued to urge Australians to keep trying to log on, even though it was an impossible endeavour.

► A "golden era of travel" is grounding Flight Centre earnings and the boss Graham "Skroo'' Turner is feeling the financial pain – sort of. 

Turner told analysts at last year's earnings briefing that "there's no way fares could go any lower".

But they have.

Airfares to eight of Flight Centre's top 10 destinations are now cheaper than last year with "London and LA [Los Angeles] significantly down on last year," said Turner.  

August 26 is the 238th day of the year (239th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 127 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Wednesday, Friday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Monday or Tuesday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Thursday or Saturday (56).

►1768 – Captain James Cook sets sail from England on board HMS Endeavour.

► 1920 – The 19th amendment to United States Constitution takes effect, giving women the right to vote.

► 1978 – Papal conclave: Albino Luciani is elected as Pope John Paul I.

► 2002 – Earth Summit 2002 begins in Johannesburg, South Africa.

►USA: On November 3, 1948, the newly victorious US President Harry Truman triumphantly held up a copy of the Chicago Tribune. On the front page was written the bold headline: "Dewey Defeats Truman".

Smiling for the cameras, Truman told the assembled press: "That ain't the way I heard it!"

With about a 6 percentage point lead in the polls and less than 80 days left before the general election, the Democratic Party's Hillary Clinton should be a shoo-in to win the presidency over Republican Party dark horse, Donald Trump.

► ITALY: Massimo Piermarini was among the last to reach his grandchildren's home in the small mountain town of Arquata del Tronto after the earthquake hit, early Wednesday morning.

"They didn't want me to go because it was too dangerous, but I said I didn't care, I had to go looking for them," he told Italian media.

"But unfortunately for the little girl there was nothing I could do."

His granddaughter Marisol Piermarini, 18 months old, had died in the night as the house collapsed on her.

ABBEY Boon can’t explain how she knows she’s a girl – she just is.

Some of the 11-year-old’s earliest memories include asking her parents for a fairy dress, taking Barbies to preschool, playing with her grandmother’s makeup and throwing a Ben 10 watch received as a gift across the room in disgust.

Abbey was born a boy and until about a year ago went by Ethan at home and school.

Read more of Abbey’s story here.