60 per cent of nurses attacked More than 60 per cent of Tasmanian nurses have been subject to verbal or physical violence in the past year.

UTAS dropout rate spikes The University of Tasmania has the nation’s worst dropout rates, with more than 40 per cent of first year students walking away from their degrees – double the national average. 

Band wins big in competition The St Patrick's College Concert Band has cleaned up at the South Australian School Bands Festival, taking the opportunity to spread the love of music while there. 

Rape trial ends, jury deciding man’s fate A jury is deciding the fate of a man accused of raping his ex-wife.

Midas touch leads to a golden record in finals Rocherlea’s Andrew Cox-Goodyer is uncomfortable at the suggestion that he comes with a premiership guarantee.

Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered. 

► KENDALL: Monday will mark two long and painful years since three-year-old William Tyrrell vanished. The little boy was last seen in the front yard of his grandmother’s house in Kendall. Read more here.

► TASMANIA: The University of Tasmania has the nation’s worst dropout rates, with more than 40 per cent of first year students walking away from their degrees – double the national average. More here.

► DUBBO: Two years ago, Jamie Manning’s life was dramatically altered when he was involved in an accident that very nearly killed him. “People say he’s unlucky,” wife Karen Manning said. “But it was the luckiest day of his life. He was lucky to get out of the car, he was lucky to get to Dubbo, he was lucky to get to Sydney. He wasn’t supposed to make it.” More here.

► NEWCASTLE: The Marist Brothers have formally apologised to the family of Andrew Nash, whose suicide in 1974 at the age of 13 has been one of the prime symbols of the pain and suffering caused by child sexual abuse, examined at the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic hearing of the Royal Commission. More here.

► WODONGA: It took only one encounter with five-year-old Sufian “Sufi” Ahmad to realise just how bubbly and full of energy he was. That's what Albury-Wodonga's Islamic Society president Yakub Mohammed remembered of the young boy, who died on Tuesday afternoon. More here.

► SMITHTON: Police believe a property where about $2.3 million worth of cannabis was seized had been operating as a commercial operation for several years. More here.

► NOWRA: Police have arrested a man they claim to be one of the ringleaders in an alleged gun supply and drug ring operating in the Gunnedah and Liverpool Plains area. More here.

► MANDURAH: Another entry has made it into the Mandurah's worst parker honours list, with an enterprising driver remedying the often-frustrating traffic issues on Sholl Street by parking right in the middle of a roundabout. More here.

► WAGGA WAGGA: Wagga’s top cop has hosed down claims a city-wide youth curfew would be the “silver bullet fix” to the city’s teen crime scourge. More here.

► BALLARAT: An axe-murderer demanded that his family intimidate witnesses, in an attempt to get them to change their evidence years before his trial, a court has heard. More here.

► The fallout from Sam Dastyari's entitlement and stupidity is considerably greater than his unimportant political career. The immediately obvious stuff is the embarrassment for Labor, the gift for the government, the impetus for a federal ICAC (if either major party had sufficient integrity) and the warning it gives casually venal politicians. Dastyari is to expenses payments what Bronwyn Bishop was to helicopter charters. More here.

► Billionaire James Packer has donated close to $250,000 to the Australian Republican Movement. Fairfax Media has confirmed the donation, paid in two instalments this year, is the second-largest in the ARM's history. More here.

► A crafty thief concocted an elaborate plot to steal a Ducati motorbike during a Gumtree test drive gone wrong that has left the owner out of pocket more than $17,000. More here.

► Two of the top stewards of Australia's economy have issued an unusually blunt warning to Parliament and voters, saying they must accept the need for "tough policy decisions" to start repairing the budget now. More here.

► Indonesian President Joko Widodo has flagged he will visit Australia in November in a powerful indication of the warmth between the leaders of the two countries. More here.

► Canadian singer and actor Michael Bublé is born in 1975.

Port Macquarie teacher Janine Stewart’s passion for mathematics is evident.

“I like to instill absolute pure joy for patterns and relationships in the real world,” she said.

“Math is fun, absolutely. It is life. There’s absolutely nothing boring about it.

“If you come to any of the maths classrooms at St Columba you’ll see kids that are happy, engaged an enthusiastic about learning.

“The key is making it relevant, purposeful and meaningful for them.”

Read more here.