► Forest bill’s demise looms: The Hodgman government’s controversial forest bill is expected to be voted down in the upper house, after sitting in limbo for weeks. Read more.

► Regions hindered by law: Regional homeowners could be disadvantaged when new government legislation for accommodation sharing comes in next month, Stayz corporate affairs director Jordan Condo says. Read more.

► First port of call at Mission: For those who are doing it tough during winter, City Mission’s Leah Koroma is normally the first smiling face they see. Read more.

► School starting age changes in Tasmania versus Australia: Tasmanian children could be the youngest children in the nation to participate in school-based Kindergarten pre-school programs if the state government passes school starting age changes. Read more

► Ginn aims to heal state’s old wounds: Three-time Olympic rowing champion Drew Ginn is hoping to reunite the Tasmanian cricket community when he start his new role as Cricket Tasmania high-performance manager next month. Read more

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

Regional news

►Illawarra: A young girl has died after being pulled from a bathtub at her home in Sydney's south-west on Tuesday evening in what is being described as a "tragic accident."

NSW Police say the four-year-old was found unresponsive in the bath at her home in West Hoxton just after 6pm. Read on.

► Bendigo: Cat killer or wildlife warrior? That is the debate raging online after a Bendigo woman posed for a photograph alongside three cats she shot dead with a bow and arrow. Read on. 

► Newcastle: FORMER Marist Brothers Hamilton headmaster Brother Christopher Wade has been found guilty of child sex offences against a Marist Hamilton student in the mid 1970s, and a second student at a Kogarah Marist school from 1977. Brother Christopher – real name William Henry Wade, 78 – pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting the boys while headmaster at both schools, but was found guilty of the offences on Wednesday after a judge-alone trial before Sydney District Court Judge David Arnott.  More here.

► Bendigo: Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham is seeking to reclaim funds allocated to schools under Labor’s Building the Education Revolution scheme that have since closed down. In response, Federal opposition education spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek accused the government of distraction prior to Gonski 2.0 funding passing through the Senate. More here.

► The Turnbull government has locked in the numbers for a stunning victory on its Gonski 2.0 school funding package by agreeing to fast-track its spending plan and pump an extra $5 billion into the nation's schools.

The government can pass its changes into law without the support of the Greens after it secured the necessary 10 votes from the Senate crossbench on Tuesday. Read on.

► The 18-year-old mother of a baby who died suddenly in May has been charged in relation to her death. 

The four-month old girl, Anastasia Hand, died in Princess Margaret Hospital on May 26 after being found unresponsive by her father in their Capel home two days earlier and rushed to Bunbury Hospital. Full report here.

► Indonesia: Bali police were forced to hold off an investigation to ensure four prison escapees, including Australian Shaun Davidson, were not still trapped inside the escape tunnel after rain made conditions unstable.

The four prisoners have not been sighted since it emerged they had escaped during prison roll call at Kerobokan jail at 8am Monday. Read on.

► Portugal: Fire experts are hoping adopting Australian-style warning systems may prevent future catastrophes after the most devastating blaze in decades left 62 people dead in Portugal. Locals in the town of Pedrogao Grande are struggling to understand how so many people died as they tried to flee the blaze in scenes reminiscent of Black Saturday with people incinerated in their cars. Read on.