ABC NewcastleCast

How do you mourn a pet when it passes?

Christine Mastello knows what a haircut can do.

Everybody has their favourite local beach.

How safe are you online?

With the rise in true crime as entertainment in podcasts and documentaries, cold cases and curious legal decisions are getting more and more attention than ever before – but do these shows match the reality of legal advocacy?

Simon Schofield's house is like any other. Behind the front door, it's what Simon and his house mates are doing that is blazing a new trail for people living with a disability.

And while Simon's now enjoying share life of cricket and cleaning, the journey to find a place to call home is much like any other in the Hunter – but with the added challenges of disability, it's something Simon wants everyone to have the same opportunities.

Buses of supporters screamed their lungs out on Sunday for the Knights, as the NRLW squad rolled into their first premiership.

It has evoked memories of the mens Knights first win in ’97 – but the plan of an NRLW win came together long before the women held the trophy aloft.

With the cost of living rising and affordable housing becoming rarer than hen's teeth, more and more people are falling into homelessness. But you won't necessarily see this in the Hunter Street Mall. People are crashing on friend's couches with no fixed address, or sleeping in parks in tents.

For Rolanda Clout-Collins and Harriet Bell, two young women farming in very different ways in very different parts of the Hunter, the past year has been challenging. But both are committed to smashing the stereotype of the old white man standing around his paddock. 

This week, we're uncovering the nearly 200 year old history of Jewish settlement in the Hunter. And it all starts with an overgrown and forgotten cemetery on the edge of town and a 100 year old woman who wanted a quiet place to rest.