Today is December 7, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, Jack de Belin's legal battles have coincided with the stood-down NRL star reportedly undergoing surgery for testicular cancer, and a 10-year-old boy who was struck by a car at Unanderra earlier this week has died in hospital.

Today is December 4, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, Austinmer Rural Fire Service volunteers are caught in the middle of a tug of war over a new station site, and a Victorian businessman Andrew Goldman has been named as one of two people who died in a helicopter crash in the Southern Highlands overnight.

Today is December 3, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, the developers behind plans to build 82 apartments on a refashioned Thirroul Plaza have been advised to withdraw the application or risk its likely rejection, and the last time Wollongong councillor Leigh Colacino spoke to his friend Brett Harris, the Stanwell Park man expressed his deep concerns about the danger of his suburb's roads.

Today is December 2, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, Wollongong's CBD of the future will be significantly smaller - and so will many of the new buildings within it - as the council moves ahead with its most significant planning reforms in more than a decade, and a dirty toilet on a construction site might not seem like a big deal, but it can signal the potential for far bigger problems.

Today is December 1, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, a mistrial has been declared in the case against St George Illawarra Dragons player Jack de Belin and his friend Callan Sinclair after the jury were unable to reach a unanimous or majority verdict, and a report into faster rail for the Illawarra and other areas of the state commissioned by the government more than two years ago may finally be released to the public.

Today is November 30, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, Endeavour Energy emergency crews are responding to power outages affecting 55,000 homes and businesses due to Sunday's gale force winds, and police are reminding bushwalkers to be prepared in hot conditions after a woman was rescued and others suffered heat exhaustion Saturday.

Today is November 27, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, half the incidents Lake Illawarra Police respond to involve domestic and family violence, so there's good reason to establish the nation's first Women's Trauma Recovery Centre in the district says Whitlam MP Stephen Jones, and a rail link connecting the Illawarra to western Sydney has received the backing of major players in the region, including the operators of Port Kembla and the University of Wollongong.

Today is November 26, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, Shellharbour airport operator Link Airways has been able to restart its Sunday flights to Brisbane and Melbourne thanks to the recent bout of border openings and easing restrictions, and the temperature is finally starting to rise in preparation for the first day of summer next week, Albion Park is set to reach the mid-30s over the weekend while parts of the state hit 45.

Today is November 25, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, mountain biking pump tracks could pop up in suburbs across Wollongong if a new trial track set up in Figtree over the weekend goes well, and the boss of Destination Wollongong has thrown his weight behind a plan to create a purpose-built festival and major events space for the Illawarra, but is not sure if Bombo is the right spot.

Today is November 24, 2020 and this is your daily news briefing from The Illawarra Mercury. In today’s update, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a "tsunami of anxiety" for mental health nurses, and their patients, says Shellharbour Hospital worker Eddie Barry, and police have located the owner of an overturned kayak that sparked an hours-long search for a possible missing person in waters off a notorious rock platform at Port Kembla at the weekend.