Latest rat run turns 8km trip into 300m journey
Cameras needed on new bridge to stop motorists flouting the rules, residents say.
Latest NSW news
'Unnecessary anxiety amongst veterans'
![Labor MP Hugh McDermott has been challenged to table his military service record.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/j/0/3/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpimqx.11bc3y.png/1465899384818.jpg)
Sean Nicholls 7:30 PM The Veterans Affairs Minister has called on MP Hugh McDermott to table his military service record.
'Do not murder our children with this plan'
![The proposed development of the Manly Vale school.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/i/t/8/p/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpik1w.11bc3y.png/1465901776304.jpg)
Eryk Bagshaw 8:05 PM Parents and residents are furious with government plans to redevelop a school in a high fire danger zone.
Sydney Water's new fees
![<P>](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/z/o/7/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpie5s.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Esther Han 12:21 PM Your water bill is set to become a lot cheaper. But there's a sting in the tail.
New taxes for foreign property buyers
![NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian says a stamp duty and land tax surcharge for foreign property investors will not hurt ...](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/f/a/9/i/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpiaap.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Sean Nicholls 4:42 PM Foreign buyers of property in NSW will be slugged with a 4 per cent stamp duty surcharge and pay an extra 0.4 per cent land tax.
'All we have is glossy documents'
![Metro](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/r/q/0/v/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gphm3g.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Matt O'Sullivan The state government refuses to release detailed business cases for Australia's largest public transport projects.
MP refuses to release military service record
![Labor MP Hugh McDermott is refusing to allow defence to publicly release his service details](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/d/q/d/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gphlnu.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Sean Nicholls A NSW MP has blamed Operation Desert Storm for the Army's poor keeping of his service record.
'The mergers are done and this is a stunt'
![NSW Premier Mike Baird and Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian announced that three state taxes will be abolished from July 1 ...](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/h/y/g/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gphuje.11bc3y.png/1465904640810.jpg)
Melanie Kembrey Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's idea of a plebiscite on council mergers has hit a snag in the form of the NSW Premier.
Orlando victims honoured at Sydney vigil
![Members of the community hold a vigil in Taylor Square to pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando massacre.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/i/6/i/9/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpi63o.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Georgina Mitchell Hundreds have gathered with candles and rainbow flags in Sydney's Taylor Square for a vigil to remember victims of the Florida gay nightclub massacre.
Melanie's $231,000 tip-off
![Melanie Rumball and Tequila](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/h/k/e/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gphaff.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Lucy Cormack One tip-off to a consumer group about insurance netted 740 people compensation.
Rave organisers' 'disregard' for safety
![A 25-year-old man has died at a rave after a suspected drug overdose in NSW North Coast.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/h/i/z/9/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gphoc6.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Ava Benny-Morrison A festivalgoer lay dead in a car from a suspected drug overdose as others partied on around him.
Clouds over hospital childcare centres
![Generic childcare, toddler, preschool, kids, children, play. Thursday 1st September 2011 AFR photo Louie Douvis](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/8/m/4/o/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gph9m6.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Matt O'Sullivan Child care centres at four hospitals in Sydney are set to be closed or privatised.
Identifying a leaf became a murder mystery
![Barbara Briggs aged 89 who is an amazing woman who has worked for the Royal Botanic Gardens for 57 years.
30th June ...](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/g/4/k/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gph8b3.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Lucy Cormack Life as a botanist has taken Dr Barbara Briggs from the Royal Botanic Garden to assisting with a murder mystery.
'The tip of the iceberg'
![Farmers have been cutting down paddock trees at an increasing rate.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/h/8/p/o/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gph8m5.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Peter Hannam The state's farmers have lopped paddock trees at an accelerating rate in the past 18 months even before a new land-clearing law eases controls further, government figures obtained by the Greens show.
Co-ops the solution to sharing economy trap
![US lawyer Janelle Orsi who says worker co-operatives are the solution in the sharing economy world.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/f/t/f/n/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpftvt.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Anna Patty Workers are being urged to form co-operatives they collectively own to protect their entitlements and to out-do Uber and Airtasker at their own game.
It costs $4.20 a week to power Pia's car
![Pia Peterson.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/g/9/1/o/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpgkn6.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Lucy Cormack And she's not the only one reaping the benefits of new technology.
Students are turning away from languages
![In decline: foreign language enrolments.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/c/k/h/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpg6ek.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Kelsey Munro Foreign language learning in Australia is in serious decline in the second decade of the so-called Asian Century.Â
'There's only one plan'
![Scholarship recipient Braeden Rodricks at Patrician Brothers Blacktown, where he is a house captain.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/g/a/3/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpgrlj.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Kirsty Needham The government calls it a ''hand up''. For Braeden, it's a golden opportunity to fulfill his dreams.
'It's unacceptable and unfair'
![The wait for cataract removal in NSW public hospitals is three times longer than the median Australian wait.](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/2/2/e/3/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpgzav.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Kirsty Needham A record number of patients - 74,351 - are waiting for elective surgical procedures.
The key to whether babies are immunised
![A mother's objection to vaccination is the single biggest reason three per cent of Australian infants aren't immunised, ...](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/r/i/k/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpfhug.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Cosima Marriner New research has pinpointed the single biggest reason why 3 per cent of Australian babies still aren't being immunised.
'Accident waiting to happen'
![Trams](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/v/i/p/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpg0pk.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Matt O'Sullivan Sydney light rail workers to strike over changes to shifts, safety concerns.
Rugby 'too dangerous' for my son: ex-Tah
![Angus Talbot (left) and Luke Harrison are both 14 and both play for the Lindfield Junior Rugby Club. Luke has just been ...](/web/20160615020709im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/g/a/c/3/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpgoxi.11bc3y.png/1465894322217.jpg)
Eamonn Duff An ex-Waratah star has banned his teenage son from the sport he loves.