A prisoner recaptured after being on the run for nearly 12 hours on Sunday has been too injured to front court on the NSW mid-north coast.

Today the Macleay Valley is suffering unprecedented drought, but 70 years ago it was inundated with "mighty waves as high as telegraph poles" that flooded the region and left 2,000 people homeless.

A Kendall resident says he is certain he saw William Tyrrell being driven away by a blonde woman in a car at high speed moments after the toddler vanished from the New South Wales mid-north coast almost five years ago.

Washing machine repairman Bill Spedding is seeking up to $1 million in compensation after accusing NSW Police of causing him "reputational damage" by wrongly linking him to the disappearance of William Tyrrell.

An innovative plan to flood a fireground is being employed on the NSW mid-north coast to extinguish a fire that has been burning for more than six weeks.

The winds are not giving firefighters any breaks as a fire in the Clarence Valley moves in on properties and blazes near Armidale and Tenterfield remain "absolutely enormous", according to the Rural Fire Service.

What started as a school project to make art from drink bottle lids has ended up with 3D-printed prosthetic limbs made from recycled plastic.

The number of homes lost to three fires in northern NSW rises to nine as strong winds continue to hamper the efforts of firefighters to bring them under control.

The number of whale entanglements in ropes and floats has reached an unprecedented 35 incidents off NSW so far this year, so commercial fishers are meeting to discuss better practices.

MORNING BRIEFING: NSW Sports Minister John Sidoti says claims he misused his position in a conflict of interest are 'gross misrepresentations', while Deputy Premier John Barilaro urges governments to take climate change seriously.

Five new photos of William Tyrrell are made public by the NSW Coroner as well as the transcript of a key witness who said he cursed a woman he saw driving with an unrestrained child in the backseat.

Exchanging garbage for clothes might seem an unusual trade, but that is exactly what happens at the Seaside Scavenge.

A 3.5-metre leopard seal has come ashore in northern NSW as authorities warn eager onlookers to keep their distance from the potentially deadly marine mammal.

Young, adventurous and enterprising couple Jess Davidson and Andy Hoffman quit their jobs to follow a dream more than a year ago.

Farmers along Australia's normally green east coast are reeling from the worst drought they have ever seen and face a tough summer if it doesn't rain in the next few months.

A common struggle for Aboriginal elders is how to make their language and culture appeal to young people in order for it to be carried on.

Much-needed support is rolling in for drought-affected farmers hit by a massive bushfire burning in northern New South Wales.

Members of a NSW rugby league club who were photographed at an airport wearing offensive t-shirts emblazoned with a topless mermaid look set to face the wrath of the sport's officials.

A search is underway for a small plane that has gone missing while flying two people from Murwillumbah to Taree in northern New South Wales, after it failed to arrive at its destination.

NSW Police confirm two men, reported to be father and son, died in a plane crash west of Coffs Harbour.

Wazza the koala has left carers astounded after she was collected by a car and endured a 10km trip down a major NSW roadway, only to bolt up a tree afterwards.

Coach and former professional surfer Wayne 'Huddo' Hudson loves sharing his passion for the waves, but there was a time he was told none of it would be possible.

Police are appealing for witnesses after a car hit two women in an "horrific" incident in Nambucca Heads on Saturday night, with the mother of one of the women later charged with manslaughter.

MORNING BRIEFING: A woman has been charged with murder after a man was found with multiple stab wounds in a Sydney apartment complex, while easing weather conditions have helped firefighters in Tenterfield gain the upper hand on a bushfire.

Coastal dairy farms are culling their herds because they can not afford to feed them while they and their communities feel the flow-on effect of drought.

A plea made by a group of patchworkers to help find their stolen quilts has been heard internationally.

In today's busy and technology-driven world, children are increasingly suffering from anxiety, and there's often little time to reflect, or play outside. Two NSW women are hoping to change that.

Plastic packaging

750-year-old Indigenous bones, discovered under a house on the New South Wales mid-north coast, are returned to the place where they were found.

The NSW Rural Fire Service downgrades an emergency warning for a fire at Backwater near Armidale, as hot and dry conditions continue to fuel bushfires in the area.

They were Australia's worst bus-crash tragedies and they happened within weeks of each other on the Pacific Highway. Fifty-six people were killed and 63 injured and 30 years on the pain still lingers for many.

NSW Deputy Premier says asking mining companies to consider greenhouse gas emissions from Australian coal exports "doesn't pass the pub test"

Australia's reigning Indigenous Drag Queen says it's tough being Indigenous, gay, and drag but it's important to be true to who you are.

There are reports of property damage in the town of Darawank, north of Forster-Tuncurry on the NSW north coast where a bushfire is burning at emergency level.