Josh Mellington still cannot explain why he chose to drive down the Hume Freeway at 164 kilometres per hour. Read more.

CRICKET Albury-Wodonga’s provincial season could be forced to start on hard wickets. Read more.

An Albury man has admitted he almost tossed away his division one winning TattsLotto ticket, which netted him more than $684,000 in the weekend’s TattsLotto draw. Read more.

The man accused of murdering Whorouly woman Karen Chetcuti will face a three-day committal hearing in March. Read more.

Kevin Mack was elected Albury mayor in a 5-4 vote on Monday night, indicating he would likely resign from Wodonga police after more than 35 years of service. Read more.

Mostly sunny and 15 degrees today - before three solid days of rain kick in.

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

Before we get into the serious stuff (although some would argue this very much is), let’s have a look at the red carpet arrivals at the 2016 Brownlow Medal last night. Check out all the photos here.

NEWCASTLE: A random act of kindness from a Newcastle-based bloke has won a host of admirers on social media. Read more.

BENDIGO: A THIRD housemate has been charged with the murder of Kangaroo Flat woman Samantha Kelly. Read more.

ALBURY: An Albury man has admitted he almost tossed away his division one winning TattsLotto ticket, which netted him more than $684,000 in the weekend’s TattsLotto draw. Read more.

TAMWORTH: POLICE allege a man who wielded a shortened shotgun at patrons in a pub used the firearm two days before the bizarre incident near Gunnedah. Read more.

TASMANIA: A MAN has died in a single-vehicle crash at Forthside on Monday night. Read more.

BALLARAT: Western Bulldogs ruckman Jordan Roughead has shown positive signs in his recovery following a freak eye injury suffered in the club’s historic victory over the Giants. Read more.

BALLINA: A great white shark was seen off Lighthouse Beach in Ballina, on the NSW North Coast, a short time after a teenage boy was bitten on the leg while surfing, police say. Read more.

FORBES: Floodwaters have peaked in Forbes, but residents have been warned that more wet weather forecast for later in the week could cause river levels to rise again. Read more.

DENILIQUIN: Securing Keith Urban as the headline act was a “dream come true” for theDeni Ute Muster team. Read more.

MT ISA: THE 25-YEAR-OLD man alleged to have tried to strangle a police officer at the Mount Isa Races on Saturday has not applied for bail. Read more.

National news

Australia has lost in its claim that an international commission has no jurisdiction to hear a complaint by East Timor in the bitter dispute over undersea oil and gas riches. Read more.

Three federal politicians are calling on whistleblowers to send them poker machine industry secrets with a promise they will be made public using parliamentary privilege. Read more.

High-level talks between the Turnbull government and the opposition on the same-sex marriage plebiscite have achieved nothing but animosity, with both sides blaming each other for a failure to compromise. Read more.

UNITED STATES: An active shooter in Houston may have injured at least six people Monday morning before being shot by police, authorities said. Read more.

INDONESIA: The boyfriend of Byron Bay woman Sara Connor has "come up with the courage" to apologise to the family of a police officer found dead on Kuta beach. Read more.

PHILIPPINES: A seven-months pregnant mother of two has told how a masked assassin accompanied by police shot dead her husband they mistook for a pusher in president Rodrigo Duterte's deadly anti-drugs crackdown across the Philippines. Read more.

1066 - William the Conqueror's troops set sail for England

1290 - Earthquake in Gulf of Chili China, reportedly kills 100,000

1540 – Society of Jesus (Jesuits) founded by Ignatius Loyola comfirmed by Pope Paul III in Rome

1779 – John Adams negotiates Revolutionary War peace terms with Britain

1821 – Mexican Empire declares its independence; Mexican revolutionary forces occupy Mexico City as Spanish withdraw

1822 - French scholar Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta stone

1905 –  The physics journal Annalen der Physik publishes Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².

Facts supplied: onthisday.com

Right now, “Bulldog Ray” Neville is in Swans territory.

This was not how he had dreamed of spending an AFL grand final week, before his beloved Western Bulldogs’ ‘big dance’, but he knows it will be an experience.

Read his story.