Wednesday, May 26, 2021: Top stories from the Newcastle Herald, your trusted voice in the Hunter

The newly appointed administrator of the state's Crown Land cemeteries believes Sandgate will not be impacted by an efficiency drive across the sector. THE final designs for a new seven-storey acute services building - part of the $780 million John Hunter Health and Innovation Precinct - have been unveiled. Up to 1000 new houses, 2000 more people and 540 new jobs are set for Lake Macquarie's north after council endorsed a rezoning proposal. In sport and Merewether Surfboard Club's Morgan Cibilic may have lost to two-time world champion Gabriel Medina in his first final on the championship tour on Tuesday but he has skyrocketed his ranking from no 11 to world no.5. And the coronavirus pandemic has further fueled Australia's hunger for fast food. Almost 16 million Australians aged 14 or older now order take away food each month, according to the latest research from Roy Morgan. Almost one in five of us eat fast food 10 times per month with McDonald's, KFC, Hungry Jack's and Domino's Pizza the most popular choices.