Here's what you need to know this morning.
Macquarie tussle tightens
You cannot get much closer than the current battle for the seat of Macquarie, which covers the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury regions.
With 86 per cent of the vote counted, after preferences, just 50 separate Labor incumbent Susan Templeman — who held the seat with a 2.2 per cent margin — from Liberal candidate Sarah Richards.
A result could be days away, with around 4,000 absentee votes still to be counted and postal votes also dribbling in — and a recount is also likely, given how tight the contest has become.
Smoke shop stabbing
Police have charged a 14-year-old boy for allegedly throwing a knife at a store assistant in a Western Sydney cigarette store.
The boy is alleged to have entered the Parramatta tobacconist and threatened the 24-year-old assistant with a knife while demanding money.
An argument occurred and the man allegedly threw the kitchen knife, which hit the woman's right eyebrow.
The woman had to undergo surgery at Westmead Hospital to remove the knife, and the boy has been charged with armed robbery.
NSW Labor leadership contest
Two Labor MPs are expected to go head to head in the race to be the next NSW Opposition leader, with the process kicking off today when the party's caucus executive meets.
The ABC has been told Kogarah MP Chris Minns is poised to contest the NSW Labor leadership when nominations open tomorrow, but he could make his announcement today.
It is understood Strathfield MP Jodi McKay and Port Stephens MP Kate Washington are also considering a run at the top job, but the ABC has been told the two MPs have agreed only one of them will challenge Minns.
Labor MPs and the party's 20,000-odd members will get an equal vote, with the entire process expected to take up to six weeks.
Former teacher charged
An 83-year-old former teacher has been charged over historic child sexual assaults against a student on Sydney's Northern Beaches 50 years ago.
NSW Police allege the assaults happened at a high school in Brookvale between 1969 and 1976 when the man taught there.
He was arrested yesterday at a nursing home in Kiama and charged with several offences, including two counts of buggery and eight counts of assaulting the male student from the age of 11.
He was granted bail to appear in court on July 30.
