Steve Earle is not a fluffball of peace, light and unicorns, though he wears his heart on his sleeve – and his jacket and his jeans. It can get messy. And at 68 his work isn’t getting any fluffier. Husband to six wives (one twice-married) and with three sons (his firstborn, Justin Towns Earle, died tragically in 2020), telling it like it is, both personally and professionally makes his work some of the most important in modern music history – Seven recently spoke to Steve at home in New York about life and his preparations for Bluesfest.

The new NSW Farmers Far North Coast Branch, that will be representing farmers from the Tweed and Byron Shires, launched yesterday.

The Echo loves your letters and is proud to provide a community forum on the issues that matter most to our readers and the people of the NSW north coast. So don’t be a passive reader, send us your epistles.

A 2019 UN report Nature’s Dangerous Decline ‘Unprecedented’; Species Extinction Rates ‘Accelerating’ found that ‘nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history’.

While we get the hemp industry going on the Northern Rivers and the plant is legal in many countries across the world the police have once again headed out with their choppers and dogs to curb the cannabis cultivation that the region is known for. 

Attempts by flood-affected homeowners to retrofit their homes with flood-resilient materials are being cruelled by insurance companies and builders, a local resident says.