7.00AM: Good morning and welcome to the Border Breakfast Wrap-Up. Over the next few hours we will be bringing you as much information as possible from across the Border region and nationally.
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Weather, road conditions, breaking news, we will have it all - and we'd love to have your help! If there's anything happening in your part of the world, drop us a line! Email scott.hazlewood@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Free ride for criminals as police told not to chase
CRIMINALS in the North East are avoiding arrest simply by driving off from police as a new policy bans officers from chasing after them.
There have been multiple cases of officers letting offenders drive away since the new Victoria Police policy came into effect earlier this month.
Technology allows rapid assessment of stroke victims
THE odds of surviving and recovering from a stroke have skyrocketed for Border residents, thanks to a new service giving access to neurological specialists.
The $8.5 million Victorian Stroke Telemedicine program allows stroke patients in Albury or Wangaratta hospitals to be assessed via videolink by a Melbourne brain expert.
Aker exit is on hold
JASON Akermanis has put his AFL coaching ambitions on hold after re-committing to Ovens and Murray club, North Albury.
The 2001 Brownlow medallist and three-time premiership player will likely stay on as Hoppers coach next season, and possibly for two more years after that.
Weather
7am
► WOLLONGONG, NEW SOUTH WALES: These Illawarra kids might be pint-sized but they are about to prove on national television they are spelling titans.
Holly, Rachel and Grace have been selected to appear on The Great Australian Spelling Bee, which will premiere on Network Ten on Monday.
► BENDIGO, VICTORIA: One assailant was armed with a baseball bat. The other was wielding an axe. The two desperate phone calls concerning family violence came through to a police sergeant at a busy Melbourne station at the same time.
► TASMANIA: Former Tasmanian Greens Leader Nick McKim will replace departing Senator Christine Milne, the party has confirmed.
Mr McKim won a ballot of Greens membership earlier this month, after Senator Milne announced her retirement from politics.
► MANDURAH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is offering a $5000 reward for information leading to the identification and conviction those responsible for the beheading of Houdini the cat.
► MOUNT ISA, QUEENSLAND: Politicians representing three tiers of government expressed sadness when learning of the 39-year-old man and two children to die in the gas explosion.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said her heart went out to victims of the explosion.
► SYDNEY: The fate of the Sydney Harbour Control Tower at Barangaroo was sealed on Thursday when the state government granted approval to knock it down.
A statement from the office of Planning Minister Rob Stokes said the Barangaroo Delivery Authority sought to remove the tower "in order to achieve a naturalistic form and character for the reserve that is consistent with the site's concept plan".
► CANBERRA: Speaker Bronwyn Bishop will almost certainly face a no-confidence motion when Parliament resumes despite belatedly apologising for chartering a taxpayer funded private helicopter ride.
► NEW YORK, UNITED STATES: When the votes came in from the 15-member United Nations Security Council on Thursday, 11 nations voted to establish an independent tribunal to prosecute those responsible for shooting down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, and three countries abstained.
But the only country to oppose the proposal - Russia - used its veto to block hopes that those responsible would be brought to justice.
►REUNION, PACIFIC OCEAN: A number found on the aircraft part washed up on the shore of Reunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, should be the vital clue that will allow authorities to confirm quickly whether it is part of the doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
►UNITED STATES: Lawyers suing Warner Chappell Music over the right to use Happy Birthday To You in a documentary about the song found a key piece of evidence in documents owned by Warner itself which appears to show the existing 1935 copyright is invalid.
►UNITED STATES: Walter Palmer, the US dentist and big game hunter who killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, has written a letter to his patients apologising for the disruption to their treatment while the international furore continues.
Palmer's River Bluff Dental practice in Minnesota has remained closed since it was revealed this week that he was the tourist who shot dead Cecil, a well-known lion in the Hwange National Park.
Port Macquarie’s Rowena Gilbett is among a group of enterprising young women vying for top honours in a magazine competition.
The 26-year-old Kempsey High School teacher founded an after-school program called Strong Girl Fitness which combines fitness training with positive body image, teamwork and leadership building.
The initiative earned Ms Gilbett a semi-final position in Australian Women’s Weekly Women of the Future competition which helps young women achieve their dreams.
A judging panel will select one winner and six runners-up from the 15 semi-finalists with prize money, Qantas travel bursaries and Qantas Club membership up for grabs.