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 hear from you! If there's anything happening in your part of the world, drop us a line! Email scott.hazlewood@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Sophie Mirabella's husband says Father Peter MacLeod-Miller has over-stepped the mark
FATHER Peter MacLeod-Miller's use of a photo from Sophie Mirabella’s wedding day to promote his push for marriage equality "crossed the line", according to husband Greg.
Mr Mirabella said on Tuesday the St Matthew’s Anglican Church leader had elevated political point-scoring on the issue and denigrated his wedding day. READ MORE.
Restart Albury Wodonga tackles poverty on the Border
A BORDER charity is stepping up to the plate on homelessness.
Restart Albury Wodonga has been collecting and distributing household items for homeless and needy people since May. READ MORE
Online program to become top of the class
STUDENTS will embrace a “university style” of learning at the end of this year.
Seniors at Trinity Anglican College will need to bring their own laptops to school to learn class material.
They will have access to teaching materials online while at school and at home. READ MORE
Lavington still hurting for their mate
LAVINGTON coach James Saker says his side will be mentally fit enough to play against Albury on Saturday, despite still hurting from the Kade Stevens incident.
Stevens has been released from The Alfred Hospital and is recovering at home after fracturing vertebrae in his neck against Wodonga Raiders at Birallee Park last weekend. READ MORE
WEATHER
7am
Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered.
►BALLARAT, VIC: The meaning of Christmas is different for everyone. But Ballarat father John Maher will never forget what it meant for his daughter Carmen. His beloved Carmen was killed in a car crash, after falling asleep at the wheel, 23 days after receiving her driver’s license in 1995. FULL STORY
► TUMUT, NSW: A caravan park cleaner has suffered burns to 70 per cent of her body after turning on a light switch ignited a gas build-up inside a cabin. READ MORE
►MT ISA, QLD: Organisers of this year’s Isa Rodeo are confident the event is the biggest in its 56-year history. The largest and richest rodeo in the southern hemisphere wrapped up in spectacular style after the Open Bull Ride, the final event of the three day rodeo. PHOTOS
►BENDIGO, VIC: Bendigo lost its oldest digger on Sunday when Arthur Hibbert passed away peacefully, two weeks shy of his 104th birthday.
Born in Northcote in 1911, Mr Hibbert lived the last 42 years of his life in Bendigo. As a working man he ran a boot repair, a mixed business and finally a cattle and sheep farm in Yarrawalla. READ MORE
►NEWCASTLE, NSW: The Port of Newcastle has broken record for amount of coal loaded in one day. FULL STORY
►TAMWORTH, NSW: A meteor shower is responsible for the almighty “boom” that shattered the peace yesterday morning. Slumbering locals were given the rudest of awakenings about 1.30am when a mysterious explosion over Tamworth rattled windows and shook foundations. READ MORE
►MURRAY BRIDGE, SA: A 46-year-old Murray Bridge man will face court today for allegedly hijacking a car and attempting to hijack a second car when he crashed the first. FULL STORY
►TASMANIA: A missing man, who is the subject of an extensive sea and land search on Flinders Island, was a known criminal who once cut his own uncle’s throat. But as the search continues, the man’s family has described the 42-year-old as a ‘‘good-hearted bloke’’ who suffered because of a disadvantaged upbringing. FULL STORY
►LEETON, NSW: A man has been charged with assaulting a woman with a cattle prod, pointing a gun at her and spraying her with a capsicum spray in sustained assaults over a month. He also faces drug manufacturing charges. READ MORE
►NSW: The population of Louth, in far west NSW, swelled from a few dozen to a few thousand for the annual races on Saturday. Check out the action at one of the state's iconic outback race meets.
►Prime Minister Tony Abbott has thrown an olive branch to supporters of same-sex marriage, announcing the the Coalition will look at having a referendum or plebiscite on same-sex marriage to solve the issue once and for all. READ MORE
► Samsung has defended using plastic bags and tape to prevent its faulty washing machines from bursting into flames, despite growing reports of problems occurring even after repairs. FULL STORY
►When is a child not a child? If you sell alcohol, the answer is: when they're a sports fan. Monash University research shows children are watching thousands of alcohol advertisements while watching live sport, which is the only time they are allowed to be screened in daylight hours. FULL STORY
►Prices for cattle have climbed so high that values are now being compared to lamb. With escalating returns for cattle, Meat and Livestock Australia figures show the indicator for trade steers, currently sitting at 613c/kg, was dearer than the national saleyard trade lamb indicator which was 586c/kg. READ MORE
► JAPAN: Japan has restarted its first nuclear reactor since new safety rules were ordered in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, despite vocal public opposition and anxiety. READ MORE
►LONDON: Metal fragments found in a Ukrainian field near where the plane came down could be from the surface-to-air missile system, investigators say. READ MORE
► UNITED STATES: Authorities believe a US man who went missing in Yellowstone National Park on Friday was killed by a grizzly bear, and park rangers think they have the suspect in custody. If the evidence points to a match, Ms Campbell said, the bear will be euthanised. If that happens and park officials are unable to find a home for the bear's two cubs – one has been captured, the other remains in the wild – both animals will also be euthanised. READ MORE
►HONG KONG: A drunk Australian tourist was arrested after hijacking a minibus and taking it on a joyride in Hong Kong's Happy Valley, before leaving it smashed in the street. FULL STORY
Suicide has directly affected Lee-Ann Foord's family after the loss of her brother more than 20 years ago.
"The last conversation we had he was telling me what was going on in his life and I thought I tried everything, but that's not what he needed at that point in time.
"Now that I know what I know I probably could have helped him so I guess doing this line of work puts some sense to him dying."
It was from that tragic day when he took his own life where the first seed for her passion for helping people in their darkest hour was first planted.
For the last 18 years she has been a key figure at Lifeline Port Macquarie, and her work was recently recognised when she was awarded the Excellence in Suicide Prevention Community Development award from Lifeline at a conference in Tasmania.
