Hamish MacLean

''Poverty and hunger'' in the world is an issue year 13 Tokomairiro High School pupil Rowan Blackbourn cares about - and now has a chance to learn about.

In the five years, two months and 27 days that Beaumont Hotel lease-holder Alison Mills has run the hotel and country pub on the western side of the Clutha River at the Beaumont Bridge, she has seen the bridge undergoing maintenance or repairs roughly every six months.

A year has passed since Steve Hill (53) took the reins of the Clutha District Council as its chief executive. Mr Hill moved to Balclutha from Tauranga, where he was Western Bay of Plenty District Council manager for regulatory and customer services. He and his wife Lana have two adult children and a Newfoundland dog named Maddie. Now that Mr Hill has had time to settle into his role and life in the Clutha, Hamish Maclean finds out his impressions of the people and the place.

The Clutha District Council has bought 8ha of land - the former Rosebank Sawmill site - to promote industrial growth in the area.

A slip near the Otago-Southland boundary in the Catlins has closed the Southern Scenic Route between Papatowai and the Niagara-Tokanui Highway.

Invercargill runner Jordan Rackham overcame icy conditions to win the annual Balclutha Half Marathon, in a personal best time yesterday.

Clutha Health First has accepted funding cuts by the Southern District Health Board but says the deal will not affect services or staffing levels.

Persistent rain ''on already saturated ground'' in the South has taken a toll on Clutha roads.

Amy Morrison (left, 22), of Inch Clutha, Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan, and Nikeisha Clarke (19), of Owaka, meet at the Clutha District Council offices yesterday before the young Clutha pair leave for the Aspiring Leaders' Forum/Te Wananga Rangatira Tumanako in Wellington at the beginning of July.

Lawrence teen Taylor Whitehead would like to write a novel, but she is not sure if she has one in her.

It appears visitors are returning to the Catlins area after the Christchurch earthquakes ''knocked the guts out'' of tourism in the coastal south, as one local tourism operator put it. Hamish MacLean reports.

A 19-year-old  woman driving a ute which skidded off the road and rolled into a paddock has told of the panicked minutes before she was rescued from the smoking vehicle by a passer-by.

The investigation into missing Invercargill boy Mike Zhao-Beckenridge and his stepfather John Beckenridge will not be closed, despite police referring the case to the coroner.

Examinations are continuing today into the wreckage of a car linked to missing Invercargill boy Mike Zhao-Beckenridge.

Arches could greet visitors driving into Lawrence after the old town swimming pool is decommissioned.