►LAURIETON: Olympic boxer Shelley Watts faced some tough questions at a welcome home Q and A...see photos and a video here.

►KEMPSEY: Re-elected Kempsey Shire mayor Liz Campbell feels delighted, privileged and humbled by the community’s ringing endorsement of her leadership at Saturday’s council election...full story here.

►PORT MACQUARIE: Shark attack survivor Dale Carr and his mate Shane Roche who rescued him from the water at Lighthouse Beach are raising awareness about the impacts of post traumatic stress disorder, encouraging anyone who is struggling to seek out a mate and talk...full story here.

►TAREE: Leteah Mitchell has been named the NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the year at the NSW Training Awards...full story here.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE NATION

Need a national news snapshot first thing - well, we have you covered. 

► WODONGA: Police resorted to firing weapons during a violent chase in Wodonga on Sunday afternoon that saw three police vehicles rammed as a man tried to flee in a stolen car. Read more

►PORT MACQUARIE: September 12 marks two long years of anguish since young William Tyrrell went missing from his grandmother's home at Kendall. Read more

►NSW: The counting continues across the state after ratepayers headed to the polls to elect their new councils. Updates here

►MAITLAND: Seventeen-year-old Maddison Elliott will swim for Paralympic gold in her pet event, the 100m freestyle, this morning. Elliott is a clear favourite to take our her first individual Paralympics gold after winning gold as a 13-year-old in London in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Read more

►WOLLONGONG: An animal rights group has called on Wollongong City Council to ban circuses with live animals to stop organisations like Stardust – currently performing at Warrawong’s Kully Bay – from visiting the city. Read more

► ARMIDALE: A three-year-old girl was unresponsive when she was pulled from an Armidale waterway on Sunday afternoon. Onlookers desperately performed CPR on her until paramedics arrived. Read more

► WAGGA: As the river is expected to peak again tomorrow, the State Emergency Service (SES) is reminding Riverina residents not to dive through flood waters. The SES attended 71 jobs from Friday until Sunday with most occurring during heavy rainfall and flash flooding. Read more

► WARRNAMBOOL: People need to be careful after a string of warm days has brought snakes out of hibernation earlier than usual, trained snake catcher Neville Suter says. Read more

► HUNTER: New population figures show the Hunter is set to be home to 165,000 more people by 2036, outstripping previous growth estimates for the region. Read more

►NEWCASTLE: A man who allegedly fired a shot into the air after a fight with his neighbour at Tomago on Saturday has been granted conditional bail. Read more

►LEETON: The Leeton community has banded together to support a family that lost their son in a house fire last week, which also destroyed their home. When fire crews found the home well alight and the man’s father trying to get in to save his son on Thursday, they quickly doused the flames, but it was too late to save the young man’s life. Read more

► WANGARATTA: A chicken has been decapitated, a greenhouse set on fire and vans used to transport handicapped children damaged during a late night rampage at a special school. Read more 

►Wayne Greenhalgh would walk the same route through the quiet streets of Minto almost every day with his dog. Known to most residents along the way, the 59-year-old father-of-two would wave to people or stop for a chat about his beloved Parramatta Eels. However, on Saturday, someone unexpected was waiting for him – and a terrorist attack on Sydney’s streets ensued. Read more

► "I'm into religion, science and politics. Soccer, table tennis and swimming. Spending time with family. I have one wife and three children. My wife also greatly supports this lifestyle and is wanting a co-wife to be a part of our family.”

The profile is just one of thousands on a match-making website for Muslim men and women looking for a second spouse. And it is rapidly gaining traction in Australia. Read more

►Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is coming under renewed pressure to drop plans for a plebiscite on same-sex marriage as prominent LGBTIQ Australians join a new campaign calling for Parliament to block a national vote. Read more

►The Coalition and Labor are inching towards a deal to pass the $6 billion so-called omnibus savings package, Treasurer Scott Morrison says. Read more

►UNITED STATES: Fifteen years after the September 11 strikes on New York and Washington, the staging of terror attacks is dramatically altered. But the essential element is unchanged – whatever weapons are used, the objective that counts is instilling fear. Fear of the unimaginable in the wake of the spectacular collapse of the Twin Towers and the gouging of the Pentagon has been supplanted by fear of the believable: the target could be an airport from which people travel; the club where they catch up with friends; the shopping centre at which they get groceries. Read more

►INDIA: India's cow-and-beef politics have just taken a new twist. After receiving a complaint that beef was being used in biryani - a rice and meat dish - police officers in a historic north-western town have been trawling through food served by street vendors, and seizing samples of meat they suspect are beef. Read more

►NORTH KOREA: North Korea says it is now capable of mounting nuclear warheads onto its arsenal of ballistic missiles after it conducted its fifth and most powerful atomic test to date. Read more

1854: Australia's first steam train makes its maiden voyage in Melbourne.

1878: Cleopatra's Needle, an ancient Egyptian obelisk, is erected on London's Thames Embankment.

1892: Ambulance services commence in Queensland, Australia, the first such service anywhere in the world.

2001: US President George Bush declares war on terrorism.

Our make-ups, break-ups, relationships and friendships are what make us who we are – and Joel Harrison is happy to chronicle them all in song.

The Wagga musician has released a song about proposing to his wife, from whom he has since separated.

And he had two cute little counterparts to help him film the video for his new song, Do Ya?

Read more