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Community
The Druce family of Ardlethan, in southwest NSW, are masters of innovation, and their Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory is a sweet and lasting reminder of that. During these times when the health of the nation is challenged due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of us are sitting in idle isolation, you’d be forgiven for turning to the immune...

News
A Kyeamba man has been charged following an investigation into an alleged multi-million dollar cattle fraud in southwest NSW. Led by the NSW Police Rural Crime Prevention Unit, Strike Force Seger was formed in April 2019 to investigate suspected cattle fraud in the Riverina region. The fraud, which investigators will allege is in excess of $2.5 million, involves the alleged...

News
Just two new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the far south of NSW at Berrigan on Saturday, while the number of confirmed cases in Southern NSW has also increased by a small margin over the past three days. There are now 53 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Southern NSW Local Health District and 42 cases in the Murrumbidgee...

News
It’s been a good news weekend for the staff of Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) who have been tossed into 2020 like cats into a washing machine, first with bushfires on their doorstep and now COVID-19 trying to gain entry through their front doors. First and foremost came the news, and possibly hope, that the rate of infection of residents...

News
Any hopes of a 2020 vintage from Tumbarumba, Hilltops, Gundagai or Canberra appearing on a shop shelf near you have just about gone up in smoke in the past two months. As vignerons endured extreme drought, fires became their next nemesis, particularly for those close to Canberra and Tumbarumba. Those who survived the flames were faced with another formidable foe...

Community
Atop hill or down valleys, for many farmers and residents living in south-west NSW, there was always looming exasperation when it came to mobile phone and internet coverage. It seemed that once a black spot, always a black spot. And that felt a bit like the cart, led by a blinkered horse, lumbering clumsily along a rough track while just...

News
A 74-year-old woman has died in Albury overnight marking the first death from COVID-19 in the Murrumbidgee Local Health Service District (MLHD) and taking the national death toll as a result of the virus to 25. The woman was one of six cases in the border city and local health authorities say that she had acquired the infection as a result...

News
Hilltops local government area now joins the list of COVID-19 affected shires in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD). Two positive COVID-19 cases have been identified in the shire bordered by Boorowa, Harden Murrumburrah, Jugiong and Young in the past 24 hours. Berrigan Shire and Snowy Valleys Council area have also recorded increases of one case each, taking the total number...

News
A runaway of sorts has dealt a crushing blow to the Corryong community’s annual Man from Snowy River Bush Festival, one of the largest events on the southern NSW events calendar. And the Man from Snowy River himself is very disappointed. Originally planned to kick off tomorrow, the festival is another casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic which forced, firstly, a...

Community
There’s nothing that Young RSL sub-branch president John Walker would like to hear more on Anzac Day than the Last Post. Mr Walker, who also serves the town as a councillor, had a novel idea for the April 25 commemoration, but it was quickly snuffed out by Hilltops Council. Anzac Day services across the nation were cancelled on March 16 due...

News
There are three new cases of COVID-19 in the Southern NSW Local Health District and two more cases in the Murrumbidgee LHD. "We have confirmed a total of 51 cases of COVID-19 as at 12:00 pm 1 April, 2020, following 1925 tests. The announcement follows recent tests which were verified in the last 24 hours", a statement from the SNSWLHD...

Community
The Local Government Boundaries Commission is calling for public submissions from the local community in relation to demerger proposals for Snowy Valleys Council and Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. The submission process follows the Minister for Local Government, Shelley Hancock, formally referring the proposals to the commission for examination and report. The Commission is an independent statutory authority which examines proposals for...

News
Regional COVID-19 diagnoses continue to rise across Southern NSW, while Cooma Monaro mayor Peter Beer has joined the call for people to stay away from the region in order for local health resources to manage the virus load. In the Southern NSW Local Health District, there are now 48 confirmed cases of the virus following 1846 tests. None of these confirmed cases...

Arts & Culture
With the click of a button, we could all help a musician from Young realise his dreams of becoming an international singer-songwriter. The people of the Hilltops region all know Harry Cleverdon. He has grown up entertaining locals with his music in a range of venues – starting out on the streets as a busker at festivals, then it was...

News
The number of positive COVID-19 cases identified in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) has leapt from 20 to 31 over the weekend, while there are now 45 cases across the Southern NSW Local Health District. There are now nine COVID-19 cases in the Goulburn Mulwaree Shire, four in Palerang and five in Queanbeyan local government areas, six in the...

Community
It was like a treasure hunt, of sorts, in Batlow that had residents rummaging around in their sheds and backyards. Treasure that had not been sighted since the 1950s. But before we get to that, let’s head over to Europe, circa 2014, when Kevin and Jo Murrell were on the hunt for Kevin’s great-grandfather. This is a great-grandfather Kevin knew...