Friday's headlines: Job losses loom as Whitcoulls stores face closure; Police bosses fail to act on child abuse cases; Serious assaults rise in Dunedin.
NZ Herald
The banner headline in the New Zealand Herald says bookseller Whitcoulls is in strife, with stores facing closure and job losses looming after its parent company was placed in administration.
Also on the front page an apologetic Mark Hotchin is said to have cried poor in a television interview on Thursday night.
At times sounding slightly nervous, the founder of Hanover Finance told CloseUp he had not been living a life of luxury.
Dominion Post
The Dominion Post leads with what it headlines "The Child Abuse Debacle".
In a headline running across the entire front page, the paper says police bosses failed to act on problems in Wairarapa, with an inquiry finding that the top brass ignored a cry for help.
Also in the paper, Agriculture Minister David Carter is demanding answers, as public anger grows at the fast rising price of milk and other dairy products.
And another pedestrian has been hit on central Wellington's new bus route, which drivers are describing as a "cock up".
The Press
The Press devotes its entire front page to the region's youth.
Its top story says more than 1000 young Canterbury people are deemed unable to work because of mental illness.
In better news, the paper talks to a boy who has made good after being thrown out of two schools for violence by the age of nine.
Five years later Josh Siu, 14, has turned his life around and is eyeing a career in professional rugby league.
And the country's most vulnerable teenagers are said to be repeatedly running away while in the care of Child, Youth and Family including one Christchurch boy who has disappeared 48 times in a year.
ODT
The Otago Daily Times reports that serious assaults are on the rise in Dunedin.
In 2010, a total of 236 people reported assaults in the inner city area.
And Speight's Brewery in Dunedin was evacuated after a chemical spill on Thursday but beer production was not affected.
