The best of a lot of bad options. That is how GP and part owner of Three Rivers Medical Fergus Aitcheson describes a reluctant decision to reduce the medical centre’s hours of operation. Its hand has been forced by years of underfunding and...
State Highway 2 will be closed for 48 hours next Wednesday, so roading crews can replace the collapsed culvert at Mōrere, north of Nūhaka. “This is a significant piece of work, but we realise it also requires disruption to people’s lives. We...
A morning walk with her dog by the Wairoa River turned into an ordeal for a woman when a mentally ill man tried to kiss her and drag her off into bushes. The woman managed to overpower him, picked up her dog and ran to the nearby road where she...
Options considered as water table level remains high Burial suspension notices because of the high water table level at Taruheru Cemetery since Cyclone Gabrielle remain in place. The latest suspension notice was put in place on April 5, and while it...
Higgins Contractors has signed an agreement to work alongside a group of experienced contract partners on a cyclone recovery plan for Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti. In signing an interim alliance agreement today, Fletcher Building Construction...
The coastal container ship Rangitata docked at Eastland Port yesterday, unloaded 32 empty containers, then loaded 23 full of meat and bonemeal for shipment to Napier. It was the ship’s sixth visit to the port. “The container shipping on the...
Young man granted leave to reapply for home detention, but not a motel. A judge has refused to let a man serve home detention at a motel but granted him leave to apply for it again because of difficulties he is having in jail, including being forced...
Your correspondent Sonia Smith is quite right to question my promoting to Gisborne District Council a Tutira to Te Pohue road connection when the route isn’t even in our district — and congratulations to her group in obtaining a feasibility...
I sincerely hope the council does not waste any more ratepayer money on clearing wood debris from the town beaches. With winter and more stormy weather on the way, and the very high likelihood of more wood arriving on the beaches, this would be...
Re: More local voice in Govt’s new water services plan, April 13 editorial. Whatever way you dress it up, this so called restructuring is really nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The most contentious parts of the original plan remain...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins might be about to take on the mantle of explaining what co-governance means to his Government, and the extent to which it wants to see partnership arrangements with iwi/Maori for the management of natural resources and...
Sky, the New Zealand broadcast rights holder for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, has announced free-to-air coverage of this year’s tournament will screen on Prime. As well as 48 matches broadcast live on Sky Sport, 12 matches will be broadcast on...
Premier grade games played at 2.45pm — OBM v HSOB at Oval 2. Referee: Ben Holt. YMP v Waikohu at Barry Park. Referee: Royce Maynard. Pirates v Ngatapa at Oval 1. Referee: Damien MacPherson. Senior 1 — Uawa v YMP at Tolaga Bay at 12.45pm...
Tairāwhiti paddlers drew on reserves built by years of training to shine at the secondary school waka ama nationals in Rotorua last month. Cyclone Gabrielle scuttled well-laid plans for final preparations, and coaches had to be inventive to keep...
A team of Tolaga Bay Area School paddlers returned home “absolutely buzzing” after their log-jammed journey to the secondary school waka ama nationals at Lake Tikitapu, Rotorua. A little over a month ago, after Cyclone Gabrielle swept through...
It is interesting comparing an opinion piece from columnist Sarah Sparks writing on the “Stuff” website recently — on the decline in trust in government institutions in many parts of the world — with some wise comments attributable to one of...
The main cause of hardship and poverty for many low-income families and beneficiaries is the exceptionally high price of rent, and the only cause of high rents is the shortage of houses to rent. While this Government is to be admired for housing...
Porcupines are challenging to swallow; they make a great deal of noise and — when threatened — release a chemical stink bomb to deter attackers. They also happen to be pretty unattractive. This spiky rodent has been invoked by Australian Deputy...
The contentious “Three Waters” reforms have lost that label and gained a lot more local voice through a reduced level of centralisation — with the Gisborne District now matched with Hawke’s Bay — plus what we can expect to be a concerted...
A new fibre bypass has been completed next to Hikuwai Bridge No. 1 on State Highway 35, 17 km north of Tolaga Bay. It is a “significant step” towards bolstering the durability of a core fibre network repair in the immediate aftermath of Cyclone...
It might be school holidays but children will find play options slightly reduced this year, with the Botanical Gardens playground still closed. “The Botanical Gardens playground has been closed since Cyclone Gabrielle due to the softfall being...
Low-income families are facing heart-wrenching decisions when it comes to farewelling their loved ones. The Funeral Grant administered by Work and Income NZ has gone up but is still “woefully inadequate”, says Gillian Boyes, chief executive of...
Efforts to reopen Wairoa’s cyclone-damaged roads have been given a $17 million funding boost from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. The funding will be tagged for initial response and costs to get roads open, drainage and alignment work, as well as...
The Forest Owners Association has told the ministerial inquiry into land use in Tairāwhiti that the region’s future must include more trees for land stability. However, it appreciates forest practices also have to improve with increasing land-use...
The grain maize harvest has started and early indications are better-than-expected yields despite the impact of cyclones Hale and Gabrielle. Some maize paddocks in parts of the region were hard hit by silt and slash as a result of floodwaters from...
Tairāwhiti arts patron Professor Jack Richards has put his Gisborne summer home up for sale. Named Tiromoana (house over water), it boasts stunning views over the Pacific Ocean from an elevated 1.8-hectare site in Winifred Street, Okitu. “Echoes...
East Coast mayors are welcoming the major shake-up to Three Waters reforms announced by the Government this morning. Under the changes to what will now be referred to as “affordable water reforms” instead of Three Waters, 10 new regionally owned...
BUSY BAY: The build-up of ships at anchor in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa Poverty Bay since before Easter has continued, with five log ships out there this morning, including these four. They are among a dozen scheduled to call here to the end of April, along...
Waikanae and Wainui surf lifesavers will get amongst the action at the IRB national championships at Waihi Beach this weekend. They’ll be among more than 120 crews vying for national honours across three age divisions and five race categories in...
Electrinet Park To Jacko. Electrinet Park pennants players will have the memory of Jack Glassford inspiring them when the 2023 Poverty Bay-East Coast men’s interclub Oligoi and Endeavour pennants series start on Saturday. Jack died on April 5...
Painter Zoe Alford’s ability to weave light through her artwork is simply magical. Her latest exhibition Lightscapes, at Tairāwhiti Museum, delicately captures the different landscapes and scenery of Te Tairāwhiti at various times of the day and...
The Gisborne Country Music Awards at the War Memorial Theatre and the RSA saw local family The Maynards take the crown of overall winners of the awards. A total of 176 entries were received for the competition, of contestants from Nelson, Whanganui...
Tauranga blues musician Grant Haua and his band’s explosive performance left the audience at Smash Palace wanting more when they played last month. The Grant Haua Explosion is a three-piece — former Swamp Thing rocker and lead solo acoustics...