Author: Press Room

Two lucky Lotto players from Auckland and Westport will take home $500,000 each as Powerball climbs to $36 million. The winning numbers were 04, 05, 07, 09, 26, and 35. The bonus ball was 13 and the Powerball was 10. The First Division tickets that won were sold at New World Westport and on MyLotto to a player in Auckland. Saturday’s $33m draw presented the largest prize of the year so far, but no one struck Powerball, sending the jackpot higher for Wednesday night’s draw. Meanwhile, two Strike Four players from Waimate and Nelson will also be celebrating after each…

Firefighters have warned Kiwis to think twice before lighting up the night sky this Guy Fawkes as fireworks go on sale today.Fire and Emergency NZ said crews responded to 166 fireworks-related incidents last year, the highest number since 2019. Nine of them were structure fires.National manager for community readiness and recovery Adrian Nacey told Breakfast this week that the organisation would support tighter public restrictions on the sale of fireworks.”Our job is to protect people, property and the environment from fire, and fireworks really do clash with that goal,” Nacey said. “We’re not calling for an outright ban, but we…

A Wellington musician and his partner have been working to achieve his dream of releasing a vinyl record to “celebrate life” after a terminal brain cancer diagnosis left him facing the prospect of limited time.Jack Brough, 22, and his partner Tamar van Niekerk, 20, first met a year ago – going to a gig for their first date. Both creatives, the couple connected over a shared love of music. “Naturally, we started making music together,” Brough said. For the last six months, the duo has been working on an indie music project called Nine Lives and Narrow. “We’re both really…

The Chase New Zealand kicks off tomorrow, featuring two of the show’s biggest international stars, Anne Hegerty (aka The Governess) of the UK and Issa Schultz (aka The Supernerd) of Australia. But how much do the pair know about Aotearoa? Emily Simpson asked each of them the same five questions to find out who knew more. What do you give the person who knows everything? A question about New Zealand of course. Despite our nation’s ongoing claims that a pop star or sports team has really “put us on the map”, we remain largely off the map, or at least…

The asbestos-filled and abandoned Fitz student bar in Palmerston North was burning, black smoke billowing on Thursday, around the same time that work safety experts were nutting out submissions on a Government move they warn will erode controls around the dangerous substance.”We don’t want a watered-down system,” said Helina Stil, president of the Demolition and Asbestos Association. “We told them [WorkSafe].”The Fitz fire was out just after midnight but several nearby schools kept children home on Friday, and were testing for any asbestos fibres that might have been released into the wind, and settled aroundabout.A text alert sent out widely…

Pasifika councillor Victoria Short dreamed of representing her community, but first she had to overcome a major fear.When Short first stood for the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board at 28, she nearly didn’t make it to her first candidates’ meeting.”I cried before my speech,” she recalled. “Public speaking terrified me. I didn’t think the Shore was ready for someone like me.”She went anyway, encouraged by her husband.”He’s my biggest supporter, my voice of reason, the love of my life,” she said. “He told me, ‘Just do it’. So I did.”That decision set her on a path that would lead, five…

Four people have been rescued after a boat capsized on the Raglan bar in Waikato this morning. Surf Life Saving New Zealand said a mayday call was made just after 10am for a capsized vessel on the north side of the Raglan bar with four people on board. Raglan surf lifeguards responded in an inflatable rescue boat and rescue water craft alongside Coastguard.Four people were retrieved from the water and returned to shore. Hate Hone St John also responded to the scene with one ambulance. Two people were in a moderate condition and two people were in a minor condition.…

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and the city’s 19 councillors were sworn into office on Friday evening.The colourful inauguration ceremony held at the Auckland Town Hall began with the Earth, Wind, and Fire hit song September.In his inauguration speech, Mayor Brown – who won the mayoralty by more than 100,000 votes or, as he described it, “four-and-a-half full stadiums at Eden Park” – shared his plans for the city.”It is a great honour and privilege to be here at this rather long and weirdly organised event, but it’s an important one, so settle in, as this is my chance to outline…

Rural communities worried about the fire and pest risk from forestry hope a series of meetings with rural National MPs will result in legislation changes to better protect them.A huge forestry fire near the Central Hawke’s Bay village of Pōrangahau last week took days to extinguish, and was the main talking point on Thursday, during a timely visit from National MPs Mike Butterick and Carl Bates.The MPs are travelling to rural areas in New Zealand to discuss the wildfire risk and invasive pests associated with forestryLast week a fire burnt through about 250 hectares of forestry near Pōrangahau, owned by…

More cheaper houses are changing hands, as the housing market finds its feet, new data indicates.Property research firm Cotality has released data that shows property values across the country lifted 0.2% in October, the second monthly rise in a row.Across the main centres, Auckland fell again, down 0.2%, with Hamilton flat in October. Tauranga and Wellington both lifted by 0.2%, while Christchurch, up 0.4%, and Dunedin, up 0.7%, were stronger.The national median value is now $811,662, but the median sale price for the third recent quarter was $761,000, indicating that more homes in the lower price brackets are changing hands.Cotality…