Fire chief backs siren

For Waikato towns the sound of the fire siren calling volunteers has been part and parcel of life for decades. News columnists Peter Carr refers to it today in his column on Page 8, where…

A Fish and Game manager is challenging councillors to spend time with him at the scene of what he calls the region’s latest environmental disaster. David Klee, Game Bird Manager for the Auckland/Waikato Fish and…

Facebook has become a preferred communication tool for Covid and crimefighting. Police and the Waikato District Health Board are using their Facebook pages to report crime and Covid outbreaks – and not telling print media…

’Twas the season to be tagging, and dumping. The News camera found it easy to pick up evidence of festive season fly tipping and graffiti over the holiday break. Taggers took to the fence around…

One of the three waters scuppered Waipā mayor Jim Mylchreest’s plans to join fellow mayors on the steps of Parliament for a protest earlier this week. Mylchreest has joined forces with Communities For Local Democracy…

A collaborate approach between three Waikato councils has been established to protect the country’s only native land mammals. Pekapeka-tou-roa was a controversial, but clear winner of the 2021 New Zealand bird of the year and, are found throughout…

Tivoli’s silver screens are now accompanied by perspex screens. Shane Jarrett is following the lead of a fellow theatre owner by partitioning the twin seats in his three Cambridge cinemas. “It won’t stop Covid but I hope it will…

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari attracted 13,500 visitors in the last financial year – just fractionally down on pre-Covid numbers. In a year where visitors were almost exclusively domestic, 56% came from the Waikato region, 17 per cent from Auckland and 10 per…

The regional council believes rook numbers have fallen from about 50 to 40 in the region over the past year. Introduced from Britain to control insects more than 150 years ago, the bird soon wore…

Ōtorohanga Mayor Max Baxter deserves high praise for breaking a Covid mould. Since the arrival of Covid, the government, health boards and local bodies have staged managed information releases where and when they want. Mayor…