Checkpoint for Thursday 15 July 2021

5:07 PM.Two car jackings and two innocent bystanders with guns held to their heads during a crime-fuelled rampage through Auckland.

What started with a vehicle being stolen from a car yard quickly escalated… Read more Audio

5:12 PM.There are now active Covid-19 cases in three Australian states and Victoria is poised to enter its fifth lockdown tonight.

Australian media are reporting the lockdown will kick in from midnight local… Read more Audio

5:16 PM.Thousands of women who had their benefits docked are still waiting for their cases to be reviewed more than two years after the Minister ordered MSD to take a second look.

The women had up to $28 a… Read more Video, Audio

5:25 PM."This is where I die." That was the thought that ran through the mind of a police officer, shot on a suburban Auckland street last year.

David Goldfinch was fired at, while his colleague Constable… Read more Audio

5:28 PM.The Fiji rugby coach believes they've reached a balanced compromise over the team's playing jerseys for this weekend.

The side pulled pin on wearing jerseys with "Vaccinate Fiji" emblazoned on the… Read more Video, Audio

5:34 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. [embed] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6263762981001 Video, Audio

5:39 PM.The government's counting another drop in unemployment numbers as a win - but others say they don't paint the whole picture.

Over the past three months, more than 31,000 people found jobs and got off… Read more Audio

5:42 PM.Crime fighting algorithms that sound like the stuff of a Hollywood sci-fi are in the sights of police.

A new stocktake out today shows they wanted to use one when pulling over drivers - but have now… Read more Audio

5:47 PM.An indigenous woman says her experience in the forced residential school system for indigenous people in Canada made her ashamed to be brown.

Geraldine Shingoose says she has cried every day since… Read more Audio

5:51 PM.The future of council-owned housing in Napier is in limbo, as the city grapples with one of the worst social housing crises in the country.

The city council says although they expect demand to keep… Read more Audio

5:57 PM.A team hopes a drone dropping thousands of seeds over the Hūnua ranges could provide a boost to native reforestation efforts.

RNZ reporter Louise Ternouth and cameraman Nick Monro were there for its… Read more Video, Audio

6:08 PM.St John Ambulance is facing a 'code black', with the service at peak capacity. Respiratory illnesses and sickness in its own ranks is piling the pressure on too.

Last week alone there was an 11… Read more Video, Audio

6:14 PM.A multi-billion dollar sweetener hasn't got mayors rushing to sign up to the government's Three Waters reforms.

The government's announced a two point five billion dollar fund to get local councils… Read more Audio

6:17 PM.Protesters remain at the site of the the controversial Kennedy Point marina on Waiheke Island tonight - despite the arrest of three people today.

Pūtiki's been protesting against the development for… Read more Audio

6:21 PM.A portable pool is being brought on site to hold orphan orca Toa - as an incoming storm looks set too make sea conditions too rough.

The bad weather also put a stop to air and sea searches today.

… Read more Audio