Checkpoint for Monday 2 August 2021

6:15 PM.Plans for a massive water take to grow more avocados in the Far North could get the green light in the coming weeks, but there are major concerns among some locals about what that will mean for the… Read more Video, Audio

6:12 PM.Patients are at risk of harm as a shortage of nurses on Southern District Health Board wards forces some to ration their care.

The problem was unearthed as part of a review into its safe-staffing… Read more Audio

6:09 PM.One of the country's best medal hopes will have to wait another day for a shot at gold. Sailors Blair Tuke and Peter Burling are in first place and are gunning for gold in the 49er - but unfavourable… Read more Video, Audio

5:55 PM.A pizza and a lie-down. That's how an elated Dame Valerie Adams is celebrating her bronze medal.

It's the shot putter's fifth Olympics and her fourth medal, adding to two golds and a silver.

Dame… Read more Video, Audio

5:51 PM.Christchurch's first Pacific church-based vaccination clinic has opened. More than 100 people from the Pasifika community had their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at St Paul's Trinity Pacific… Read more Video, Audio

5:48 PM.There are concerns New Zealand's first mass vaccination event did not reach at-risk communities.

More than 15,000 people were jabbed over three days, in what's being lauded a success.

But a South… Read more Audio

5:43 PM.A leading economist and a tenants advocate support the push to view housing as a human right.

The Human Rights Commission has announced an inquiry into housing, but some say the road map out of the… Read more Audio

5:36 PM.It is time to move away from a "reactive isolationist response" and lower the draw bridge to the outside world, according to one health expert.

In an editorial for the Internal Medicine Journal… Read more Video, Audio

5:33 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. [embed] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6266175337001 Video, Audio

5:26 PM.A future so bright she may need to keep wearing shades, shot putter Maddison-Lee Wesche placed sixth in her final and also delivered a personal best of 18.98 metres.

The 22 -year-old Aucklander… Read more Video, Audio

5:24 PM.An Olympic sprinter from Belarus is refusing to fly home, citing fears for her safety after she criticised her coaches.

She was due to compete in the women's 200-metre event, but complained on social… Read more Audio

5:19 PM.People with disabilities in relationships are paying for the price of love - losing their allowances because they're coupled up.

MSD assumes people in relationships share their finances, but for… Read more Audio

5:17 PM.Nurses and their bosses are heading to the courts over strike action, as both accuse each other of not doing enough to keep patients safe.

About 30,000 district health board nurses have issued a… Read more Audio

5:13 PM.Pressure is mounting on the government to review its MIQ booking processes, to make it easier for those in exceptional circumstances to come home.

Those who have travelled for medical reasons want an… Read more Audio

5:08 PM.RSE workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu will soon be allowed into the country, quarantine free.

Paul Paynter is the general manager of Yummy Fruits and says it is good news but there are still some… Read more Video, Audio

5:07 PM.RSE workers from Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu will soon be allowed into the country, quarantine free.

Jacinda Ardern says there would normally be 10,000 RSE workers in New Zealand to help with the summer… Read more Audio