Checkpoint for Friday 19 November 2021

5:08 PM.Bay of Plenty iwi Te Whānau a Apanui spokesperson and Ōpōtiki District Councillor Louis Rapihana told Checkpoint the iwi's request for holiday visitors to stay away was partly prompted by local… Read more Video, Audio

5:13 PM.Delta's long tentacles keep reaching further and further. There are cases in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Mid Central, Wairarapa and Canterbury.

And now it might have re-emerged in… Read more Audio

5:16 PM.MidCentral DHB has joined the 90 percent club today, reaching the milestone for first doses.

But vaccine rates in rural areas of the catchment are still lagging behind.. prompting a specific push… Read more Video, Audio

5:20 PM.Bars and restaurants are gearing up for a busy weekend in Hamilton - but as Covid restrictions squeeze serving space, they want bigger borders around where they can sell booze.

Waikato is back at… Read more Video, Audio

5:25 PM.Australia's Test cricket captain Tim Paine has resigned in the last hour after it emerged he's been involved in a sexting scandal.

Paine was investigated for sending a former Cricket Tasmania… Read more Audio

5:26 PM.The All Blacks and Black Ferns are in very unfamiliar territory, with both sides hoping to bounce back from losses and end the international season on a high with wins over France.

Sports editor… Read more Video, Audio

5:38 PM.Checkpoint can reveal multiple investigations are underway into allegations of sexual assaults at Waikeria Prison and claims a Corrections Officer failed to report serious complaints from inmates.

… Read more Video, Audio

5:43 PM.As Aotearoa wages a war against Covid, there's a new battle to get vaccine rates up on the East Coast.

The descendants of the Māori Battalion are being invited to aerodromes on Saturday to get… Read more Video, Audio

5:51 PM.A new start up in the capital is trying to fill the almost-empty cars that clog New Zealand's roads at rush hour.

Our reporter Jake McKee and cameraman Angus Dreaver gave carpooling a spin.

  Read more Video, Audio

5:55 PM.A chatter of parakeets can be heard at Auckland Zoo, rare ones at that. Eleven kākāriki karaka, or orange-fronted parakeets, have been hatched there in the past few weeks and more are expected.

… Read more Video, Audio

6:08 PM.A South Island mayor wants the trans-Tasman bubble re-inflated saying Aucklanders pose a similar Covid risk as Australian travellers.

From 15 December, fully vaccinated people will be able to travel… Read more Audio

6:12 PM.The Prime Minister has made her first trip to the South Island since Delta arrived on New Zealand's shores, today visiting Christchurch to push the vaccine message.

Jacinda Arden was in Woolston -… Read more Video, Audio

6:16 PM.Community nerves are running high in west Auckland after two shootings in as many weeks.

Four people have been charged with murder after father-of-two Robert Hart was shot dead in a New Lynn driveway… Read more Audio

6:19 PM.$10 million has been set aside to develop a vaccine for strep-throat - a precursor to rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.

Last year more than a hundred people were hospitalised for the first… Read more Audio

6:21 PM.Cantabrians are hoping the end is in sight for a major post quake build, as contractors work around Covid construction delays.

One of Christchurch's main post-quake anchor projects, Parakiore, or the… Read more Audio

6:26 PM.A jetset Chrismas might be off the cards, but a jet pack one still could be.

A Trade Me bidding war is raging over the chance to own a piece of New Zealand history, and become the proud owner of one… Read more Video, Audio