Checkpoint for Friday 20 May 2022

5:07 PM.It was a frightening and fatal start to Friday due to wild weather. A woman is dead after being crushed by a tree in Cambridge, Levin is battered by what locals call a tornado, and golf ball sized… Read more Video, Audio

5:10 PM.Levin has been left to deal with a trail of destruction after a wild storm ripped through the town this morning.

Rooves lifted off homes - debris scattered - schools closed and power lines left… Read more Video, Audio

5:21 PM.A woman has died after being crushed by a falling tree that she was sheltering under during a freakish storm in the Waikato town of Cambridge.

The oak toppled in high winds this morning. Arborists… Read more Video, Audio

5:26 PM.The government says making public transport half price would cost $250 million a year.

As part of the Budget, the policy's been extended permanently for Community Service Card holders, but only until… Read more Audio

5:38 PM.Some Levin growers have been hit hard in today's hail and thunder storm, with one likening the damage to a shot gun blast to the veges.

Locals describe a mini tornado hitting early this morning… Read more Video, Audio

5:43 PM.Pharmac's been given its biggest ever Budget allowance - $191 million - but it falls well short of what patient advocates wanted.

The drug buying agency would've needed around $400 million to clear… Read more Audio

5:47 PM.It's been a wild weather day in Auckland which has impacted on travel around the city.

Nick Truebridge has the details.

  Read more Video, Audio

5:49 PM.Pundits are tipping a hung parliament when voters hit the polls for the Australian Federal Election tomorrow.

The Prime Minister, in the fight of his political life, has spent the final week of the… Read more Audio

5:54 PM.A last minute change to election rules that will allow all Australians with Covid to cast their vote has staved off court action as the lucky country prepares to go to the polls on Saturday.

But more… Read more Video, Audio

6:07 PM.Thousands of lightning strikes, reports of tornadoes, freakishly high winds and hail the size of golf balls.

For some it was a frightening and tragic start to Friday; a woman has died after being hit… Read more Video, Audio

6:11 PM.A group of angry east coast farmers descended on Napier to protest against carbon forestry they say is destroying their towns.

They left their placards on the steps of local MP Stuart Nash's office… Read more Audio

6:14 PM.Now to Waimate, where a local icon has received a half million dollar makeover. The white horse on the hill above the South Canterbury town has been given a fresh coat of paint and is now surrounded… Read more Video, Audio