Teenager says police baton broke his neck; anti-drink-driving campaigner quits job after a drink-drive conviction; Government funding for teacher professional development to be cut.
New Zealand Herald
A primary health organisation is said to be paying GP clinics to take patients' blood samples in a move aimed at easing the pressure on Labtests. The paper says the move is being acknowledged as a subsidy to the new Auckland laboratory company, and is being paid from a Government fund.
The New Zealand Herald reports police officers would become prosecutor and judge, dispensing on-the-spot punishments for minor crimes under plans to turn patrol cars into "mobile stations".
Dominion Post
Finance Minister Bill English qualified for a $700-a-week rent payment from taxpayers after signing a declaration that he had no financial interest in the trust which owned his family home, the Dominion Post reports.
A teenager has told the paper his neck was broken by a baton as police shut down a rowdy Wellington party over the weekend. Aggrieved partygoers in the suburb of Khandallah say 18 officers entered the house and drove out approximately 40 guests, using batons to force them down a hallway.
The Press
In the Press, police say knives are becoming the weapon of choice for Christchurch criminals, turning what were once fist fights into deadly confrontations.
One of the South Island's top transport officials and anti-drink-driving campaigners has quit his job after a drink-drive conviction in Christchurch. Dennis Frank Robertson, previously southern manager of transport relationships for the New Zealand Transport Agency, was convicted in the Christchurch District Court.
Otago Daily Times
The ODT says a senior University of Otago researcher has left after it was discovered she did not have the doctorate from Cambridge University she claimed.
Primary principals have been shocked to learn government funding for teacher professional development will be cut in almost all learning areas except literacy and numeracy next year.
Netball identity Lois Muir has officially become Dame Lois Muir after a redesignation ceremony held specifically for her in Dunedin on Tuesday.
