Friday's headlines: anger at killer's sentence; provincial rugby attendance figures described as a con; plans reported for reinstatement of Central Otago railway line.
NZ Herald
The New Zealand Herald reports on the anger at the punishment for killer Greg Meads who murdered his wife Helen Meads. The Matamata horse breeder has been given a minimum non-parole period of 11 years and ordered to pay $65,000 in compensation - an amount Ms White's family describes as laughable.
Singer Don McGlashan has three broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a punctured lung after crashing into a car door that opened in front of him as he was cycling home.
Dominion Post
The Dominion Post reports that seven of New Zealand's top 10 benefit fraudsters are still receiving welfare benefits and using the cash to pay back their fraud debts. The paper says the law does not prevent people with criminal convictions from receiving a benefit, provided they meet the eligibility criteria.
Under the headline "The great crowd con", the paper pictures the Wellington Lions playing a provincial rugby game in an almost empty stadium. It says official crowd figures regularly include season, long-term and corporate members even when they don't turn up.
The Press
The Press reports that despite the February quake slashing the Christchurch City Council's income, it plans to keep this year's rates rise to an "acceptable level''. The paper says the council might run a deficit and/or defer major projects, such as a new bus exchange, to keep the rise to 3%-5%.
The paper talks to the widower and father of three who saved Jane Taylor, the woman whose bleeding face captured the horror of the moments just after the quake.
ODT
The Otago Daily Times reports Waitaki District Council staff are mourning the death of a colleague who died along with a truck driver in a head-on collisions just south of Hampden on Thursday.
Under the headline "Putting the rail back into the trail", the paper reports that more than two decades after the Central Otago railway line closed, plans are on track to re-install tracks.
