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You can hold me in your left hand but not your right. What am I?
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Got an idea for a riddle? … View moreYou can hold me in your left hand but not your right. What am I?
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Hi there,
We're on the lookout for the most beautiful spots in New Zealand, and would love to hear your favourites.
While it will be impossible to include all of them in one article, we'd appreciate your help in narrowing it down. What do you think are most beautiful places in … View moreHi there,
We're on the lookout for the most beautiful spots in New Zealand, and would love to hear your favourites.
While it will be impossible to include all of them in one article, we'd appreciate your help in narrowing it down. What do you think are most beautiful places in NZ's regions? Do you have a favourite spot in the Waikato, Taranaki, Canterbury, Southland or elsewhere?
Feel free to comment below, send me a message or email me at lorna.thornber@stuff.co.nz. Please include 'NFP' in your comment if you do not want it or your name included in an article. Thanks in advance for taking the time to share.
With online being the main mode of communication these days, it's no wonder that there has been a worldwide mail decline and here in Aotearoa, NZ Post has needed to lay off 750 full-time staff. Do you think it's time to say goodbye to the trusty letterbox?
What capitalized four-letter word can be written forward, backward, or upside down, and can still be read from left to right?
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We'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm. Got an idea for a riddle? … View moreWhat capitalized four-letter word can be written forward, backward, or upside down, and can still be read from left to right?
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Heart attack is a leading cause of death in New Zealand.
Learn to recognise the warning signs and symptoms of a heart attack, so you know what to do if you see or experience them. Don’t try to walk it off, wash it off or push through it. Make the right call, it may save your life.
The little girl opened the icebox, because she thought it a nice box
But when she saw it empty that day, what seven letters did the little girl say?
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We'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm. Want to … View moreThe little girl opened the icebox, because she thought it a nice box
But when she saw it empty that day, what seven letters did the little girl say?
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Imagine you are traveling on a bus along with 20 passengers. At the first stop, 3 got off and 4 got on. Another got on at the second stand and 2 left the bus too. The third stand saw 5 climb on, but three also got off.
Now, how many passengers are traveling on a bus?
*Do you think you know the … View moreImagine you are traveling on a bus along with 20 passengers. At the first stop, 3 got off and 4 got on. Another got on at the second stand and 2 left the bus too. The third stand saw 5 climb on, but three also got off.
Now, how many passengers are traveling on a bus?
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What odd number, please try to guess,
Is bound to be even without the S?
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By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Westport residents are likely to be waiting until 2024 to get a clearer picture of how they will be flood-protected.
But a "massive gap" exists between public expectation and what will be built, Westport-based West Coast Regional … View moreBy local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Westport residents are likely to be waiting until 2024 to get a clearer picture of how they will be flood-protected.
But a "massive gap" exists between public expectation and what will be built, Westport-based West Coast Regional councillor Frank Dooley says.
He is really concerned about the gap in public expectation and what will come under the $22.9 million 'support package'.
"I don't think the community has any clarity at this point in time," he said on Tuesday.
Dooley said a level of expectation since the regional council consulted for a flood scheme back in late 2021 was a reality, but now six weeks after the Government announced the funding, residents' futures were still unclear and bound up in a process.
A bemused Dooley said he, as chair of the committee governing council's infrastructure work, had yet to be shown the Westport steering group terms of reference.
In the meantime, further technical review requirements of the business case work created a drag on the project, two years on from the initial event that sparked it.
"My issue is the time lines or the drag in the timing of having a report prepared by someone," he said.
In the midst of that the regional council really needed to keep momentum going for Westport.
"It just means that the regional council has to take some risks and go ahead without the permission of the steering committee."
Dooley said the differences between the scheme first consulted on in 2021, and that presented for the business case last year was negligible - excluding Snodgrass and parts of Carters Beach.
At the same time someone had to "pick up the gap" in basic information for those affected.
He noted that aside from the public consultation in late 2021 and a couple of meetings for some residents in the past year, there was a dearth of information.
"There's a massive gap. We've waited 10 months ... there's been no consultation with the community as a whole since then," Dooley said.
Buller mayor Jamie Cleine, who sits on the steering committee, said the release of a six point graphic this week with no fixed time line was "trying to illustrate we're in the process".
He imagined both councils would consult on the scheme, under their 2024 long term plans.
He expected the future direction of Westport away from flood prone areas would be part of Buller's 2024 LTP process.
At the same time he acknowledged the ongoing uncertainty in Westport, as evidenced in the North Island where people awaited clarity on properties following Cyclone Gabrielle.
Cleine said tangible uncertainty remained in Westport two years on from the July 2021 event.
"We're hearing from those people, there is no doubt [but] there is a complex process that has to be worked through.
"No-one is pretending that everyone is protected. All those issues are just not defined enough at the moment to have those conversations."
However the regional council gaining endorsement for its 'quick win' projects to address crucial low lying flood prone points was critical.
"They should crack on."
Cleine said the steering group terms of reference were "quite clear".
This was that various aspects of the scheme would go to each respective council for approval before going to the steering group.
"It's not supposed to be the other way round."
At the same time the steering group was conscious it needed to "act with haste while we can".
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Approved 'quick win' projects for Westport
The Westport Steering Group has endorsed four workstreams deemed as "quick wins".
The West Coast Regional Council-led and paid for work is to provide significant benefits by reducing floodwater inundation around the edges of Westport.
The quick win projects are at the Floating Lagoon, Avery's, the Abattoir drain railway bridge and at nearby McKenna Road.
The Floating Lagoon project comprises initial geotechnical and survey work while the
other three projects will go to construction.
Buller mayor Jamie Cleine described the 'quick wins' as a great first step.
"These are some straightforward engineering solutions to reduce the risks in specific areas around Westport before work on the bigger flood protection project is finished."
Regardless of what is built in the broader scheme, the quick wins will complement the final flood banks.
*Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
There were 710 women and men at sea, in a boat that ceased to float. When it spun around and turned upside down, what was left then of the 710?
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Got an idea for a… View moreThere were 710 women and men at sea, in a boat that ceased to float. When it spun around and turned upside down, what was left then of the 710?
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What runs but never walks?
Has a mouth but never talks?
Has a head but never weeps?
Has a bed but never sleeps?
*Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbour, simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments … View moreWhat runs but never walks?
Has a mouth but never talks?
Has a head but never weeps?
Has a bed but never sleeps?
*Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbour, simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
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The Blood Service says it needs 40,000 new donors in the next 12 months to ensure it can meet demand of those needing plasma and blood. Suggestions have been made to pay people for donating, however there are concerns about the dangers of that. Do you think we should pay people for these … View moreThe Blood Service says it needs 40,000 new donors in the next 12 months to ensure it can meet demand of those needing plasma and blood. Suggestions have been made to pay people for donating, however there are concerns about the dangers of that. Do you think we should pay people for these donations?
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A crucial hearing affecting the protection of Franz Josef township will finally get under way this Friday more than a year after work began on the $24 million Waiho Scheme.
The West Coast Regional Council let a contract in May 2022 to Greymouth … View moreFrom local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
A crucial hearing affecting the protection of Franz Josef township will finally get under way this Friday more than a year after work began on the $24 million Waiho Scheme.
The West Coast Regional Council let a contract in May 2022 to Greymouth contractor MBD for flood bank improvements and extensions on the Waiho true right bank, for the $12.5m first stage, but council soon ran into trouble.
Late last year as council tried to quickly resolve the necessary resource consents on a non-notified basis, the Scenic Hotel Group declined to give affected party approval.
Now a public hearing will convene in Greymouth this Friday, July 28, to hear from both sides. The hearing commissioner will first visit Franz Josef on Thursday.
According to papers filed for the hearing, Scenic Circle told the regional council back in January it was not confident construction on the new flood resilience scheme demonstrated enough safeguards to allow them to rebuild the hotel with confidence.
Scenic pointed out that the stopbank below the township and behind the hotel had failed on March 23 2016 “following unauthorised and unconsented work” in the riverbed, including “the diversion of the river towards the hotel.”
It did not state who had done that work but Scenic noted its insurers considered both the regional council and the Westland District Council and their respective contractors responsible for the subsequent flood damage.
"SHGL does not want to see a repeat of this in the riverbed and on the stop banks resulting in flooding or damage to its property in the future."
Scenic claimed it wished to rebuild a new hotel on the old site "but cannot do so" without being able to finance and insure the site due to the risk.
It also contended that what happened in 2016 was down to the regional council's "failure to maintain" the old stopbanks "and to prevent contractors and locals from excavating and gravel" from the old stop bank area.
The council had failed to "properly police and monitor" work in the river bed prior to the 2016 event, and where gravel was taken, to ensure it did not endanger their property or that of third parties.
The council had also failed in its role to ensure resource consents were held by those doing the work.
It was important that the "the failures and processes of the past" were not repeated by the new scheme, Scenic said.
Since January the $30m claim by Scenic's insurers has been settled confidentially for an undisclosed sum by both councils.
In the meantime, work on the northern flood bank improvement and extension by the West Coast Regional Council has slowed to a snail’s pace.
Crucial to the planned work is the raising the existing stopbank, and an extension by nearly 1km extension from the Franz Josef Heliport to below the derelict hotel site.
In the meantime council has had to go back to central government to reassure it that it is managing the situation, in order to keep its funding.
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
How can you express too much with two letters?
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