Checkpoint

An Auckland company hunting for forty workers to cover their busy summer season said it is a full time job looking for workers. East Tamaki based Coolit Ice right now has dozens of job vacancies for class two truck drivers, people with car licences and customer service skills and for production workers. Despite the unemployment rate sitting at high 5.2%, the company said it has been incredibly difficult to find employees. Coolit human resources manager Diane Daly spoke to Lisa Owen.

A woman who found a man lying unconscious on a popular Wellington walking track has described the horrific scene that confronted her today. The man later died of wounds suffered when a branch fell on him as gales howled through the capital, and Wairarapa. The wild winds have brought down trees, cut power to thousands of homes, cancelled flights, and torn roofs off buildings. Ellen O'Dwyer reports.

A young blood cancer patient who's moved to Australia to access treatment that's not funded in Aotearoa plans to become a doctor so he can give back to his adopted country. Toby Fuller exhausted all the funded treatment in New Zealand, and in February moved to Australia while he was well enough. While Nic Vi-pond who also has the blood cancer myeloma is struggling to pay for Dara here in New Zealand. She's sold her Hamilton house and in a few weeks will make the leap across the ditch to start navigating the system that Toby's already mastered. Toby Fuller and Nic Vi-pond spoke to Lisa Owen.

Staff at Whangarei Hospital watched on this afternoon as firefighters worked to bring a large fire under control in their carpark. The fire damaged around 28 vehicles. RNZ's Susan Edmunds was at the scene and spoke to Lisa Owen.

After a two year policy vacuum, Labour has debuted its second policy in just two days - surprising everyone - including its own leader. The whoopsie comes as Chris Hipkins defends the party's big Future Fund plan against critics lamenting a lack of detail. The Fund - which would invest in New Zealand businesses and infrastructure - would be seeded with 200 million dollars and the dividends of some Crown assets. But the party has not revealed which assets - or how large their dividends would be - nor has it explained how it would replace those dividends which currently go towards areas, like health and education. Acting political editor Craig McCulloch spoke to Lisa Owen.

Wairarapa high school has the good oil on olive growing, turning its crop into an award winning product. Wairarapa college took out silver at this year New Zealand Olive oil awards. Students are involved in the process; garden to table with the end product in high demand.

Kiwi boxer Joseph Parker and Britain's Fabio Wardley have faced off for the first time ahead of their heavyweight clash this Sunday. The stakes are sky high for both men with the winner likely to earn his shot at the undisputed title. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Lisa Owen.

It's been a day of weather chaos throughout the country, with gale force winds and heavy rain battering parts of the lower north and west of the South Island. Gusts reached 148 kilometres per hour at the Remutaka Summit, around 145 kilometres at Mt Kaukau in Wellington today. One person has been killed after being hit by a falling branch and another has been injured. Reporter Ellen O'Dwyer spoke to Lisa Owen.

US correspondent Todd Zwillich spoke to Lisa Owen about Amazon's cloud computing platform causing a global internet outage, as well as part of the White House being demolished to accommodate a new ballroom.

A school north of Auckland says it is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on counsellors for students to help repair damage done by social media. Whangaparaoa College is funded for one and a half counsellors but is now paying for the equivilant of almost five. Whangaparaoa College principal Steve McCracken spoke to Lisa Owen.