Morning Report

School vans will be leaving in a few minutes to scour Auckland roads for students left behind by public buses.

Macleans College principal Steve Hargreaves is sending out the college's vehicles to pick up students along the main bus routes to the school.

With Alert Level 2 rules restricting how many people can get on a bus, it's expected that anywhere up to 200 of the school's pupils could be left stranded.

Hargreaves speaks to Susie Ferguson.

Teachers and principals are today bracing themselves for the return of up to 800,000 school children.

But after eight weeks away, how smoothly will things go?

Neil Watson of Otahuhu College, Cathy Ewing of Nelson College for Girls and Tracy Liddall of Otorohanga College speak to Corin Dann.

The consumer watchdog says Air New Zealand is still not refunding passengers booked on cancelled flights to or from the United States, and is providing misleading information to those seeking a refund.

Consumer NZ has filed a complaint with the Commerce Commission against the airline.

Air New Zealand acknowledged last month that passengers booked on flights to the US were entitled to a refund, in keeping with US law. 

Jon Duffy is Consumer NZ's chief executive.

He speaks to Susie Ferguson.

The telecommunications sector says a spate of suspected arson attacks on cellphone towers is putting lives at risk.

Fires at towers over the weekend mean there have now been 17 suspected attacks over the past two months.

They have been linked to conspiracy theorists who have falsely linked the Covid-19 pandemic to the rollout of 5G technology.

Geoff Thorn, chief executive of the Telecommunications Forum, speaks to Corin Dann.

The loosening of restrictions under the shift to Alert Level 2 began last Thursday, but today is a whole new ball game as schools reopen and tens of thousands more people hit the roads, and return to work.

It comes after a weekend of adjusting to the new Covid-19 rules, which saw even the Prime Minister being denied a table at a Wellington cafe.

Jacinda Ardern speaks to Corin Dann.

New figures obtained by RNZ show the last two years had the highest rates of gun crime and deaths involving firearms for nearly 10 years.

Despite that rise, there hasn't been a corresponding increase in officers taking out or using their guns.

Police reporter Ben Strang reports.

As up to 800,000 school children head back to school today for the first time in eight weeks, many more parents are also able to return to their offices.

That means many more cars on the roads after the relative peace and quiet of lockdown.

So how are the roads looking?

Teachers and principals are bracing themselves for all manner of reactions when eight-hundred-thousand school children return to class on Monday for the first time in eight weeks.

Some children will be excited, some will be anxious and some might not turn up at all.

The Education Ministry has warned schools truancy rates might rise because families have got out of the habit of regular schooling and some will be worried about Covid-19.

RNZ's education correspondent, John Gerritsen, reports.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

The head of Sport Canterbury hopes a financial recovery package to deal with the impact of Covid-19 will drive a change in the sector's funding model.

Sport and Recreation will get $265 million in additional government funding over the next four years to remain viable and adapt in the wake of the crisis.

Almost a third of that is for short-term relief, but the remaining $182 million is to help the sector rebuild and then innovate.

Sport Canterbuy boss Julyan Falloon told Clay Wilson the funding is a massive boost.