Drivers flout ban on hand-held cellphones; offender fools minders; cost of flood defences doubles.
NZ Herald
New figures show a phone-related car crash occurs on average every two days, as drivers continue to flout the law that bans driving while using a hand-held cellphone.
The paper reports the husband of the Auckland woman burned to death is the son of a Hindu priest who was nearly deported from New Zealand for overstaying.
Dominion Post
A community trust contracted to monitor a high-risk sex offender around the clock admits it failed. Shane Frederick Stoneham was discovered with a 14-year-old girl in his bed.
The paper talks to Frank Cheung who continued to claim his mother's superannuation for 13 years after she died. He's pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud and one of forgery and been sentenced to home detention.
The Dominion Post has before and after photos of Labour Party leader Phil Goff who has admitted to dying his hair.
The Press
Some families are returning to homes damaged in the September earthquake despite the properties being deemed uninhabitable. The chairman of the Canterbury Community Earthquake Recovery Network, Tom McBrearty, says people are doing so because of financial necessity.
The front page features Billy Black who rides a Harley Davidson around the country with his 45 kilogram pet pig, Jonah Hog, on the back. The motorcycle is labelled Hog On Hog, and Mr Black claims the pig is a babe magnet.
Otago Daily Times
Estimated costs for flood protection work on the Water of Leith and Lindsay Creek have more than doubled to $53 million.
Contiki Holidays is to add Dunedin to its youth tour itinerary, bringing an extra 5000 tourists into the city.
The front page photo is of one of the crew of a fishing boat with a bomb it netted at Carey's Bay. The bomb, believed to have been dumped there after the Second World War, was too corroded to be dangerous.
