Thursday's headlines: Two Dunedin police officers suspended on full pay for 2½ years so far; $700,000 contract lost by Pacific health trust after critical audit; international students may be able to bypass Immigration Department when getting visas.
NZ Herald
The New Zealand Herald tells how a 13 year old boy survived boat tragedy on the Hauraki Gulf this week. He and three companions swam for three hours in freezing conditions, but a fourth person is believed to have drowned.
A Pacific Island paradise has been left shaken by a bank burglary. Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, is about $200,000 poorer since the raid on its tiny bank.
Dominion Post
The Dominion Post reports a Pacific health trust which received more than $700,000 in public funding has lost its contract after an audit found it was servicing only a small group of people, including trust employees and their families.
Some residents in Upper Hutt are fuming after they tried to register power failures during this week's storm.
Contact Energy call centre operators repeatedly told them to 'try turning on the light switch,' despite it being obvious there was no power.
Also on the front page: biting southerlies are forecast to continue until at least Friday and a snow sculpture created at the height of the storm, is pictured.
The Press
The Press says international students may be able to bypass the Immigration Department when getting visas, under a new scheme to increase enrolments.
Kaiapoi residents with land in the orange zone will find out the fate of their properties on Thursday.
Former politican Graeme Capill will be released next month after six years in prison for abusing young girls.
And it's a case of then, and now, with photographs of a snow covered Christchurch street, taken 66 years apart.
ODT
The Otago Daily Times says frightened flatmates ran for their lives as fire ripped through their apartment in central Dunedin.
Two Dunedin police officers remain suspended on full pay, 2½ years after an employment dispute began.
Four tourists have been rescued, but their pilot is still in his helicopter, trapped by bad weather in the Lammerlaw Range.
