26 Feb 2013

Morning Report: local papers

7:07 am on 26 February 2013

Tuesday headlines: Woman tipped out of wheelchair at the last moment in face of incoming train; Waikato ghost towns foreseen under new quake guidlines; British astronomer appointed new head of Otago museum.

NZ Herald

The New Zealand Herald reports an Ironman entrant is in a serious condition in hospital after a road rage incident while he was on a training ride near Taupo. He was pushed off his bike by a man who has now been charged with assault.

Sir Robert Jones has quit as the manager for Joseph Parker after clashing with promoters about suitable opponents for the boxer.

Waikato Times

The Waikato Times reports the region's small towns risk becoming ghost towns while Hamilton could lose its grand heritage buildings under new Government guidelines around earthquake-prone buildings.

The proposal requires buildings identified as earthquake prone to be strengthened or demolished within 10 years.

Otorohanga Mayor Dale Williams believes more than 70% of Otorohanga's main street won't meet the proposed standards and he can see buildings being "unsaleable, unrentable, and abandoned all round New Zealand".

Dominion Post

The Dominion Post reports on the actions of two people who tried to free a woman from her trapped wheelchair as a freight train bore down on them in the Auckland suburb of Kingsland.

The pair tried to move the wheelchair, but when that failed, one of them tipped the woman out of the chair at the last moment.

A new study has shown Wellingtonians believe they are safer, healthier and generally better off than most other New Zealanders.

The Press

The Press reports on a woman who says she was saved from a vicious sexually motivated attack by her dog.

The woman says she was dragged into a bush by her attacker and repeatedly struck with a weapon but believes her injuries would have been much worse if her dog had not leapt on the man, allowing her to escape.

A building company has launched an internal investigation after one of its supervisors allegedly forged an owner's signature on an earthquake repair signoff form.

ODT

The Otago Daily Times reports that the new head of the Otago Museum is British astronomer Ian Griffin who has previously run an English science museum, NASA's public outreach division and the Auckland Observatory.

A Dunedin tea-towel designer's creation has reduced Hollywood star Ryan Gosling to "tears of embarrassment". The tea-towel featured a picture of the star along with the line: "Hey girl, I bet you'd rather be doing these dishes."