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Many local businesses have adapted to a new normal over the last few months, and one standout has been the virtual reality options that are attached to the Golden Homes Show Home on the corner of McPherson and Karaka roads. Whilst you may not be able to attend the show home physically, or even if restrictions allow don’t feel comfortable doing so, you can wander around it from…

Earlier this summer, the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee set about crunching data on more than 40,000 genes from 17,000 genetic samples in an effort to better understand COVID-19. Summit is the second-fastest computer in the world, but the process – which involved analyzing 2.5 billion genetic combinations – still took more than a week. When Summit was…

In October 1986 a young Bohemian farmer from Puhoi, Allan Titford, entered into a contract to buy two adjoining, gently contoured freehold title farms at Maunganui Bluff, on Northland's west coast. Never in his wildest dreams did Allan Titford expect to face years of death threats, assaults, police brutality, two houses on his property razed to the ground and eventually being…

If, as many predict, we will have to learn to live with Covid-19 for some years, we need to get our border issues sorted out. No, I’m not talking about our international border. I’m talking about the one down the road here on the edge of Auckland. I’m talking about the borders you get when you lockdown a region or a city; the border that divides people who live in one zone and…

In late 2017, while on our second date, Topher and I had the idea to drive the planet. That evening we shook hands to agree that “one day” we would follow through with our big plan. In March the following year we arrived in Vancouver to pick up our Jeep Wrangler “Gunther”. On the 18th of April 2018 Gunther, Topher and I began one of the longest overland expeditions ever…

Within six minutes of arriving at the hospital Princess Diana was dead. That places her time of death very close to the time Dr Jean-Marc Martino relinquished control to Dr Bruno Riou. In other words, Martino was in control of Diana’s care for 1 hour and 26 minutes and she died 6 minutes after he passed on control. This puts the spotlight more closely on the mystery period of 5…

As I’m standing in my kitchen looking at the groove worn into the floor from my endless trips to the fridge, I’m suddenly reminded that Spring is only days away. And this is great news, because at the end of a spring day, everyone should smell like sweat … from the effects of a workout. And there’s that feeling of anticipation, a countdown to warm welcoming days with bounties…

A Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads and Fathers out there from the Papakura Business Association – we hope you have a fantastic day! Welcome to New Businesses into Papakura We welcome Bullseye Accounting who have opened up on the Great South Road. And Memory Layne who have opened up in O’Shannessey Street. Our Wonderful Businesses and Business Owners Check out pages 16 & 17…

The National Party’s candidate for the newly redrawn seat of Port Waikato is a committed electorate MP who likes getting stuck into issues affecting his communities. “That's one of the main reasons I got into politics – I always wanted to be an electorate MP. I really enjoy constituent work and dealing promptly with queries and people’s problems.” Whether it’s advocating on…

And what an exciting one it is shaping up to be! The decisions made on September 19th have the potential to have long lasting effects for years to come and perhaps more than ever it is imperative that we all exercise our right to have a say in those decisions and vote. We are lucky in our area to feature some very dedicated candidates and all of them have philosophies and…

I am very pleased to have been nominated as your National Party candidate for the Electorate of Papakura which now includes all the Pohutukawa Coast from Ardmore and Beachlands to Orere Point, Hunua, Happy Valley, Ness Valley; the farms and agricultural areas of Ponga, Drury, Ararimu, Ramarama, Runciman, Bombay and the more suburban areas of Kingseat, Karaka and of course…

As millions worldwide struggle with the social, economic, and personal fallout from Government-imposed lockdowns, the pandemic is all but over in Sweden, which recorded only 66 deaths related to COVID-19 between 27 July and 27 August – less than 1% of the average monthly death rate of 6,800 people. Dr Soo Aleman, senior physician and associate professor at the Karolinska…

“A combination of FDA and TGA approved Ivermectin, Zinc and Doxycycline has shown positive results for COVID-19 and should be considered immediately to fight the pandemic,” says CDD Medical Director Professor Thomas Borody. Australia's The Centre for Digestive Disease (CDD) Medical Director Professor Thomas Borody MB, BS, BSc(Med), MD, PhD, DSc, FRACP, FACP, FACG, AGAF, says FDA…

In New Zealand, like in many other countries, the Government is claiming that it is ‘listening to the science’ when it comes to COVID-19. But when the scientific consensus is that no evidence exists to support such widely-adopted measures as school closures, travel restrictions, and mandatory wearing of masks in public, then is the Government truly ‘listening to the science’, or…

While the New Zealand government enforces severe lockdown measures in a bid to ‘stamp out’ COVID-19, there is a growing international endorsement of the public health strategy in Sweden, which has now recorded far fewer deaths per capita than the United Kingdom – despite keeping schools, restaurants, and workplaces open throughout the duration of the pandemic.

On Friday 17 July 2020, Karaka Playcentre were extremely lucky to have Bunnings transform their wilderness area through the Bunnings community support programme. Bunnings is committed to participating in the communities in which they operate by contributing to local, regional and national causes, charities and organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand. The south facing…

Kia ora, my name is Anahila Kanongataʻa-Suisuiki, I’m a List MP and the Labour candidate for Papakura. I was born in Tonga, grew up in Onehunga and now Papakura is my home away from home. I’m a team player, I chair the Labour Women’s Caucus and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Pacific Caucus, which represents 15 countries. I have a background in social services, leading teams…

Not 48 hours after I sent what I thought was the final version of this column to the editor, events proved just how true the headline was: Todd Muller resigned as Leader of the National Party just eight weeks after he assumed the role. Twelve hours later, the National Party caucus elected Judith Collins as Leader and Gerry Brownlee as Deputy Leader. The political landscape…

elocal sat down with local independent candidate Ian Cummings and asked him why constituents in the Port Waikato electorate should vote for him on September 19th 2020. I am standing as an independent candidate for one reason and one reason only, you and I deserve better. My point of difference is that unlike the other candidates, who represent the interests of their political…

We started our house hunting journey in early 2019. We were looking to downsize to our forever home away from the city. We couldn’t find anything we liked, having come from a fairly new house. It had been suggested we build but as we had not built before we were a little reluctant to take on a project. However, we visited a number of show homes at Paerata Rise and when we…