The Raglan Lions have announced prize money for the New Year’s Eve parade which is returning after a break last year due to Covid.
While it’s not all about winning there is $500 available for the best float this year - with $200 for second prize and $100 for third place. There are also prizes for people who are on bikes or any other kind of wheeled entry, including unicycles and/or wheelbarrows.
Entrants must be assembled on Wallis St by 6:30pm on Saturday 31st December for judging and the rest of you will need to be in the main street by 7pm for the parade itself.
Go Bus driver wages in Waikato, Hamilton and other parts of the region are set to jump to $28 an hour – an increase of almost 20 per cent – with a funding injection from Waikato Regional Council and support from Go Bus.
Councillors made the decision because of a persistent driver shortage impacting the services in our region - an issue mirrored in cities and towns throughout the country,
The Government has responded with a $61 million budget allocation over the next four years for driver wages, provided public transport authorities and operators contribute to wage increases and continue to adjust rates in the future.
It remains to see if the pay rise is enough to entice drivers back into the buses.
One person has died after a serious crash yesterday on SH23. The crash occurred around 8:15am near the Te Mata Road intersection with two other individuals being taken to hospital with moderate injuries. The accident was attended by a helicopter, two ambulances and a local prime doctor and SH23 was closed for some time while oil was cleared from the road.
Local MP Barbara Kuriger is in the news again after hundreds of pages of emails were released to Newsroom showing a pattern of personal attacks on officials in relation to animal mistreatment charges.
Kuriger accused Fonterra of "corruption" and pushed for a public official to be fired over the prosecution of her son Tony for ill treatment of animals.
The correspondence, obtained by Newsroom under the Official Information Act, shows Kuriger used her Parliament email address in more than 50 emails with MPI, including while she sat on the Primary Production Select Committee and held National's agriculture portfolio. Many of these emails included National Party letterhead.
Newsroom says they show a pattern of attacking the independence, professionalism and character of MPI and its employees.
And that is the Raglan news for Wednesday 21st December 2022