Checkpoint for Friday 26 August 2022

5:06 PM.Three people are critically injured in Middlemore Hospital after an early morning gas explosion at a central Auckland construction site.

It is thought the source of the explosion was a gas bottle… Read more Video, Audio

5:11 PM.A Marokopa man missing with his three children for eight months may have escaped the area and is likely being helped by someone according to police.

Tom Phillips who previously prompted a full scale… Read more Video, Audio

5:19 PM.A big red kangaroo has bounced right into Air New Zealand's parade, with Qantas launching direct flights from Auckland to New York in direct competition with our national carrier.

From mid-2023… Read more Video, Audio

5:25 PM.Christchurch is getting its first All Blacks game in six years on Saturday night, when the side faces off against Argentina.

Our reporter Adam Burns joins us now from Christchurch.

  Read more Video, Audio

5:29 PM.Locals are starting to wade in to the clean up in Marlborough as the region switches into recovery mode.

They're eager to get the ball rolling on what will be a long road back to normality.

Our… Read more Video, Audio

5:39 PM.An animal rights group is calling on the community to support a controversial code switch at a South Auckland race track.

The Manukau Sports bowl is currently home to greyhound racing, but the lease… Read more Video, Audio

5:42 PM.Residents in the Napier suburb of Awatoto say a stench from factories is so bad they can no longer open their windows or put clothes on their washing lines.

What's causing it and what is the Council… Read more Video, Audio

5:46 PM.Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes has apologised to state care abuse survivors at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care this afternoon.

Hughes was also chief executive of the… Read more Audio

5:47 PM.Get your wheels, your shoes, your fishing rod and reel – the old Māngere Bridge has been replaced and is opening to the public.

For more than 100 years the communities of Onehunga and Māngere Bridge… Read more Video, Audio

5:51 PM.The country's first training cafe for young people living with disabilities has opened its doors.

Checkpoint reporter Louise Ternouth and camera operator Nick Monro have the story. Read more Video, Audio

5:55 PM.Hundreds of international and New Zealand athletes are raring to hit the slopes in the Queenstown Lakes at this year's Winter Games.

It's been a challenging few years for the event, but organisers… Read more Video, Audio