HEADLINES & NEWS
West Coasters have scored a victory, persuading DB Breweries not to close Greymouth's Monteiths Brewery. DB announced last week that it was closing the plant and shifting production to Auckland because Montieth's was so popular that the Greymouth brewery could no longer cope with demand. That provoked outrage on the West Coast, with threats of a boycott of DB products. West Coast's MP Damien O'Conner and regional leaders have been negotiating with DB to prevent the closure - a short time ago the brewer announced that Montieth's would remain open. DB's managing director Brian Blake joins me now. LIVE
There's jubilation at the news on the coast - Peter Toel from Greymouth's Union Hotel is welcoming the decision. CUT
Meanwhile, the Local Returned Services Association and the Greymouth Working Mens Club which were boycotting DB have welcomed the decision. Joining us now is the president of the Greymouth Working Men's Club, Peter Fletcher. LIVE
Sacked Cabinet Minister Dover Samuels is on his way back from nine months in the political wilderness with signs his recent bitter relationship with the Prime Minister is on the mend. Mr Samuels has been promoted to a new job as under-secretary of Economic Development, the announcement overshadowing Marion Hobbs' reinstatement to cabinet. While Dover Samuels is not yet back in Cabinet, Helen Clark has not ruled it out - a major thawing in an acrimonious relationship which at one stage sparked speculation Mr Samuels could be expelled from the Labour Party. He was sacked amid allegations swirling around him over his relationship with a teenager in the 1980s, and his failure to disclose previous convictions. He remained a backbencher even after a police report cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing. Mr Samuels was unavailable to talk to Checkpoint tonight but at a media conference earlier today he refused to criticise his leader focusing instead on the future. CUT
[illegible] us now is the Prime MInister. LIVE
I asked Marion Hobbs how she felt about her reinstatement as a Cabinet Minister. PREREC
BUSINESS NEWS WITH TODD NIALL
The police are praising a New Zealand teenager for helping avert a potential school-yard shooting in the United States. 16-year-old Tarryn Pitzer lives in Waiuku in South Auckland - she was chatting with a 15-year-old American boy from Pittsburgh at a Teen Help website, when he admitted he was thinking of taking a gun to his school and going on a shooting-spree. She got her mother to call the police, who contacted Interpol, which in turn alerted the FBI.
Constable John Rei (Ray) from the Waiuku police says the American authorities took the case very seriously. CUT
I asked Tarryn Pitzer what happened. PREREC
Local bodies are sounding a note of caution about suggestions that rates should be used to help fund the fire service. The idea is one of three put forward as alternatives to the present funding regime - the others are using taxes, or rates plus car registration levies.
Eric Frykberg reports that officials from of the Department of Internal Affairs are now examining the option as the Government finally bows to decades of complaints and pledges better funding of the Fire Service. PKGE
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SPORT with STEPHEN HEWSON
In Fiji, indigenous Fijian landowners have ordered the closure of the Sabeto Indian Primary School near Nadi. The principal says the landowners entered the compound this morning, forcing pupils to leave their classrooms and shelter under trees. The Education Ministry says the landowners are demanding another 28 thousand US dollars in lease money on top of the 15 thousand dollars the school already pays. Our Fiji correspondent Shalen Shandil joins us now. LIVE
The Mana Coastguard on Wellington's Kapiti Coast has been banned from operating [illegible] Maritime Safety Authority. The authority has beached the Coastguard's two boats after carrying out an audit, which revealed problems with maintainence and the training of crews.
But as Jon Donnison reports the service is also facing criticism from neighbouriong coastguards some of which says the situation is so bad they won't carry out joint operations if Mana is in charge. PKGE
A senior police officer has told the High Court that he made it clear to a Mongrel Mob member who became a police informer that the police could not assist him to relocate him to Australia. Anthony Hewitson is suing the Attorney General for breach of contract and claims the police went back on their promises to relocate him and his family. This afternoon the defence opened their case. Our reporter Julian Robins was in court and he joins us now... LIVE
The Land Transport Safety Authority says there has been a major reduction in crashes at accident black spots in the past 16 years due to roading improvements throughout the country. A crash investigation programme started in 1985 highlighted around two-thousand four hundred sites with high accident rates, which could be significantly reduced by simple low cost safety measures. The most dramatic success has been in Waikato, where the number of injury crashes at black spots has been nearly halved. Glen Bunting is the LTSA's regional manager in the Waikato - I asked him how the programme works. PREREC
The battle lines are being drawn over farmers' increasing extraction of water from Canterbury rivers for irrigation. Fish and Game New Zealand is vowing to fight proposals to take more water from the Rangitata River, saying they pose a considerable threat to salmon stocks. Fish and Game is applying to the Environment Ministry for a conservation order, saying it is not prepared to let the Rangitata join what it says is a growing list of seriously depleted South Island rivers.
John MacDonald compiled this report. PKGE
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