Freephone 0800 800 405  

That’s the freephone number to call if you live in the Waikato region and you or your whānau need help getting food, groceries or other household goods and services.

A newly formed Covid-19 emergency operations centre formed by the Waikato district and Hamilton city councils will collect information from you to provide the support you need throughout the lockdown period. 

The family of a young Tamahere man, seriously injured in a recent hit and run incident, are appealing for help in solving the crime.

On Tuesday, March 24, pedestrian Dion McFetridge , 21, was hit on Tamahere Drive by a speeding car and was left lying badly injured in the centre of the road.

There are several witnesses to the incident and a description of the vehicle but not its licence plate number.

The Waikato Mayoral Forum has work underway to identify more than $10 million of “shovel-ready” projects to stimulate the Waikato economy.

Forum chair, Waikato District Mayor Allan Sanson, said the projects sought should be ready to go within six months of the lockdown end in order to contribute to a substantial stimulus of the local economy and create jobs.

Waikato political leaders will meet on Monday, March 30, via teleconference to discuss Covid-19 and its significant economic and social impacts on the region.

They will focus specifically on how Waikato authorities can come together to kick start an economic recovery.

The quickest way to lose money right now is to move investments into cash, writes financial adviser Janet Natta.

At present, the financial markets have fallen sharply in a very short space of time.  Financial markets hate uncertainty and we are living in very uncertain times.

Rubbish collections and other essential services will continue in the Waikato district but the council offices and sites are now closed to the public.

As of today, Tuesday, March 24, Covid-19 Alert Level 3 is in place, requiring public venues to close and for businesses and organisations to enforce alternative ways of working to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

From midnight tomorrow, Wednesday, March 25, Alert Level 4 will be in place which instructs people to stay at home.

Waikato District Council community facilities will be closed from Monday, March 23 as a precaution to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Government has put limits on the number of people who can gather in a space and is urging the practice of ‘physical distancing’– maintaining a space of two metres between people.

The impacts of the highly infectious novel coronavirus Covid-19 are spreading throughout our local community and New Zealand.

We will all know people whose health is at risk or whose jobs and incomes, businesses, life or travel plans have been affected.

We will all need to be alert to ways we can support our family, friends and communities in the days, weeks and months ahead. Here’s a start for what we can do in Tamahere.

New Zealand’s local councils increasingly recognise they have a duty to act on the climate crisis and are working to meet its challenges.

“We’re not waiting for Government,” Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins told Newsroom.

In the Waikato district, deputy mayor and Tamahere councillor Aksel Bech promised after his re-election that he would develop a council response to climate change “with priority and urgency”.

State Highway 1 road resurfacing is scheduled to start on Sunday, March 8, forcing a detour for northbound traffic at Tamahere.

The work will be carried out between 7pm and 6am with northbound SH1 traffic detouring on to the off-ramp to Airport Rd via Tamahere Drive and continuing through the roundabout on to the on-ramp to re-join SH1.

New asphalt will be applied to the expressway surface and, consequently, also new line markings.