Sports commentator Glen Larmer.

Elspeth Kerr was a prominent nurse in the Auckland suburb of Devonport in the 1930s and faced three trials over the poisoning of her foster daughter Betty. Betty lived, but as police investigated they found cause to exhume the bodies of her husband Charles - who had died just a few months before Betty became sick - and another patient called Emma Day. At the time, the case was sensational, but over time was lost to history - until a skeleton was unearthed under a Devonport house in 1992....

Rebecca discusses the arrest of Michael Chai, the director of a New Zealand-based company Blackwell Global Holdings. He was taken into custody trying to board a plane in the Philippines, bound for Hong Kong, and is wanted for alleged fraud in China. And Being AI (BAI) has debuted on the New Zealand stock exchange, but got off to a rocky start. Rebecca Stevenson is a senior journalist at BusinessDesk.

For decades, the classic Kiwi sock brand Norsewear has provided relief from the big freeze - and economic survival for the small North Island village of Norsewood, near Napier. It now as now has a high-profile new owner, Tim Deane who is a former Fonterra managing director. Hawke's Bay Today's "Cyclone Gabrielle: Special Free Edition" has won the Best Use of Print award at the International News Media Association's 2024 global awards in London.And noise restrictions in the Hastings city...

Ralph McAllister reviews My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand published by Century.

Best-selling author and Stanford University medical school professor Abraham Verghese has a new novel - a sweeping epic following three generations of a family in South West India across the 20th Century. The Covenant of Water will delight fans of his 2012 novel Cutting for Stone, which sold over 1 million copies and remained on the New York Times best-seller list for over two years. The story centres on a young Christian girl in Kerala, who is married to a 40 year old widower, and follows as...

he US Supreme Court has heard an extraordinary case, in which Donald Trump's lawyers argued that presidents should have blanket immunity for criminal acts committed during their presidencies. And the first witness has testified at the former president's criminal trial in New York. Meanwhile President Joe Biden has signed off on a US$95b aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel. Danielle Kurtzleben is a political correspondent assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.

Grey Power is calling for a change to elderly driver assessments, claiming the process for assessing driver capability is penalising some of the very people who need their licences the most. Grey Power acting vice president David Marshall says a nationwide survey of members has revealed a lack of practical driving assessors in the regions and also widespread use of cognitive tests - SIMARD-MD and Mini-ACE - to assess driver impairment. Canadian driving researcher Dr Alexander Crizzle, says...

Two drugs for type 2 diabetes are being restricted to only those already prescribed them, due to a global shortage. From Wednesday funded access to dulaglutide and liraglutide known as Trulicity and Victoza respectively will be restricted. Between December last year and March about 5000 people started taking these medicines and Pharmac says if the growing trend continued it would start to have difficulty with filling prescriptions. The drugs are used alongside metformin and help to trigger...

Today Kennedy Warne discusses the proposed Te Kuha opencast coal mine in the hills above Westport getting an invite to have consent considered under the fast-track regime.

Beside Christchurch's Avon River, Otakaro Orchard Community Garden and Food Forest has 96 different fruit trees, and an underscrub filled berries, herbs and medicinal plants. 

Fletcher Tabuteau is a former NZ First MP from 2014 to 2020, former deputy leader of the party, and former Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and the then minister for regional development Shane Jones. He now works for lobbying and communications firm Capital Government Relations. Gareth Hughes is a former Green MP and now works for the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa.

David looks at leaked documents that show the Canterbury arm of Te Whatu Ora had been told to save $13.3m by July. 

Kim Pittar from Muir's Independent Bookshop in Gisborne reviews The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon published by Simon and Schuster.

Adam Kay has been very open with what turned him off working as a doctor and into a successful writer and comedian. 

Israel is preparing for an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as the UK considers sending its troops to help deliver aid via a new sea route. 

Black wood pellets are seen as a potential silver bullet replacement for coal by major industrial users in New Zealand like Fonterra and Genesis Energy. 

The Mental Health Foundation warns preparing the sector to pick up all mental health-related emergency calls could take a decade. 

The police pay dispute is now in the hands of a third party, who will decide whether or not they should be earning more. 

Comedians Michele A'Court and Irene Pink look at the lighter moments of the week.

Sports commentator Sam Ackerman

Music commentator Jeremy Taylor has reissues from Air, Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Kirsty MacColl, plus an outlier track from the new Taylor Swift album.

Peter Newport is Managing Editor, Crux, based in Arrowtown

Gail Pittaway reviews How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin published by Hachette