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3 days ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Amy Ridout |Hamish McNeilly
Tourist posing for pictures rips through priceless masterpiece paintingCelia Walden is a columnist, feature writer and novelist who covers lifestyle, entertainment and opinion. OPINION: A few years ago, I found myself standing before Vernet’s Portrait of a Lady in Los Angeles’ County Museum of Art, taking a series of “anger-management breaths”. What had made me cross enough to engage in a stress reduction technique I remain unconvinced by?
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3 days ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Amy Ridout |Susan Edmunds |Diane McCarthy |Michael Daly
As if people needed another reason to live in Wairarapa, we have some of the most reasonable parking rates in New Zealand. While places like Wellington seem to actively discourage visitors with their sky-high parking fees, the Times-Age hit the streets to find out what people thought of Masterton, which has the lowest rates among the provincial centres. Mark Todd was glad Masterton was reasonably priced. “Go to Wellington, or anything like that and it’s crazy,” he said.
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3 days ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Amy Ridout
When Eryn Gribble found a box of 600 animal X-rays, she saw more than old medical scans - she says she saw art. The artist from Newtown, Wellington, spotted the “weird and macabre” trove at a garage sale. Flicking through them, she found an array of animal anatomy - legs, tails, spines, and joints. Most feature cats and dogs, but there’s a few birds, guinea pigs and lizards in the mix, dating back about 25 years.
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4 days ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Alan Granville |Amy Ridout |Chris Marriner |Nina Hindmarsh
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services developmentStore and/or access information on a deviceYou can choose how your personal data is used.
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4 days ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Torika Tokalau |Amy Ridout |Hamish McNeilly
Despite a multimillion dollar upgrade to Masterton’s airport, the runway has failed to achieve safety standards required by most passenger aircraft. In a report to Masterton District Council, chief executive Kym Fell said aircraft with more than 30 seats could not operate from Hood Aerodrome because the current proposal for a 90-metre Runway End Safety Area (RESA) did not meet the threshold set by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
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4 days ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Amy Ridout
A migrant who paid around $60,000 to work as a kitchen hand has been awarded $100,000, but the whereabouts of his former employers is not known, with an associate saying “lots of people were looking for them”. According to an Employment Relations Authority ruling, Vikash Sharma was living in India in early 2023 when Mitu Sharma approached him about a job. The ruling was not clear if Vikash and Mitu were related, but said they met through relatives.
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4 days ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Amy Ridout
Pensioners say they were “shocked” to receive letters saying their superannuation would be cut, while others missed out on winter energy payments, due to a Customs “glitch”. Stuff has reported that a Wellington woman who took a short overseas trip later received a letter saying there was no record of her return, and her winter energy payment would be stopped. The Ministry for Social Development (MSD) told Stuff that around 50 people had mistakenly received letters due to a systems outage.
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4 days ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Amy Ridout
The number of cyclists on a main Wellington cycle route has more than doubled in two years, says a cycling advocate. Wellington City Council’s monitoring camera at the Basin Reserve clocked 13,038 cyclists in April 2025, a 146% increase from 5286 in April 2025. The camera is near the end of the city’s first fully connected bike route, from Island Bay to the city centre.
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1 week ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Amy Ridout
When Mat and Tracey Lear bought El Horno, they were 23, fresh-faced and full of energy - ideal ingredients for running a bar on busy Courtenay Place. Seventeen years and a couple of kids later, they couple are ready for a change in pace and their “fun little bar” is up for grabs. “It’s been brilliant, a big part of our lives,” Mat said. The bar was full of happy memories for the couple.
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1 week ago | 
stuff.co.nz | Amy Ridout
A Wellington tenant who banged on the ceiling to protest noise from her landlords was subjected to a string of inspections - scrutiny the Tenancy Tribunal found amounted to harassment. The tenant, who has name suppression, lived below her landlords, Rebecca Bliss and Sandy Connon, in an older house in a bush-clad part of Brooklyn, Wellington. Tribunal adjudicator C Boys said the relationship between the parties was good when the tenancy began in December 2022.
