Phil Taylor

1 week ago | times.co.nz | Phil Taylor

The heavy machinery is on site and working at pace as the burnt-out former building that was McDonald’s Pakuranga is demolished. The Times visited the property at 472 Pakuranga Road today, Monday, to see the site-clearance works commence and wreckage being dismantled. Workers were carefully piling up materials such as steel that can be salvaged and recycled, while other piles to be sent to the tip and landfill were also being created, ready for collection by disposal trucks.

2 weeks ago | times.co.nz | Phil Taylor

Over the past 20 years, she has become an outstanding, humble and quiet-achieving leader in the east Auckland community, with a reach that goes further across the country through her position with the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order. She has been recognised with a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit national honour and it’s a privilege to be able to talk with her about her life and dedication to Buddhism. When did you arrive in New Zealand?

2 weeks ago | times.co.nz | Phil Taylor

The owner of McDonald’s Pakuranga that was burnt down in an act of suspected arson has spoken publicly for the first time since the horrifying inferno on May 5. Amon Jones, who has owned McDonald’s Pakuranga for 20 years, talked with the Times this week about the “traumatic” incineration of his business.

2 weeks ago | times.co.nz | Phil Taylor

A Howick musician who just released his first album from Los Angeles was in Palm Springs and felt the power of the terrorist bomb attack there last weekend. On Sunday NZ time, a bomb exploded outside a California fertility clinic, killing a person and injuring four others in an act described by United States’ FBI officials as an “intentional act of terrorism”. The suspect responsible for the fatal blast has been identified as Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, who died in the shocking incident.

2 weeks ago | times.co.nz | Phil Taylor

The Howick Returned and Services Association (RSA) is sincerely thanking the east Auckland community for its impressive, wholehearted support of its Poppy Collection during the recent ANZAC period. Howick RSA president Barry Dreyer says the collection of monetary donations “is probably a record”. “It’s certainly the best in the memory of any of the RSA executive committee members. “This is a fantastic amount of support from our community for Veterans and their dependents.