Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

President Joe Biden will call on Congress to suspend federal gasoline and diesel taxes for three months — an election-year move meant to ease financial pressures greeted with doubts by many lawmakers. The Democratic President will also call on states to suspend their own gas taxes or provide similar relief, the White House said. At issue is the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal tax on gas and the 24.4 c...

Smaller grocery players are casting doubts, on the latest moves by the supermarket giants. Foodstuffs has followed its rival Woolworths, in announcing a wholesale service for smaller operators. It follows concerns about the current grocery duopoly. Dairy and Business Owners Group chairman Sunny Kaushal told Tim Dower many of the problems won't be fixed, until the duopoly ends. LISTEN ABOVE See omn...

There are concerns owners of nasty dogs aren't facing the consequences of attacks by their animals. A report in Gisborne found no one has been prosecuted, despite 90 attacks in the course of a year. Pat Collins ran animal control in the district for over 20 years and joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Space is unimaginably, infinitely, large but our little corner of it is getting crowded. More satellites are going up every day, and one expert is warning it's becoming a messy and dangerous place. Rand Corporation’s Douglas Ligor says more rules are needed and he joined Early Edition from the US. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not sure how much of a difference these new wholesale channels are going to make to competition in the grocery sector. My sense is that what it'll do, if anything, is maybe give the dairies a bit of a break and a chance to increase their margins a smidge. But when it comes to the main weekly shop, that's still going to go to one of the big chains. I slipped into one for a few tins of dog food and...

Employers are facing a desperate battle to keep their workers. People may will be surprised to hear what is considered the most attractive place to work. Randstad has been doing some research on this and they have found Evolve Education Group the most desirable place to work Country director of Randstad Richard Kennedy joined Early Edition. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

Some scepticism over the Government's latest move to tackle the plasterboard crisis. Minister for Building and Construction Megan Woods has set up a taskforce to troubleshoot supply shortages. Combined Building Supplies Co-Op Marketing Director Mike Blackburn says this is a problem that's been plaguing the industry for months now. He told Tim Dower some suppliers have already been looking for solu...

The Act Party wants to see vaccination mandates for health workers scrapped. We all know hospitals are facing severe staff shortages just as the flu hit .and overseas evidence suggests another Covid surge is likely. Act leader David Seymour joined Early Edition. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MIQ. You'll have heard calls from the Opposition for an apology to some of the New Zealanders who were locked out of the country at the height of the pandemic. And especially pregnant women who couldn't get home to have their babies here. Newstalk ZB is this morning was able to reveal that conversations were had way back in April 2020 about what to do with pregnant women, but nothing was done. Thi...

A plea for health workers to get their flu jab. Health Ministry data shows only around 54 percent of DHB staff have had the flu vaccine Nelson Marlborough DHB is the lowest at 39 percent. Immunologist Graham Le Gros told Tim Dower we're going to need all our health workers this winter. He says we haven't had a flu round for a couple of years now, so it's quite likely people are going to need hospi...

A call for the chair of Fletcher Building to resign over the Gib crisis. KiwiSaver provider Simplicity and the Shareholders Association have written to the building giant with the request in the wake of a meeting on Friday. They're also asking for the remaining board members to put themselves up for re-election, and some independent reviews of conduct, culture and risk. Shareholders Association ch...

Support continues for first responders who attended the head on crash south of Picton. Seven people were killed in a collision between a van and a truck on State Highway 1 on Sunday morning  - two others from the van have serious and critical injuries. The Pukekohe family was on their way home after attending a funeral in Dunedin. St John Wellbeing Manager Adele Saunders told Tim Dower first respo...

It's pretty tough in the emergency departments right now. Hospitals all over the country are pleading with people to leave the ED for life and death situations only. I guess those of us who are lucky enough to enjoy pretty good health don't need to be told that; it says emergency in the name doesn't it? Unfortunately for emergency departments, their front doors are open to all and anyone who turns...

Black Ferns 50United States 6 The Black Ferns saved their best for last. While they began their Pacific Four series with two double-digit wins, the Black Ferns' 50-6 victory over the United States in Whangārei on Saturday afternoon showed exactly what they are capable of. While they had been slow to put the foot down in their previous two matches against Australia and Canada, there was no such iss...

Matariki is about resetting and remembering those who have died in the past year. Chief Executive of Tātou - a Māori cultural marketing and communications agency, Skye Kimura doesn't want Matariki to be used as an excuse for sales. Matariki will be marked as a public holiday for the first time this Friday. Kimura told Tim Dower we should learn what Matariki is about. She says she sees Matariki as...

What a pointless exercise the Tauranga by-election was and what a waste of taxpayers' money. National is keeping the seat, hardly a surprise. But the turnout was awful. 40 percent, about 20,000 votes cast and cost the taxpayer - roughly $50 a vote according to the Electoral Commission's figure of about a million to run a by-election. Of course, we wouldn't have needed to go through that whole proc...

So who's in the right at Bethlehem College? One the one hand, the school's Statement of Beliefs is pretty up-front about matters of sexuality. Example: biological pronouns will be used for students, him and her, a student's name is expected to align with their biological sex. In other words, the school does not acknowledge such a thing as a transgender person. And to be absolutely clear, it goes o...

A leaked document from Tauranga's Bethlehem College is raising concern about its stance on gender. It includes a number of prerequisites for students, including the school using biological pronouns' for pupils,  and students needing to adhere to practices according to their birth gender. Tauranga Pride Advocate Gordy Lockhart told Tim Dower the stance the document takes will have a negative impact...

Eden Park is making extra tickets available for tomorrow night's sold-out Super Rugby final. The Blues will take on the Crusaders in front of a home crowd. Eden Park Chief Executive Nick Sautner has confirmed to Newstalk ZB, extra tickets will be made available this afternoon, for about $120 each. He told Tim Dower it's taken some doing, but demand is extremely high. “We’ve implemented a standing...

Patrick Gower did not expect to give up drinking on TV. On Booze explores New Zealand's drinking culture through the lens of Gower's own relationship with alcohol. The Newshub National Correspondent is frank about about how much he drinks. Gower told Early Edition it required an intervention from fellow journalist Corrin Dan. He now confirms he is six months sober. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/...

A not-for-profit leadership group says legislation may be to blame for the sector's increasing vulnerability. It comes as a new report from Grant Thornton warns they'll soon be at breaking point if they don't adapt. The report shows there's little understanding for law changes, while maintaining staff and financing are top concerns for the sector. Garth Nowland-Foreman - director of Centre for Not...

A Wairarapa secondary school says its plan for random drug searches is about identifying issues students may have and nipping them in the bud. Kuranui College in Greytown will have handlers and their dogs sweep the property during school time, including classrooms and lockers - but won't search students themselves. Principal Simon Fuller says it's not about kicking students out of school, but rath...

We've talked a lot about the 501 deportations lately and how unjust and downright grubby that Australian policy is. Just a week ago the Prime Minister was in Australia and most New Zealanders backed what she was saying, how it's wrong, immoral even, for the Aussies to send back crims when they've got no connections here, and haven't lived here since they were tiny kids. Here’s a bit of a tricky si...

Markets see, markets do. Global markets have been following US stock market trends, which investors say has gone down because of worse than expected US inflation rates. The NZX was down 2.6 percent yesterday, and over the last 100 days has gone down by 20 percent. Harbour Asset Management Portfolio Manager Shane Solly told Tim Dower the NZX is heavily influenced by the US. He says the US federal r...

A report into ACC has found privacy issues among staff. The independent review found the agency doesn't adequately monitor and audit staff access and use of client information. It follows the revelation last October, that more than a dozen employees were sharing private client details on social media app Snapchat. Auckland University commercial law expert Gehan Gunasekara told Tim Dower the sharin...