Northland news in brief: Northland Lotto ticket a winner and $7350 for dinner with Winston Peters

Did you buy a lotto ticket from Pak'N Save in Kaitaia? It could be a second division winner.

Powerball was not struck on Saturday and has rolled over to Wednesday night, where the Lotto jackpot will be $28 million.

However, six players from around the country each won $166,667 in Lotto's first division and 18 players collected $24,346 in the second division draw, including a ticket bought at Pak'N Save in Kaitaia. One lucky Strike player will also be celebrated after winning $200,000 with Strike Four. The winning ticket was sold at New World Mt Roskill in Auckland. The lucky numbers were 8, 9, 16, 20, 33, 36, bonus 17, powerball 5, and Strike 16, 33, 20, 8.

More PR people

The Far North District Council more than doubled its spending on public relations staff between 2014 and 2019, an RNZ investigation has found. Through Official Information Act requests to all local authorities around the country, RNZ found wage costs and staff numbers in council PR departments had gone up on average by about 50 per cent in the five-year period. In the Far North staff numbers had gone up 150 per cent and spending on wages and salaries had gone up by 102 per cent.

North land included in Todd sale

A number of key New Zealand property developments – including a Kāpiti Coast airport and coastal Whangārei land – have been sold by the Todd Property Group.

The sale includes residential developments Pegasus township north of Christchurch, Auckland's Stonefields, and undeveloped land in Hawke's Bay and Whangārei. Included in the sale is 68ha of coastal land at Ngunguru. The assets were bought by NZPropCo Ltd (NZPL), a New Zealand-based investment group.

Tipple meeting Peters and Jones

Gun City owner David Tipple is set to have a private dinner with Northland-based MPs, NZ First leader Winston Peters and MP Shane Jones after winning a fundraiser auction.

Contacted soon after his final bid of $7350 won a dinner with the pair on TradeMe, Tipple said it would be a good opportunity to talk to "the boss" Winston Peters. It comes as the Government tries to pass a second tranche of gun law reforms which are strongly opposed by Tipple.