The Wire with Alex

The Democratic National Convention is taking place in Chicago this week. The event is where Minnesota Governor Tim Walz officialy accepts the nomination for Vice President. 

Former Aotearoa Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke on a side panel at the convention, organised by progressive think tank the Center for American Progress Action Fund. The panel also featured former prime minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson, MPs from Germany and the Netherlands as well as some US political figures, including prominent Democratic strategist Patrick Gaspard.

Republican candidate Donald Trump is under fire for posting AI generated images of pop star Taylor Swift on his social media platform “Truth Socials.” The images were of Taylor Swift wearing American red, white and blue while endorsing Trump for president. He captioned these photos “I accept.”

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about the DNC and Trump sharing AI images.

Trigger warning: The following story deals with sexual violence.

Earlier this month Moumita Debnath, a trainee doctor in Kolkata in India, was raped and murdered on her campus. Evidence suggested she was violently assaulted by several men after completing a 36 hour shift. 

The murder has sparked protests across India. 

The University of Auckland branch of Thursdays in Black, a student-led grassroots campaign against rape and sexual violence, are hosting a vigil for Dr Debnath.

The candlelight vigil is being hosted at 5pm today, Thursday 22nd of August, outside the University of Auckland General Library.

Wire Host Caeden spoke to organiser Layba Zubair about why they’re hosting the vigil.

A council-proposed alcohol ban after nine-pee-em will be voted on and most likely go through in December. The idea behind the ban is to prevent preloading of alcohol before events, and further reduce drunkenness on Auckland streets. Supermarket corporation Foodstuffs and Woolworths have been lobbying against the proposed ban for several years, spending millions of dollars to be able to continue to sell alcohol after nine-pee-em, however the council will be voting on this decision in December. Sasha spoke to professor of population health Peter Adams from the University of Auckland about the implications of the council-proposed alcohol sale ban.

Last week, the Government announced a bill which they say will enable the development of time of use schemes, also known as congestion charges.

Generally, time of use schemes charge motorists to use roads depending on time and location. This encourages motorists to adjust their travel time, and method of transport to reduce road congestion.

Under the planned legislation, councils propose their own time of use schemes to the central government. Waka Kotahi, the New Zealand Transport Agency then provides strong oversight in the development of schemes to consider the impact on motorists and businesses.

Under the plan, all final proposals will require the approval of the central government.

Last year, Auckland Council voted in favour of a time of use scheme and has been planning to introduce it by 2025. However, there are concerns among experts that the proposed legislation may make it more difficult for the successful implementation of time of use schemes; by over-exposing councils to central government oversight.

Producer Josef spoke to one such expert, Senior lecturer in Urban Planning at the University of Auckland, Dr Timothy Welch, about the legislation, congestion charges, and how Auckland’s own scheme might be impacted.