Culture met traffic management on a rural Hawke’s Bay road this week.

Police are calling for witnesses to a crash on State Highway 23 this morning.

A spike in the number of cases of a highly contagious flu sweeping through New South Wales childcare centres has prompted a warning for parents.

Dubbed the "kindy flu", the influenza A strain is most prevalent in babies and young children, and health authorities are urging parents to get their kids vaccinated.

It's early in the flu season but there have already been 8704 confirmed cases of influenza across the state, 5500 more than this time last year.

READ MORE: Man charged over alleged assault of female cop at Sydney train station

Of those 8704, 1220 cases were in newborns to four-year-olds, and 1839 were in children aged between five and nine.

"We all know that young children are very good at spreading viral infections amongst themselves, so it's going pretty wild," Dr Charlotte Hespe from the Royal Australian College of GPs NSW said.

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said people should get vaccinated against the flu as soon as possible.

"Particularly for vulnerable groups, that includes children aged from six months to five years, older people, Aboriginal people, and of course those with heart or lung conditions.

EXPLAINED: When should you get your influenza vaccine ahead of flu season?

"We know that influenza is starting to crop up in our preschools, in our early childhood centres, and in the early stages of school – and that's why we're sending a very clear message today – that parents really need to prioritise getting their children vaccinated," Park added.

Just two per cent of children aged six months to five years have received a flu vaccine this year, and only 1.4 per cent of five to 15-year-olds, according to the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance.

The flu shot is free for kids under five.

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More fencing is being looked at to deter people from accessing the wharf edge.

A US bus driver has been charged with 30 counts of child abuse after he deliberately hit the brakes to teach the young passengers aboard his vehicle a lesson.

Footage from the bus showed the primary school-aged children on the school bus in Colorado being shoved forward violently by the impact of the bus suddenly stopping.

"You guys need to be in your seats," Fitzgerald can be heard saying.

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"You guys want to see how dangerous that is."

Footage from the bus showed most of the children sitting down, but some were standing up in their seats as they spoke to other pupils around them.

Fitzgerald has since written an apology letter after complaints from parents.

In the letter he began by talking about how messy the bus was when he arrived at work, and how the petrol tank was only a quarter-full.

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His apology did not come until the fourth paragraph of the letter, before which he had aired a number of grievances about his day.

"I am sincerely sorry for my choice of actions today in my efforts of training students," he said.

He has since been charged with 30 counts of child abuse by police, including one count of child abuse with bodily injuries.

That charge carries a maximum sentence of 364 days in jail.

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A man has been charged after allegedly assaulting a female police officer at a Sydney train station in the early hours of this morning.

Just before 2am police were called to Sydenham station, in the Inner West, after reports of a drunk man.

When police arrived the man tried to open the door of the police car before allegedly assaulting a female officer, leaving her with injuries to her face.

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Additional police and security guards helped restrain the man, who was taken to hospital.

The officer was also taken to hospital with facial injuries but has since been released.

When the 39-year-old man was discharged, he was taken to Newtown Police Station.

He was charged with hinder or resist police officer in the execution of duty, assault police officer in execution of duty cause actual bodily harm, and common assault.

The man was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Local Court today.

The removal of hurdles to citizenship for Kiwis in Australia is being celebrated.

The dealer was found with 443g of meth and $350,000.

The crash occurred on State Highway 2 this afternoon.

A former US Marine who for years helped smuggle drugs from Mexico into the United States and even tried to get a song written to glorify his exploits was sentenced on Friday to 12 years in federal prison.

Roberto Salazar II, 26, of San Diego was sentenced for importing fentanyl and for conspiracy to distribute heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, according to a statement from the US attorney's office.

Salazar, who pleaded guilty last October, could have faced up to life in prison.

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He was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.

Prosecutors said that before joining the corps and while on active duty, he and couriers he recruited made dozens of smuggling trips across the border.

Salazar would obtain cars that were driven to Mexico, where drugs were loaded into the engine compartments.

Couriers would then drive them back across the border into the US, prosecutors said.

The scheme began around 2015, authorities said.

By the time of his arrest last year, "Salazar had become so involved in drug trafficking that he was commissioning a Mexican songwriter to write a drug ballad known as a 'narcocorrido about him," the US attorney's office said.

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"In one line that Salazar suggested to the songwriter, he boasted: 'I wanted to study and became a soldier, but I liked the fast life better'," the office said.

Some of the couriers recruited by Salazar were former Marines or classmates at Southwestern College in Chula Vista.

"This case involved a Marine who was supposed to protect and defend our country, but instead brought great harm to Americans by trafficking fentanyl and other dangerous drugs," US Attorney Randy Grossman said.

"He also betrayed his solemn oath by recruiting other Marines to do the same."

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