Stories by Craig Ashworth

Ongoing contamination by a faecal bug has left just a fifth of Taranaki rivers clean enough to swim in, according to a new assessment for Taranaki Regional Council.

A judge has advised an industrial waste processor to consider abandoning its fight to continue running a polluting composting works in Taranaki, and instead focus on cleaning up the site.

Taranaki's top public health doctor says the smells coming from an industrial composting works do not have to be toxic to impact on neighbours' health.

A range of Māori land will be free from rates in New Plymouth if district councillors approve a revamp of the current rules.

Iwi will have equal say with the Crown in managing Taranaki Maunga and the national park, as part of redress for the confiscation of the mountain.

The fisheries minister is considering an application from the hapū of Taranaki iwi to ban shellfish collection along their coastline for two years.

Peter Moeahu says part of Hickford Park was wrongly taken from Puketapu hapū and should be returned by New Plymouth District Council.

Shellfish gatherers are being warned not to collect kaimoana from the coast on the east of New Plymouth, when maintenance is done on the city's sewage treatment plant.

A Maōri researcher says a new focus on Covid-19 boosters is needed as vaccination rates stagnate.

A sliver of land just a metre wide has sparked a call for recognition of historic land confiscation when council land is sold in New Plymouth.

A late push for Taranaki Regional Council to have two Māori seats at this year's elections has failed.

Childhood immunisation rates in Taranaki have suffered as resources poured into fighting Covid-19.

A Māori health provider will offer Taranaki's first drive-through Covid-19 vaccinations in the region's towns this weekend.

Taranaki Regional Council is to investigate the state of kaimoana stocks after multiple hapū banned shellfish gathering.

A baby is in intensive care with Covid-19 at New Plymouth Base Hospital. The baby is under one year old and was admitted with Covid-19 related symptoms, and moved to ICU as a precautionary measure.

The hapū that sparked the shellfish rāhui along much of the Taranaki coast want a legal ban on gathering kaimoana for two years or more.

The tribal ban on collecting kaimoana is expanding along the Taranaki coast as more hapū try to protect paua and other shellfish stocks.

A multimillion-dollar wildlife centre and kiwi viewing house in Inglewood is a step closer, with the community board recommending New Plymouth District Council buy land for it.

The focus of Covid-19 testing in Taranaki has shifted north as locations of interest multiply.

In a last-ditch effort to boost Māori representation two people have appealed the council's decision to stick with 11 councillors, which meant just one Māori constituency for next year's election.

A quarter of Eltham's population has been tested for Covid-19 since a case of the virus in the town was announced on Saturday evening.

A Taranaki iwi leader is urging whānau to get tested and vaccinated in light of Covid-19 returning to the region.

Several close contacts of the family with Covid-19 in Stratford are symptomatic and are being tested.

A military-style crisis response will be set up with millions of dollars of new funding for the Māori Covid-19 vaccination effort around Whanganui.

Māori health providers are close to a Taranaki-wide deal for direct funding from the health ministry, side-stepping the district health board.