Lois Williams

Diving pioneer and environmentalist Wade Doak is backing calls for a high-tech survey of the wreck of the Niagara, off Northland's east coast.

Conservationists and salvage experts say it risks an oil spill four times worse than the Rena, but Maritime New Zealand is unconvinced.

Locals are planting 20,000 native trees this winter to stop sediment reaching the stricken harbour and harming its kaimoana.

The neighbour of a Whangarei woman who lay dead in her bedsit - possibly for weeks - says authorities need to explain why no-one knew. Audio

Northland conservationists who oppose the export of swamp kauri are heading back to court for another round with officials.

The district council is facing strong opposition over its one-dog-per-household proposal to protect threatened native birds.

The Ngāpuhi mandate authority kicks off a new series of hui around the north today to seek feedback on its stalled Treaty settlement.

Hapū near Whangarei say they have run out of steam to oppose plans for a water-bottling operation at Poroti Springs, but remain adamant they don't want it.

The latest plan for bigger and better highways in the region has road advocates cheering but rail enthusiasts dismayed.

A new $44m push to clean up New Zealand's waterways fails to address nitrate seeping off farms, according to a leading freshwater scientist. Audio

The Ministry of Health, not the ratepayers, should be bankrolling Northland's rescue helicopter service, a Far North regional councillor says.

The Northland Regional Council has offered to lend nearly $10 million to replace the region's ageing rescue helicopters, but the deal needs ratepayers' approval.

A luxury resort's plan to take up to 60,000 litres of water a day from a local creek to irrigate its lawns has angered a nearby landowner and local Māori.

Heavy rain overnight has left roads like rivers, trapping customers in a dairy and closing a number of schools.

In the Ngāpuhi mandate dispute - the hapū alliance Te Kotahitanga has rejected an invitation to meet the opposition, Tūhoronuku, as long as it is led by Sonny Tau.

It is impossible to fight unlawful disturbance of native wetlands after a Ombudsman's interim ruling on swamp kauri, a Northland conservation group says.

A Whangarei woman forced to live in a leaky bus as she recovered from surgery is now safe and warm in a local motel.

A lack of affordable housing in Whangarei is forcing people to live in cars, tents and buses, which a local GP says is damaging their health.

The dream of a Hundertwasser art centre for Whangarei is now almost certain to come true, courtesy of a big grant from Lotteries.

Anticipation is building in Whangārei as the town prepares for its biggest sporting event in years: the clash between the British and Irish Lions - and the Provincial Barbarians.

The Far North mayor should have consulted Māori before signing the district up to a billion-dollar investment offer by a Chinese company, a local iwi says.

Auckland families moving to Northland to escape poverty are finding they're worse off, with high rents and little prospect for jobs, says a leading social service provider.

Methamphetamine abuse is now behind almost every case where parents lose custody of their children, says the Grandparents Supporting Grandchildren Trust.

The discovery of myrtle rust in Northland is being described as devastating, with the potential to damage New Zealand's native trees and economic position. Video

A proposal to lease a Far North beach reserve to a Chinese developer has been given the thumbs down by the majority of the 250 submissions on it received by he council.