Stories by Sam Olley

Car parks are full, shops have queues, and social lives have been resurrected in Te Tai Tokerau, but lurching in and out of lockdown has taken its toll.

Ngāti Whātua is defending the management of the border between Te Tai Tokerau and Tāmaki Makaurau.

Hawke's Bay DHB has raised concerns about a Covid-19 anti-vax contractor.

Sandra Goudie is refusing to get the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, and has called vaccine mandates "abhorrent".

A Wellington psychiatrist has promoted anti-vax views in multiple videos online and is still on the job, five months after his first video was released.

Ahipara mana whenua are occupying a foreshore land block after a historically significant pōhutukawa tree was partially hacked down.

The Covid-19 Response Minister has denounced anti-vax GPs, but says it's up to the Medical Council to deal with them.

While there was capacity for 16,000 vaccinations per week to be administered in Northland, only 7000 to 8000 people have been coming to get them, says DHB chief executive Dr Nick Chamberlain.

The "many sleepless nights" aren't over for the man protecting Friedensreich Hundertwasser's legacy.

Whānau Ora minister Peeni Henare has met with iwi health providers from across Te Tai Tokerau in Whangārei to talk about lagging Māori vaccination rates.

Pharmacy charges for the emergency contraceptive pill have been wiped nearly 3000 times in two years, under a Northland pilot programme.

Another long lockdown in Auckland is making it harder for seniors to avoid loneliness - and social isolation was already a major problem before the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Tāmaki Makaurau businessman is gathering support for a no-vax, no-entry policy at bars, cafés and restaurants.

An independent review of WorkSafe's handling of Whakaari / White Island leading up to the deadly eruption is months overdue.

Building and construction teams across the country have just a few days' worth of some Auckland-based products left, according to suppliers, and some key materials are already unavailable.

Kaupapa Māori vaccinators and testers going "hell for leather" are having to be forced to take days off, while Pasifika contact tracers are "frayed at the edges", according to bosses.

A Whangārei murderer who struck his partner more than 100 times has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

School and iwi trust leaders are having to intervene - paying for devices and internet for families - to prevent a new wave of children falling behind this lockdown.

Vaccinators are going whare to whare with Pfizer shots in the Far North to make sure nobody misses out.

St John crews in Auckland now have to wear full airborne personal protective gear to every callout.

The remains of a weather system that flooded west Auckland has caused thousands of dollars of damage at a Whangārei golf club.

Last week, it decided Te Tai Tokerau would be kept at alert level 4 with Tāmaki Makaurau when restrictions ease for most of the country at midnight tomorrow.

New Covid-19 isolation rules are preventing struggling families from picking up food donations, social services say.

Lockdown has come at one of the worst possible times for nurseries, amid the late winter planting season for native plants and forestry.

Disappointed Ngāpuhi volunteers say a "terrible" number of vehicles arrived in Northland overnight with recreational gear.