Northland

This week's announcement has given one business leader hope it will be completed during his lifetime.

Police have been called to a protest where opponents of a housing development say three people were trespassed and one was taken away in handcuffs.

Northland leaders are welcoming government plans to speed up the construction of an expressway from Warkworth to Whangārei.

Just three percent of tracking tunnels were visited by rats in the predator control zone, compared to 96 percent in non-treated areas.

Five men died after a monster wave capsized the boat near North Cape. The judge says he could not be sure skipper Lance Goodhew could have foreseen that coming.

Nearly three years after a marae applied to restore Russell's original name, residents are still waiting. Audio

The Mystics have knocked the Magic out of third spot.

More thunderstorms are forecast for Northland until early Sunday evening.

Brian Borland says he grew cannabis in defiance of an unjust law - and he wants to go to jail for it.

A temporary 30km/h speed limit is in place and crews are monitoring the area for any more ground movement.

A petition of more than 1100 signatures will be presented to Parliament urging St John not to replace its Rāwene-based ambulance with a smaller first response vehicle.

The shooting damaged the house and left its elderly owner distressed.

It faces two charges of exposing people to risk of serious injury or death.

Residents felt like they were "running the gauntlet every day" due to crashes. Now they can breathe a little easier.

An elderly woman is "understandably distressed" after her Whangārei house was shot at overnight, police say.

The project would have severed the iwi's connection to a beach and a reserve considered their traditional whenua and moana.

Plans for a major container terminal have suffered a blow with independent commissioners turning down an application for a multimillion-dollar port expansion.

"It would be outrageous for Transpower to now walk away from those they have failed," Grant McCallum says.

Councils that want to keep their Māori wards at the next local elections should have to poll their communities beforehand, former local government leader John Bain says.