Tasman

Police have spent about $15 million on search and rescue missions in the last five years, official figures show.

A former DHB director of nursing and midwifery, who wrote that a key job skill was being able to "get alongside idiots", has been awarded $15,000 in an employment dispute.

The lawyer defending one of two men accused of human trafficking has cast doubt on a witness' claims he didn't know what was written in a letter to Immigration

A complainant at a trial involving charges of human trafficking has told how the accused arranged for him to come to New Zealand.

A project to restore dwindling kaka numbers is being hailed as one of the Abel Tasman National Park's most significant conservation projects yet.

A Tongan orchard worker living in Nelson has admitted raping a woman while she lay sleeping in her home.

Two men have been charged with murder after the death of another man in a Nelson boarding house in July.

Some cancer patients in the top of the South Island are not getting treatment as fast as they should, but the health board says steps are in place to improve the situation.

More than 5000 people marched through Nelson's centre last night for the 21st annual Masked Parade, which attracted an even bigger crowd of onlookers.

Dry conditions are worsening in the Tasman district, as the El Nino weather pattern takes a hold, with the council considering water restrictions.

The government is using the high costs and falling roll of a residential school in Nelson for its agenda to shut it down, Labour MP Damien O'Connor says.

Arborists from around New Zealand gathered in Nelson this afternoon to find out who's the best and fastest tree climber in the land.

A $2.8 million project to stabilise the cliffs around Nelson's waterfront is expected to be finished in November.

A Nelson woman pushing for an inquest into her husband's death says more needs to be done to support families of people who have committed suicide.

Solid Energy's former chairman John Palmer is to oversee the merging of two groups tasked with driving Nelson's economic development.

The perfect start continues for Premiership leaders Tasman, who've eased past Wellington, but Counties continue to struggle, losing at Harbour.