Stories by Jimmy Ellingham

Since rock falls caused the old highway through the Manawatū Gorge to close eight years ago, commuters have been forced over windy alternatives. Audio

Ambulances and fire trucks say they are taking longer to respond to callouts.

The law allows police to do random roadside tests and ban drivers for 12 hours. Audio

A lawyer punched and kicked in a public waiting area by a teen appearing in the Youth Court was previously threatened by him at a different courthouse.

The tiny Manawatū town will host the biennial event for the fifth time this weekend.

Today is 70 years since New Zealand set an unwanted record in men's test cricket - one the country can't shake. Audio

A state house offered to a disabled New Plymouth man over a year ago is still sitting empty and only now has building consent for modification work been granted.

He was regarded as a leader in his profession and was well-known in the community.

The victim was 14 years old at the time.

A man who died by suicide in the Palmerston North Hospital mental health ward 11 years ago was failed by staff who should have provided care to him, in a facility that was not fit for purpose.

Health Minister Simeon Brown rejected advice from officials to lower the bowel screening age to 58 for the general population and 56 for Māori and Pacific people, just-released documents show. Audio

Amid the horror stories of school lunches too hot to handle and inedible School Lunch Collective meals, some schools are going it alone. Dannevirke High School in the lower North... Audio

The first five $150,000 rapid payments were made on Monday.

A woman with terminal cancer is urging the government to fulfil its promise to lower the bowel screening age, a move she says will save lives.

A retirement village is making a stand against plans to reverse a speed limit drop on the busy road outside its growing community.

A just-released cabinet paper about rapid torture redress payments to survivors of the Lake Alice child and adolescent unit in the 1970s says it's not possible to rule out torture at other locations. Audio

People referred to public health system gastro departments are waiting months for an appointment, even when they have symptoms that could be a sign of bowel cancer or other disease. Audio

Gunner Nikau Minhinnick Gill, 21, was the victim of a "violent attack" by two other soldiers, he died in unrelated circumstances last year.

Gunner Nikau Minhinnick Gill died in an unrelated incident trying to rescue his dog from the Manawatū River last November.

"If this continues people will die," a patient advocate says.

A witness to an alleged attack on a soldier by two colleagues at the end of an international operation in Hawaii says he did not see any punches or kicks thrown.

Surviving on mince and sausages, and wearing second-hand clothes - that's the plight some pensioners face as the cost of living crisis continues. Audio

A soldier was beaten so badly by a sergeant and a bombardier that the soldier twice lost consciousness, a military court has heard.

The man had been ordered to stay in an IDEA Services-run mental health facility in Porirua by the district court.

Tavern owner Eric Gathercole hoped the upgrade previously treacherous stretch of Route 52 in the Tararua District will mean more business.