Stories by Ruth Hill

Disability care reform campaigner Dianne Moody says she is unimpressed with today's announcement today of an independent review into the Funded Family Care system.

Landlords are likely to be hit with some kind of capital gains tax in future - but New Zealanders should not expect house prices to drop by much. Audio

Dust from an asbestos-contaminated building gutted by fire is being managed by the building's owners, Hutt City Council says.

Patients with advanced breast cancer in New Zealand are dying twice as fast as those in comparable countries.

Just months after a Waikato rest home was ordered to refund $10,000 for poor care of a 92-year-old, an audit has revealed a multitude of problems there.

A retired engineer from the United States is calling on New Zealanders to help a project to rid Mount Everest of half a century's collected human excrement.

At-risk children are having to wait months for outcomes of investigations into abuse and neglect, according to family lawyers.

The granddaughter of a World War I soldier from Raratonga whose story is featured in a new exhibition says she hopes he would have been proud to see himself remembered.

The hospital in Masterton, built just over a decade ago, does not meet earthquake resilience standards, a draft engineering assessment has found.

The Waverley fire chief who helped Rosalie Porteous out of a crash a year ago says in 30 seconds, life can change from just cruising along to absolute bloody disaster.

Law changes to curb binge-drinking introduced six years ago have largely failed, new research has found.

Australian children from poorer families - including babies under one-years-old - are more likely to be prescribed antipsychotic drugs for behaviour problems than others the same age.

A company behind a big construction firm that was ordered to pay millions for building a leaking high school has gone into receivership.

Almost a third of lawyers have received unwanted sexual attention and nearly 90 percent say they have experienced or seen harassment and bullying, according to a survey.

The government has dismissed officials' warnings that a rise in the minimum wage could cost jobs and push up prices.

The Health Minister is demanding answers from South Auckland health bosses after they failed to tell him the full extent of the leaky building crisis at Middlemore Hospital. Audio

Four big Middlemore Hospital buildings, including the children's hospital, that serve thousands of South Auckland people are full of rot and dangerous mould that could make staff and patients sick.

A man with mental health problems is facing eviction by the council using a law, which the Prime Minister has criticised as unfair to tenants.

Christmas shoppers are increasingly avoiding the last-minute dash to the store by going online.

Wellington's unusually long spell of sunny weather has forced authorities to dip into its storage lakes two months earlier than usual.

The minister responsible for Pike River re-entry says further legal action against the mine's boss is unlikely. Video, Audio

A Lower Hutt man who was pepper sprayed by officers trying to serve a trespass notice on him was within his rights to stop them entering his home, the police watchdog says.

Wellington's soon-to-be scrapped trolley buses cost about $6 million more to operate each year compared with running the same number of diesel buses, according to the regional council.

The distinctive rattle and hum of Wellington's trolley buses is set to be silenced forever on Halloween.

Love is in the air for the rare takahē, with the number of breeding pairs topping 100 for the first time in 70 years ago.