Stories by Jimmy Ellingham

For more than three decades motorists on State Highway 1 through the central North Island couldn't miss the old aeroplane on the side of the road at Mangaweka.

A former patient of the Lake Alice psychiatric hospital says while he can't tell the court about his experience there, his story is an important reminder of the need to investigate claims of… Audio

After Cyclone Gabrielle struck Hawke's Bay, a country pub became a bustling community centre for locals needing to sort their lives.

Fifty years ago 242 men left New Zealand on a mission to Mururoa Atoll, in French Polynesia. Little did they know that the fallout would continue decades later.

After a $5m guarantee from the government just ahead of the busy school holiday fortnight, all that's needed is snow - but the forecast suggests this will arrive too.

It seems no one will ever be convicted for the abuse of patients at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital's notorious child and adolescent unit.

Two teenagers escaped from a youth justice residence when scaffolding was erected too close to a fence during a teaching exercise, giving the runaways a step up to freedom.

Thirty-nine Kiwi athletes are on Wednesday boarding a plane for Berlin to compete in the Special Olympics.

Known for outlet stores and speciality shops, Ōtaki was also famous as a traffic bottle neck. The new expressway has killed the town - or it's a win-win - depending on who you talk to.

The former leaseholder of Chateau Tongariro says it will share the building's seismic assessment with the Department of Conservation when ongoing negotiations finish.

Many doctors at Palmerston North Hospital operate under a siege mentality, where they fear speaking out about concerns, and they often face barriers when trying to transfer patients between…

Oliver Candy, one of New Zealand's last living World War II veterans, still remembers the moment he heard the war had ended.

Mark Lundy has been denied parole today after serving almost 21 years for the August 2000 murders of his wife and daughter in Palmerston North.

The Chateau Tongariro hotel looks unlikely to reopen its doors any time soon while its earthquake resilience is assessed.

A central North Island primary school shut its doors on Monday while it cleaned up after a weekend deluge brought floods to the Rangitīkei District.

Work is starting on a new intersection to a growing New Zealand Defence Force site along a traffic pinch point in the lower North Island.

A human rights lawyer is appalled at what she says is cynical behaviour from the Ministry of Social Development when offering compensation to victims of state abuse. Audio

A district councillor is taking on his own local body for the way it charges development levies.

New Zealand sailors exposed to British nuclear tests in the Pacific in the 1950s remain unhappy they have never had a government apology for being placed in harm's way. Audio

Forty teenage girls in their final year of high school are getting a taste of the high life this week.

People attending monthly sittings at a central North Island courthouse could be killed or injured, and prisoners could escape, according to a newly released security probe into the out-of-action…

Hawke's Bay business owners unable to open since Cyclone Gabrielle struck say they are paying the price as they lose customers and income.

Clean-up costs to fix the battered roads in the eastern Tararua District of the lower North Island could hit $100 million.

The opening date of the new highway between Manawatū and Hawke's Bay has been delayed until mid-2025.

Survivors of abuse in state care say suggestions they could face delays in receiving redress are an insult. Audio