Stories by Lois Williams

The Northland Regional Council has offered to lend nearly $10 million to replace the region's ageing rescue helicopters, but the deal needs ratepayers' approval.

A luxury resort's plan to take up to 60,000 litres of water a day from a local creek to irrigate its lawns has angered a nearby landowner and local Māori.

Heavy rain overnight has left roads like rivers, trapping customers in a dairy and closing a number of schools.

In the Ngāpuhi mandate dispute - the hapū alliance Te Kotahitanga has rejected an invitation to meet the opposition, Tūhoronuku, as long as it is led by Sonny Tau.

It is impossible to fight unlawful disturbance of native wetlands after a Ombudsman's interim ruling on swamp kauri, a Northland conservation group says.

A Whangarei woman forced to live in a leaky bus as she recovered from surgery is now safe and warm in a local motel.

A lack of affordable housing in Whangarei is forcing people to live in cars, tents and buses, which a local GP says is damaging their health.

The dream of a Hundertwasser art centre for Whangarei is now almost certain to come true, courtesy of a big grant from Lotteries.

Anticipation is building in Whangārei as the town prepares for its biggest sporting event in years: the clash between the British and Irish Lions - and the Provincial Barbarians.

The Far North mayor should have consulted Māori before signing the district up to a billion-dollar investment offer by a Chinese company, a local iwi says.

Auckland families moving to Northland to escape poverty are finding they're worse off, with high rents and little prospect for jobs, says a leading social service provider.

Methamphetamine abuse is now behind almost every case where parents lose custody of their children, says the Grandparents Supporting Grandchildren Trust.

The discovery of myrtle rust in Northland is being described as devastating, with the potential to damage New Zealand's native trees and economic position. Video

A proposal to lease a Far North beach reserve to a Chinese developer has been given the thumbs down by the majority of the 250 submissions on it received by he council.

The government needs to make an urgent call on who to deal with over the Ngāpuhi treaty settlement, a hapū leader says.

A resthome worker ordered to leave the country is exactly the sort of immigrant New Zealand needs to keep, Far North mayor John Carter says. Audio

Northland Regional Council is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding today with a Chinese state-owned enterprise on the hunt for investment opportunities.

A lack of funding to deal with violent children is also hurting children with disabilities, the Northland Principals' Federation says.

The walking track to Northland's famous kauri tree is closed to tourists this week while DOC installs more protection for the forest giant.

Traumatised and drug-affected children may be suspended by Northland schools until they get more funding to properly support them.

A group of Māori and Pākehā grandmothers want conservation orders placed on 38 rivers on the South Island's West Coast.

Far North residents want to block the lease of a public Karikari Peninsula reserve to a Chinese developer.

Police are defending their handling of a youth crime spree in Kaikohe at the weekend, but locals say serious changes are needed. Video

A New Zealand authority on climate change says the storm afflicting the north of the country is typical of worldwide weather patterns.

A Northland conservation group will go to the Court of Appeal in a bid to stop the export of swamp kauri.