Rose Matthews knows it's a long shot, but she is clinging to "one last pinhead of hope" that someone knows what became of two books that were stolen from her and husband Rex's car outside the Waipapakauri Hotel 46 years ago - and that they will be returne

Mussel Rocks' defeat by Waipap in Far North darts last Wednesday means they will need to dig deep in the remaining three games of the round if they wish to make the top four for the championship knockout.

If they had been hoping for a pleasant week in the great outdoors, the 12 Te Puna Mana Toa (Kaitaia College Services Academy) students who took part in the latest NZ Defence Force course were disabused even before they left the comforts of home.

Hokianga carver and painter Liz McAuliffe is attracting a whole new audience for her work in Denmark.

Moving on Correspondents such as Bruce Moon and Anahera Herbert-Graves insist on pushing their own one-track and selective versions

CAN'T remember who suggested this (a sign of advancing age, perhaps), but the idea that older folk should not be allowed to vote should not be dismissed out of hand.

Internationally renowned skateboarder Dave Crabb was the first person Far North District councillor Sally Macauley turned to when she set about launching a $120,000 revamp of Kaikohe's skate bowl.

Behaviour that a member of the public regarded as suspicious led to the seizure of tens of thousands of dollars worth of cannabis in Kaitaia last week, exposing an attempt to 'export' the drug from the Far North to the Deep South.

Having led a nationwide revival of traditional Maori games, particularly ki-o-rahi, over the past decade, the Kerikeri sporting facilitator described Nga Taonga Takaro II: The Matrix as a 200-page opus of "ancestral awesomeness".

Year 13 Kaitaia College student Nina Griffiths has no doubt about how she will spend her working life, plans that have taken further shape following her success at the Young Enterprise Trust's annual Enterprise in Action event at Massey University in Auck

Property is stolen from Kaitaia Hospital on a regular basis.

A fire-fighting colleague of two men who died when their helicopter crashed into the sea off the Karikari Peninsula in 2011 hopes new standards will make battling scrub fires safer.

Three of seven men charged over a record breaking haul of 494kg of methamphetamine have entered not guilty pleas in the Kaitaia District Court today.

Over 20 Northland schools are converging on Taipa Area School today to take part in the Matariki Ki-o-Rahi Games 2016, which forms part of the local Maori new year celebrations.

Campaigner, marine biologist and photographer Dr Roger Grace has been awarded one of Forest & Bird's highest honours, the Old Blue, in recognition of his immense contribution to marine conservation over several decades.

Frank Leadley's memoirs, Frank Speaking, should come with a warning that the reader may succumb to thoughts that large chunks of their life have been wasted.

THERE would be something wrong with us if we were not outraged by the brutality that ended in the death of three-year-old Moko Rangitoheriri.

Forty and more years ago, the annual Auckland principals' Christmas dinner saw a gathering there of many old ex-Hokianga and Far North teachers who had proved their ability running the small rural schools in the North...

Kaitaia couple Michelle and Nathan Trent have no doubt that learning a simple skill that can save lives was the best thing they ever did.

I sat up all night of June 27, fascinated and excited as the results of the 'in or out' of the European Union came in.

Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson has defended the Crown's decision to accept the manslaughter pleas of Tania Shailer and David Haerewa.

Mangonui School is about to introduce compulsory police vetting of all parents and caregivers who take part in overnight school camps, as part of a review of its child protection policies.

Deirdre Otene, general manager of Kaitaia's MOKO Foundation, will be out of the office for lengthy periods over the next year, thanks to her being named by the Vodafone New Zealand Foundation as a World of Difference Fellow.

Rates significantly higher in two health districts: Counties Manukau and Northland.

The local netball sides finished strongly at the Kerikeri Netball Centre's second annual Barfoot & Thompson Kerikeri Representative Tournament on Sunday.

A record 150-plus senior students donned their finery for this year's Okaihau College ball, themed 'Heaven and Hell.'

Trying to drive home from Auckland last Friday (to Kerikeri) took six hours. This was due to a fairly average crash on State Highway 1 near Puhoi, which closed the highway.

SOME OBSERVERS amused themselves while awaiting the result of last week's 'Brexit' referendum by picking songs to suit the occasion. The hands-down winner, once the result was known, was Twisted Sister's 1984 classic We ain't gonna take it any more.'

Qualified firefighter Rob Thompson only joined the Kaitaia Volunteer Fire Brigade four years ago, but he's already held the trophy for Firefighter of the Year.