Kaitaia's Nat Blud broke a record which has stood since 1986 at the Kaitaia College 2016 swimming championships last Friday.

Dr Lance O'Sullivan and his wife Tracy have sold their general practice clinic at Kaitaia Hospital, Te Kohanga Whakaora, to Kaikohe's Broadway Health.

The Northland economy is doing much better. It has just posted its lowest level of unemployment in nearly eight years - down to 6.2 per cent. That's really good to see, but it's not enough.

Kerikeri's volunteer firefighters are planning an all-out assault on Auckland's Sky Tower. And while they're at it they hope to raise at least $10,000 for leukaemia patients.

It hasn't all been plain sailing for the Ahipara Health and Resource Centre (AHRC) since it was established by three local women in 1996, with the exclusive aim of meeting the health needs of the local community and surrounding districts.

A 51-year-old Swiss tourist died at Ahipara on Tuesday afternoon, despite the efforts of two passersby, then St John and fire crews from Ahipara and Kaitaia to revive him.

After missing the Capital Classic at the end of January, Sue Rogers resumed her New Zealand Ocean Swim Series campaign by taking part in the Christchurch Crown on Saturday.

The Mangonui champions got their pre-season build-up off to another good start by giving a good account of themselves at the national club rugby sevens championships in Wainuiomata earlier this month.

Former Customs officer Allen Jones does not have an opinion on whether Scott Watson is guilty or innocent of murdering Ben Smart and Olivia Hope on or about January 1, 1998.

WINSTON PETERS was fuming last week after the Ministry of Education, or even the ministers who lead it according to his publicly-expressed suspicions, prevented him from boarding a Mangakahia Area School bus.

A Kaitaia woman is the first person in the country to receive publicly-funded medical cannabis to control severe epilepsy.

He lived alone and he was not in good health, but Selwyn Fraider has no doubt that fellow Vietnam veteran Ian McLeod was a victim of Friday morning's drive-by shooting in Kaitaia.

Organisers of the Ironmahue 2016 set to take place in Whangaroa county later this month are expecting a record turnout for this year's event.

Bruce Craig Gregory was born at Kaingaroa, east of Kaitaia, in 1937.

You're sitting happily in your Lay-Z-Boy watching your favourite show on telly. You hear a loud yelp! and out of the corner of your eye you catch your child pulling the dog's tail and/or grabbing a handful of the cat's fur.

An idea to keep the birds off her bountiful vegetable crop has won Kaikohe's Collette Redman a place in the Yates Spring Vegie Growing Challenge.

A Kaitaia man who allegedly beat his wife on Saturday night, while the couple's babies aged one and two years, watched in fear has not been charged.

As if on cue, Kawakawa's steam engine Gabriel puffed past, providing a fitting backdrop to the opening ceremony of the town's fast-charger for electric vehicles (EVs) on Sunday.

A New Zealand defence lawyer with a "colourful life", including being struck off because of his links to the Mr Asia drug has died.

While the local surf scene was conspicuous by its absence at the recent nationals in Dunedin, two Far North surfers were in action at the first event of the Billabong Grom Series at Mount Maunganui last weekend.

Awanui is representing Northland at the national club rugby sevens finals in Wellington this Saturday and Sunday.

Kaitaia's Chief Fire Officer will be sparing no effort in his hunt for the people who kept his volunteer brigade busy on Monday afternoon.

Prime Minister John Key's state of the nation speech last week was more a state of Auckland speech, with only a few meagre offerings for the provinces, according to Northland MP Winston Peters.

Nothing had been confirmed in writing yesterday, but Te Runanga-a-Iwi o Ngati Kahu CEO Anahera Herbert-Graves believed recalcitrant WWII veteran Selwyn Clarke was about to have his veteran's pension restored.

Patsy Panther enjoys her garden in Pukepoto Road, Kaitaia, taking particular delight in the cactus flowers that brighten it from time to time. It's a pleasure that must be tempered with patience, however.

Much to-ing and fro-ing seemed to come to an end late yesterday morning, with Prime Minister John Key announcing that he would be at Te Tii Marae tomorrow, where he would have the traditional speaking rights.

Te Tii Marae elders say there is a risk of deliberate attempts by protesters to block John Key going on to the marae on Friday.