NZ at Noon: Invading rodents, genetic modification, crack

Rats are breeding and on the move in Rotorua.

Stories making headlines across New Zealand at noon include thirsty rodents invading houses, a ground breaking decision about genetic modification and a new "legal" high hits the shelves.

Rodents and insects are invading Rotorua homes in search of water as drought grips the region.

After 10 years of spadework, the Whangarei District Council has made a ground-breaking decision about genetically modified organisms in its patch.

A new legal high is being sold in shops and dairies around Rotorua as "Crack".

A child was taken to hospital this morning after falling from a second-storey window.

Forty-one complaints were made to independent conduct investigators against Western Bay police in the past year - but only four were upheld.

A Rotorua drug dealer has been jailed despite his lawyer's pleas he was "crying out for rehabilitation".

A Te Puia Springs mother has voluntarily had her tubes tied after two of her babies died due to unsafe sleeping practices.

The statue on top of the World War I monument at Pakaitore/Moutoa Gardens is "totally unique", says the man leading the monument's restoration.

Four years of painstaking work by Brenan Hutchings rebuilding a 13.7m sloop ended in disaster when the yacht ran aground on the weekend, forcing him to swim ashore and call for help.

More Wairarapa workers may be using cannabis than elsewhere in the country but harder drug use is apparently less prevalent.

Three non-students were arrested just a day after police warned they would take a harder line on disorder events in the student quarter.

Herbert Ponting's photos have enabled the world to celebrate Captain Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to Antarctica.

Top trending topics on Twitter in NZ at Noon were #MixersAroundtheWorld, #KCA, #OneDirection, Lil Wayne, #Alfredo1000, Basin, Eden Park, and Auckland.

More stories making headlines today:

Waikokopu cafe closes

Rain a treat at Farm Day

Soggy start to protesters' campaign

Work near ancient sites needs okay

Corker harvest for local grape growers

Pair go bald for the cause

-nzherald.co.nz