NZ@Noon: Taking up chess a champion move

Rotorua's own chess champion, Year 11 student Chance Bock, 16. Photo / Andrew Warner

Stories making headlines across the regions today include a schoolboy who has become a hero through chess and a bidding war over a quilt that has become expensive.

There are echoes of the film The Dark Horse in the story of a Rotorua teen who has overcome his troubled past and become a school hero through his passion for chess.

A rare part of New Zealand steam train history arrived in Napier yesterday with its caretakers hopeful of bringing it back next year when it is set to turn 100.

A unique combination of art and heritage costing $1.5 million is on show at Whangarei Art Museum.

How much would you pay for a bed cover? A handmade quilt donated to charity has sparked a bidding war in Tauranga.

Caught in the rain intoxicated, wet and cold, Blake Jarrod Duggan and a mate set fire to a public toilet to keep themselves warm.

A Wanganui school has suffered potentially tens of thousands of dollars of damage after vandals broke a water pipe and flooded one of the buildings.

Finally, a head for heights helps when it comes to safeguarding the future of a glorious New Zealand native.