NZ@Noon: Totem pole comes down after 25 years

Rotorua District Council community arts adviser Marc Spijkerbosch explains the history of the totem pole before its decommissioning yesterday. Photo / Stephen Parker

Stories making headlines around the regions include a grisly find on a Northland beach and a monumental sculpture in Rotorua is removed.

It stood watch next to the Rotorua Museum for almost 25 years, but has come to the end of its natural life.

A forensic pathologist is looking at photos of a skull found on a Northland beach in a bid to work out an age and a possible answer to who it may be.

Motorcyclists with silly grins. The image Graeme Staples paints of this year's Cold Kiwi tells the success of the reborn event in Wanganui.

A two week road show put on by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council to reach out to people in the community wrapped up in July and is now being shared.

Napier City Council has rejected a claim by Labour candidate Stuart Nash that it has made a "huge mistake" allowing an oil company to undertake seismic testing near Hawke's Bay Airport.

And finally, Restaurateurs Lesley He and Kevin Li and their Asian-fusion menus are taking over Featherston - much to the delight of their customers.