"He was just lying on the ground screaming." A five-year-old's condition after a suspected hit and run is now described as "critical".

A teenager accused of smashing the windscreen of a police car parked outside Napier District Court on Monday, later allegedly threatened to 'sort out' a judge if sent to jail, a court has been told.

A man who seriously injured his 6-year-old daughter when he crashed his overloaded quad bike while driving drunk avoided prison due to the "appalling experience".

A 10-month-old baby is being returned to his mother this afternoon after his Mongrel Mob father allegedly kidnapped him after a domestic dispute in Hastings today.

Hawke's Bay residents are infuriated by a report that suggests nearly 1000 of them could be at risk if a $600m dam fails in an earthquake.

An elderly man has been flown to hospital after he tripped at his Hawkes Bay home and fell through a plate glass window.

Two people have admitted to selling rock lobster gathered with authorisation for whanau gatherings.

Hawkes Bay residents were jolted by an earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale, just before 10am this morning.

A former North Island mayor has applied for the High Court to dismiss some of the charges he is facing in a Serious Fraud Office case.

A Hawkes Bay teacher with a conviction for aggravated robbery has pleaded guilty to stealing a pair of sunglasses.

A Hawke's Bay man who helped rescue a couple from their crashed station wagon in rain near Wairoa has clear memories of the driver's pleas.

A Dannevirke family have been left with nothing after a suspicious fire destroyed their rural home on Saturday night.

The four leading Ikaroa-Rawhiti byelection candidates share their final thoughts about their four-week campaign with Lawrence Gullery before people vote tomorrow night.

Ollie Williams thought he was going to die as he lay pinned beneath a jetboat on the Ngaruroro River, trapped underwater and running out of air.

Wind, not rain, proved to be the weapon of choice for the southerly storm that blasted through Hawke's Bay at the weekend.

A Hawkes Bay entertainer who sexually violated a teenage boy seven years ago has been jailed for three years and one month.