Firefighters in Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa are on high alert as the regions brace for forecast strong winds and hot temperatures.

Evidence showing cattle getting into rivers and anecdotal stories of animals being slaughtered next to streams have renewed calls for the introduction of a bylaw to exclude stock from Hawkes Bay's waterways.

The realities of summer are showing in Hawke's Bay as sunburn victims traipsed through medical centres and pharmacies for something to ease the pain.

Six friends found a 25-year-old Hawke's Bay man, soaking wet, comatose and rigid on Waimarama Beach, following New Year's Eve celebrations.

Neighbours say the 42-year-old was burned in her Whakatu house, 5km north of Hastings, after a day-long domestic dispute on Christmas Day.

A Hawke's Bay family are upset with the treatment they received from police after an officer smashed their windscreen with his torch at a drink-drive checkpoint.

Rain-starved fruitgrowers in the Hawke's Bay say they're willing to breach water restrictions in a desperate attempt to save their crops.

A man whose catamaran flipped off a Hawkes Bay beach in rough conditions was fortunate to be spotted by onshore observers, police say.

A Hastings teen is being hailed a hero after jumping a 3-metre fence, dragging a sleeping man from his bed and extinguishing a flaming frying pan.

Four farmhands who died in a horrific early morning crash were not wearing seatbelts and three were thrown from the "unsafe" vehicle when its roof was torn off.

A one metre shark gave swimmers a scare at a Hawke's Bay beach yesterday.

A widespread power outage is affecting homes and businesses in and around Hawkes Bay this morning.

Hawkes Bay real estate agent Simon Tremain says he will fight a verdict of unsatisfactory conduct from the Real Estate Agents Authority.

The Department of Conservation is taking the unusual step of declaring a total fire ban across its Hawke's Bay regional parks for the first time in 12 years.

A woman who formed a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl, then fled with her across the North Island, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Vulnerable people are receiving less home help as Hawkes Bay District Health Board (DHB) struggles to contain a budget blowout.

The second brother in a Hawkes Bay family to have killed someone with a knife has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his father.