The survival chances of Northland's endangered kiwi populations have been dealt a severe blow with at least seven kiwi killed by a dog, or dogs, near Kerikeri.

Up to 50 Northland teens flouted Whangarei’s liquor bans at an after ball function in the city, with several arrested and five needing medical treatment for heavy intoxication.

The 10 bridges promised for Northland is not happening. Good. The bridges are a poor use of public money, Rodney Hide writes.

Northland MP Winston Peters says National was clearly “bull dusting” on its byelection promise to ugrade 10 bridges in Northland.

Poaching of the native wood pigeon is widespread, notably in Northland.

Wellsford teenager Liam Connolly once saved a man's life before heading off for an otherwise normal school day.

Five people were rescued from a Northland harbour last night after the engine of their overloaded dinghy failed, and they began drifting towards rocks.

An elderly woman who went missing in her car overnight on Thursday on the Karikari Peninsula had become trapped in mud so deep she was unable to open the doors and had to wait to be found yesterday morning.

A string of inquiries is under way into how a healthy 25-year-old inmate died after a five-hour journey between prisons.

Two cars in a ditch after part of the road was swept away from in front of them last night.

Parts of the country were lashed by heavy rain, thunderstorms and flash floods yesterday wreaking havoc for Dunedin and areas of Auckland.

The explosive thunderstorms that hit the North Island yesterday should ease but heavy rain and plummeting temperatures are forecast for the rest of the week.

Police have revealed the man killed yesterday on a farm near the Kaipara Harbour died after felling trees in a gully.

A man has been killed by a falling tree in Northland as ferocious thunder storms and lightning strikes bore down on Auckland and the upper North Island.

Aucklanders were battered by wild weather this evening as thunder and lightning hit the region.

The country’s top road cop is lamenting the deaths of five people over the Queen’s Birthday holiday weekend, including a 5-year-old boy who died in hospital yesterday.

National's support is barely dented in the first major poll since the Budget, and Prime Minister John Key's popularity has risen.

Rental company Wicked Campers has again fallen foul of the advertising watchdog with offensive slogans painted on its vans.

The mother whose young tot was killed in the carpark of a Northland school had just returned to New Zealand for a holiday with her family.

Four people have been injured, two of them seriously, in a car crash this afternoon.

Lonely Planet has confirmed what Northlanders have known for years - the unmissable site that has made New Zealand's top 10 list.

Seven people have been arrested in Kaikohe as part of a crack down on gangs in the area, police say.

One person is dead after their car went off a bridge and into a river about 120km north-west of Whangarei tonight.

Cleanup efforts have started. Mount Maunganui Intermediate will be closed Friday after announcing that it had suffered “considerable damage”.

Some regions will "fail" economically and perhaps socially unless we help them to adjust, the Salvation Army says.

A 15-year-old girl has been arrested following an assault in Kaikohe that was filmed and posted online.

"I am just as committed today to leading National to victory at the next election as I was when first taking up the role as your leader in November 2006," Key said.

In the midst of the madness of the Northland byelection, an important story about the New Zealand economy was being told, writes Grant Robertson.