Police have stopped and ticketed several drivers speeding past schools this week - including a high school teacher and a father with his pre-school aged daughter in the back.

Which town looks set to keep its crown as New Zealand's sunshine capital? A new climate report shows one place well out in front.

A surgeon at Waikato Hospital was surprised to find a patient he was treating in the emergency department was the man he trained under nearly 20 years ago.

Two owners of a Waikato hotel were assaulted and tied up by robbers who threatened them and stole cash from their business.

Need a cure for summertime blues? This patch of coast has the remedy year-round, writes Elisabeth Easther.

A truckie tried to leap from his vehicle moments before it was hit by a train in Waikato, an inquest has been told.

A Waitomo caving experience will leave your mind blown, writes Alex Robertson.

Children may have been put at risk when they were transported in a car with a sawn-off shotgun concealed under a mat, police say.

A shelter of the steppes finds a place under the nikau, writes Monique Balvert-O'Connor.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has taken aim at dirty politics today, shortly after he physically shoved a heckler off a stage in Hamilton.

Elisabeth Easther followed her heart to Maungatautari in the hope that Sirocco, her kakapo friend, would recall their fleeting fling.

A tiny rural Waikato town wants to establish itself as the "North Island's premier food technology hub".

A 21-year-old Hamilton woman has serious injuries after her car left the road and crashed down a slope about 100m long in Waitomo this afternoon.

A baby being dangled outside a car window has distressed Hamilton police.

Danielle Wright spends a rainy day in Waikato, in the company of the Incas' silent brothers — the llamas.

A Dutch couple coming to New Zealand to visit their Taupo-based daughter on a "trip of a lifetime" were among those killed on MH17.

A master surfboard maker has sold a handcrafted board to a New Zealand buyer for a staggering $1.5 million.

The Waikato District Health Board has backed its incoming chief executive, despite concerns about his time overseeing a Canadian health authority.

The new boss of Waikato's DHB was in charge of one of the worst-performing Canadian health authorities - and Labour has questioned his appointment.