The drought is working its way down the country, and with with no change predicted until at least mid-March, farmers from Northland to Southland are suffering.

Fourteen jobs have been cut at Wairarapa DHB to create one management team across the Wairarapa and Hutt Valley DHBs.

A discarded cigarette butt has been blamed for a blaze that wreaked $250,000 worth of damage to a shed, vehicles and equipment at a Masterton garden supply firm.

A drunk man who walked behind the counter at a McDonald's Restaurant in Masterton last week clutching a black-handled kitchen knife was convicted of possession of a knife in a public place at Masterton District Court yesterday.

About eight hectares of forest has been burned by a blaze in rural Masterton, with crews still on site last night to keep the fire under control.

Big dry forces stock selloffs, but Aucklanders can still water gardens, wash cars thanks to Waikato River supplies

A Wanganui fireman is now heading the country's firefighters union and says he wants to develop much closer and clearer relationships with the Fire Service on his watch.

Looks like details of the long-awaited Mighty River Power float are set to be released on Monday with the Government raring to go after receiving the all clear from the Supreme Court.

A former national jetski champion and the brother of former Commonwealth Games athlete Simon Poelman has reappeared in court facing drugs charges.

Sharon Stephenson discovers returning from an expat life can be a bittersweet homecoming.

A coroner says high visibility clothing should be compulsory for cyclists after the death of a senior police officer who was hit by a truck while riding his bike.

Conservationists fear an expressway planned for the Kapiti Coast will run through the habitat of a critically endangered duck.

A police officer has been left injured after a 23-year-old man allegedly fled in a stolen vehicle, then rammed police cars when he was finally brought to a stop.

Retailers might be enjoying a post-Christmas spending bonanza, but an economist warns the sales boom can't last.

Police say they have busted a "major" drug lab believed to be in the process of manufacturing thousands of ecstasy pills for New Year's Eve music festivals.

A drug-dealing grandmother has been jailed for nearly seven years for her part in a multimillion-dollar drug syndicate.