The family of slain up-and-coming rugby league star Luke Tipene are gathering for another farewell after his second cousin was killed in a car crash.

A person has died in a crash between a car and a truck on State Highway 1 south of Whangarei.

About 10 officers are expected back in Second Ave following the death of 56-year-old resident Michael Patrick Griffin.

A 16-year-old has been charged with the murder of a Whangarei man who was assaulted at his home on Sunday morning.

A father of three who died after an apparently unprovoked attack at his Whangarei property has been named by police.

An elderly man was flown to Whangarei Hospital yesterday after being trapped by a piece of timber for about 24 hours on a property in Northland.

When Whangarei Pak'nSave checkout operator Rebecca Mclean, 18, helped an elderly customer pay for her groceries last week she did not intend to tell anyone.

A rare Nissan Skyline racing car, valued at $60,000, has been stolen from a rural property in Whangarei.

A wounded postwoman is believed to have been accidentally shot with a pellet gun while making her rounds in Northland yesterday morning.

An elderly woman was beaten with her own walking sticks during a home invasion in Whangarei last night.

The chief executive of the KiwiYo company says he is deeply sorry that a Whangarei teenager quit her job after she was told not to greet customers with a traditional "kia ora".

A 68-year-old woman died and three people were injured after a car crossed the centre line and collided into two vehicles, police say.

Police are investigating the kidnapping of a 33-year-old woman who was forced to drive around Whangarei with a man who threatened her with a knife in the car.

More than 2000 avocados stolen from a Whangarei orchard had recently been sprayed and are unsafe to eat, police say.

The High Court hears a Whangarei teen stabbed her boyfriend in the heart after he smashed her phone and they'd argued over access to Facebook.

A woman waiting in a car while her husband paid for petrol at a central Whangarei service station had to fight off a man who got in the driver's seat and tried to drive away.

Torrential rain last night caused slips which partially closed State Highway 1 as Northland was lashed by stormy weather for a second straight weekend.

Home alone with no readily available food or heating, police found four children in a darkened, dirty house, lit only by a computer screen's glow.

A kayaker who capsized in wild Northland weather last night was embarking on his usual 10-minute commute home from work.

Severe rain and wind warnings and a drop in temperatures have been issued for parts of the South Island and lower North Island this weekend.

Cooking oil left burning on stoves has caused serious burns to an elderly lady and left a young family homeless in two separate house fires in Whangarei over the weekend.

A brief hail storm that covered the ground in Whangarei seemed to come out of nowhere, said a long-time resident.

The senior Northland police officer who suffered serious injuries in a BMX biking crash on Sunday has died.