Stories by Lois Williams

A Southland teacher of children with special needs says she's one of many who've suffered physical attacks because of a lack of classroom support.

Mothers hope this week's budget will have funding to help parents get better qualifications.

Northland health authorities are urging people to check they're protected from measles before travelling overseas.

People caring for the homeless in Whangārei say the imminent arrival of the Housing First programme has sparked new hope.

Medical practices around Northland are closing their doors to new patients as they face a perfect storm.

A Whangārei school which feared more than half of its pupils had never been immunised against measles has found most of them are.

People in wheelchairs and on crutches are now among those sleeping rough in the Whangārei area.

More than 170 schoolmates of a Whangārei girl who died of meningitis have been vaccinated today after the community raised funds to protect them.

Housing New Zealand's been accused of leaving older state houses to rot in a Whangārei suburb - while it plans to build new ones.

Doctor warns lower vaccination rates in Northland could open the door for measles.

The legal definition of mānuka honey could change, if new evidence shows the chemical makeup of the honey is different in Northland, MPI says.

A Whangarei log truck company will be able to keep its trucks on the road, pending court action over alleged safety breaches.

The Transport Agency wants to talk to drivers working for a Whangārei trucking firm whose fleet has been ordered off the road for safety breaches.

Ngāwhā marae near Kaikohe has welcomed a giant to its grounds today - a huge swamp kauri log.

A controversial plan to revamp the historic Russell wharf with a cafe and toilets is set to gain final sign-off within a fortnight.

The government is to invest nearly $8 million in two major Far North projects, including a long-held dream of waka tohunga, Sir Hekenukumai Busby.

A popular Whangārei Māori teacher may have to leave New Zealand with her two children because Immigration NZ will not let her Canadian husband into the country.

Scientists who have been studying fairy terns at Mangawhai on Northland's east coast now suspect the bird's decline may be linked to the removal of mangroves from the harbour.

The Māori Climate Change Commissioner, Donna Awatere-Huata, says it's time for New Zealand children to strike, and shame adults into action on climate change.

A trust set up by the American golfing billionaire Ric Kayne is funding genetic research on the country's rarest bird, the fairy tern.

Council officers have seized a dog they believe attacked a 95-year-old man in Kaikohe this week, and it's not the first time he's bitten.

Northland transport committee chair John Bain says he will not stop campaigning for an expressway to Auckland, nor will he step down to please Shane Jones.

Conservationists in the Far North are concerned about the disappearance of freshwater streams from Ninety Mile Beach.

Firefighters in Northland are working flat out to control the latest in a series of scrub fires which they say could have spread to a pine plantation.

A leading windscreen repair firm says its workload has more than doubled in Whangārei and the North Shore since roadworks began in the north this season.