Stories by Niva Chittock

A toxicologist has told a court he cannot rule out the possibility that Sincere Standtrue may have been huffing paint and other chemical fumes before his death.

Sincere Standtrue - who had worked in the community's paint shop since he was 15 - was found unresponsive and died in Christchurch Hospital in November 2018.

The inquest will examine the circumstances of his death and if the death was self-inflicted.

新收费标准7月1日生效，市中心夜间停车费为每小时2纽元和3纽元不等。

Meetings in cupboards in over-crowded Emergency Operations Centres, equipment failures and inexperienced staff - report after report into our emergency responses have found widespread failures.

Auckland Transport says it may make Wynyard Quarter exempt from increased street parking until the Wynyard Bridge reopens.

The Public Service Association says the cuts risk hitting front-line conservation efforts.

The Department of Conservation has proposed to reduce and restructure it's Chatham Islands team.

Almost 250 further complaints about horrid stenches in Timaru have been received by the Canterbury Regional Council.

Councillors say they are listening to the public and have every intention of funding the cash-strapped centre, despite it being left out of the draft Long Term Plan.

A staff member at Oamaru Hospital was held at knifepoint while a man tried to steal her car, its chief executive says.

The region's emergency management group manager says the forecast rain is a huge amount, even for the West Coast.

Choosing an exhibition of 14 objects from more than 1.5 million diverse items in the Otago museum's collection was intimidating, its director says.

The team behind the rebuild began deliberately slowing work last year after the budget ballooned from $104m to $248m.

Christchurch midwives and māmā are celebrating the opening of new birthing unit Kurawaka: Waipapa.

A mid-Canterbury farm has been fined for discharging piggery effluent.

Natalia Rak says she has no idea why her well-loved Dunedin mural has suddenly vanished.

Foodstuffs says its Wānaka New World stores have decided to stay open across Easter Weekend in breach of the holiday's trading laws.

The behaviour forced the library to shorten its hours and roster staff on in pairs.

Sir Russell Coutts has railed against what he called exorbitant fees for the sailing race, but ratepayers and taxpayers picked up much of the tab.

Canterbury Regional Council unlawfully granted a resource consent for contaminant discharge in Ashburton, the High Court has ruled.

Trust member says he doesn't want to take money from "any activity that potentially posed harm to the animals that I'm studying".

The popular venue was a fixture of the Arts Centre for decades, but has been derelict since it sustained serious earthquake damage in 2011.

Community leaders experienced a full blown adrenaline rush as the Christchurch Adventure Park reopened for the first time since the Port Hills wildfire five weeks ago.

South Island Resource Recovery Limited wants to build a waste-to-energy plant but has yet to complete a consent application that was first filed 18 months ago.