It's all hands on deck as Hamilton's hospitality industry pulls together for its biggest night of the year the Super Rugby grand final.

A man has denied raping a woman during a kidnap but the Crown says he was "10,000,000,000,000,000 times likely" to be a contributor to crucial DNA evidence.

Hamilton is getting set for its biggest night of the year when the Chiefs host the Brumbies for their second Super 15 rugby grand final appearance at home in two years.

A 19-year-old woman's body was found off the coast of Raglan early this morning after her family raised grave concerns for her welfare.

An elderly man's death in his Hamilton home is no longer being treated as suspicious following a post-mortem examination yesterday.

The free lessons will be offered once a year to Tauranga and Hamilton AA members, who can use them themselves or pass them on to a person of choice.

Neighbours have described being woken by screaming, then stepping out into the night to see a young man yelling "He's dead, he's dead".

Police are working to identify a person found dead after a house fire in Hamilton today.

Elisabeth Easther revisited her hometown for a refreshing outdoor experience.

Hamilton's river and gardens put you in the mood for wonderful walking It's a 45-minute walk around Hamilton Lake.

Liz Light visits Fieldays, the biggest, fattest farmers' market in the Southern Hemisphere.

Two nurses were attacked by a knife-wielding man as they sat in a car outside Waikato Hospital last night.

Three men have been arrested in connection with an alleged home invasion in which a Hamilton man was brutally beaten.

Residents who helped with the arrest of teenage offenders yesterday have been praised by police in Hamilton.

Police hope an indefinite jail sentence handed out to a child sex offender today will act as a warning to others.

A stolen car sought by police in connection with an assault ploughed into a large road sign pole in Hamilton, critically injuring a teenager.

The number of "spin doctors" at Hamilton City Council has increased in the past two years while six other positions in the communications unit have disappeared.

Rotorua beneficiaries advocate Paul Blair has again appealed to the Court of Appeal, claiming he was wrongly convicted on cannabis charges.

A man shot at a Hamilton property last night is likely to undergo surgery later today as police try to establish whether there could be a link to a wanted offender's vehicle.

Waikato police have found a missing teenage girl who failed to return from school in Hamilton yesterday.

Human error put a Hamilton Zoo keeper at risk from a female tiger, an investigation by the Ministry of Primary Industries has found.