Waikato residents renewed their calls for a commuter rail service between Hamilton and Auckland with staged sit ins at train stations on Saturday.

Police have charged a 22-year-old mother in relation to an alleged child abandonment incident this morning.

Police are speaking to the mother of two young children found home alone early today, surrounded by alcohol cans and a condom.

All five people in the car had been drinking and the driver said she lost control after being distracted by a passenger.

A sculpture walk is the perfect way to combine the enjoyment of art with the beauty of our landscape.

The identity of a woman at the centre of an alleged $1.4 million Waikato bank fraud has been revealed.

Bic Runga is returning to the live stage as the support act for Leonard Cohen's tour in late October.

Police are believed to have tracked the movements in Waikato of two men who knew Carmen Thomas - at the time that her car was abandoned in Hamilton.

The family of missing woman Carmen Thomas says innocent lives may be at stake as long as her killer is free.

Police have asked for the public's help to track two armed robbers who stole cigarettes and tobacco from a Hamilton diary on Sunday.