Safety inspectors are being sent to the remote site of a chopper crash which seriously injured a young pilot on the South Island's West Coast at the weekend.

A decade-long project to save endangered giant snails from a West Coast coal mine will finish next year.

Bottom-trawling fisheries have been banned from a 10,000 hectare area off the West Coast of the South Island.

Reefton police say help from quick-thinking locals helped nab four burglars who smashed their way into the service station early today.

The woman who put Gloriavale cult leader Hopeful Christian in prison says he is no man of God and labelled him a “pervert”.

The woman who put Gloriavale Christian Community guru Hopeful Christian in prison for indecent assault has had her name suppression lifted so she can tell her story.

Two people were killed on the roads in separate incidents during the weekend.

A literary tour of the West Coast takes Bronwyn Sell on a journey that traverses brooding landscapes.

Pike River Mine survivor Daniel Rockhouse says he was humbled to accept an award for bravery at an investiture ceremony at Government House this morning.

Elisabeth Easther booked a trip to the wild West Coast to fritter away a weekend.

The parents of a 15-month-old Greymouth boy who died in Auckland’s Starship Hospital last month have been spoken to by police.

A Rotomanu farmer who stood trial in March for his part in the starvation and death of nearly 800 cows has been found guilty.

The ramifications of a further 113 job losses at Stockton will reverberate right down the West Coast and all the way to the Port of Lyttelton, MP Damien O'Connor says.

Solid Energy did all it could to avoid job cuts on the West Coast but the coal market made it too difficult, Bill English says.

The West Coast mining industry has been dealt a heavy blow today, with 113 jobs to go at Solid Energy's Stockton mine.

Job losses on the West Coast have been foreshadowed ahead of meeting between Solid Energy managers and workers at the Stockton Mine tomorrow.

A Westport man is alleged to have threatened to cut off a man's fingers with a machete in a vigilante-style in response to a rape claim.

A free phone line has been set up by police for people wanting to discuss experiences at the secretive Christian community Gloriavale.

A member of the secretive christian community Gloriavale says allegations of men being groomed to have sex with underage females are "rubbish".

A Gloriavale school principal says the New Testament is very clear about men and women having different roles to play.

West Coast police area commander Inspector John Canning paid a courtesy visit to the Gloriavale Christian Community yesterday.

Secretive Christian community Gloriavale appears to be adding to its coffers by selling a hand-reared African grey parrot on Trade Me.

At least one former Gloriavale member has approached police, and others are considering it, after police urged for ex-members to come forward.

Police have launched a full inquiry into the death of a 15-month-old Cobden boy after he was taken to Grey Base Hospital not breathing and suffering cardiac arrest.

After 20 years, but family members of the 14 young people who died in the Cave Creek disaster marked the anniversary today by acknowledging that they were ready to move on.

Virginia Pawsey says today will be a day to remember her son, who died in the Cave Creek platform collapse, and reflect on the passage of time.

"It's not a lifestyle I would choose. But in actually talking to a lot of the people that are there I couldn't help thinking, 'They have a happier and simpler life than I do.'