Latest fromWhangarei

Minister defends new benefit sanctions coming into force
Beneficiaries face having half of their benefit restricted to certain spending.

Rest home romance: Wedding bells chime for 99-year-old bride
Dennam and Felicia wed at rest home, proving love has no age limit.

Editorial: Council rates are the tax we love to hate
OPINION: The only certainties in life are death and taxes – and both are expensive.

'I don't know how many I scored': Woodman-Wickliffe after creating Black Ferns history
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe became the Black Ferns' all time leading try-scorer.

Power shift: How Meridian's $186m battery will influence energy market
Meridian's Ruakākā Bess is NZ's first large-scale grid battery storage system.

Woman charged $5.1m to track down former lover and stolen family fortune
He promised to invest the money but took it to Italy and disappeared.

As a new mum, Ella Becroft was primed to love her kids - nothing prepared her for what happened next
A 'body horror' theatre show on the mundanity and monstrosity of early motherhood.

Accused pleads not guilty to murder of 'beloved mother' in Whangārei park
Yvonne Chapman, 66, was shot at Onerahi's Beach Rd public reserve in February.

Murder charge laid over Northland man's death, police seek further information
Police are still seeking sightings of a 1999 blue and silver Mitsubishi L200.

The Doctors Bayfair opens new 'purpose-built' medical practice
The new space allows staff to better support the needs of the 'rapidly growing' community.

Fetishes, arrests and vomit: Kiwis dish on their worst dates ever
From waters breaking to barefoot serenades, Kiwi singletons reveal their dates gone wrong.

NZ's new cheapest petrol station revealed
Gull shook up competition in the fuel sector, but the price gap is now closing.

Who's who in New Zealand’s most powerful think tanks?
One think-tank tends to get mentioned in Parliament more often than the others.

'A superstar in the making': The First XV star carving up in Moascar Cup
Nathan Stephens, a Year 13 student, impressed with a stunning fullback performance.

Northcote's Vietnamese-built Elevation apartments near completion
'It's been challenging' – Alastair Sawer, chief executive of developer TLC Modular

Sasha Borissenko: The great Kiwi workplace wipeout
OPINION: The Government is waging war on employment rights.

'Like a cartoon': Author's $65k book prize win nearly derailed by travel chaos
Damien Wilkins nearly missed the awards after his flight out of Wellington was cancelled.

Luxon announces $164m for new 24/7 urgent care services
The Prime Minister made the pre-Budget health announcement in Botany this afternoon.

Watch: Brave shopkeepers take on armed robbers with chair, boxes
Dramatic video shows the workers foiling a robbery attempt.

Severe weather warnings: 120km/h gales, thunderstorms possible
MetService has forecast heavy rain and strong northwest winds.

Weather onslaught: Rain, damaging gales, thunderstorms to sweep over NZ
The stormy conditions have already started in the south and will spread north Sunday.