Stories by Alexa Cook

So far, only two out of 44 councils have decided to ditch the positions. Audio

The public meeting was packed with people from all walks of life, and ended in a rousing haka when the majority of councillors cast their vote in favour.

The community surrounding a forestry products mill is desperately trying to save it from closing, launching a petition urging the government to intervene. Audio

Muriwai's mother took to social media to announce her plans for a "beautiful" send off for her daughter and allow her other children to have closure.

High power prices are not just hurting manufacturers, they could cause rates hikes too.

The proposed closures are already hurting the local economy in Raetihi. There's hope the government might intervene. Audio

A meeting of hundreds of people discussed what the job losses would mean for the region. Audio

Locals fear the area will quickly become a ghost town, with one woman saying many families are already planning to leave for Australia.

Selaks was started from a market garden, but now sells more than a million litres of wine a year. Audio

There's no point maintaining it if it's unwilling to flex its muscle or use its full powers, he says.

The Wairoa project is the largest in the region's Flood Resilience Programme and is funded by the government.

A spectacular mural at a Gisborne skatepark is the winning entry in a competition to raise awareness of a free counselling service for young people in distress. Audio

A cyclone-hit village in Hawke's Bay is struggling to get mental health support for its tamariki, with requests for a social worker being repeatedly turned down or ignored. Audio

Iwi liaison officers are also providing support to the five-year-old's grieving whānau.

As four words echoed around the crowd, their faces fell and they turned to each other for comfort. Audio

Dozens of people gathered to support grieving family as Khyzah's body was taken home. Audio

A Hawke's Bay village says a plan to build stopbanks along its river will destroy the town out in future floods. Audio

The report has been a decade in the making.

Residents have been calling for Ian Macdonald's resignation for 16 months.

A damning review has laid bare the regional council's failures before a deadly storm. Nearly 18 months on, "nothing has changed". Audio

The council is under fire for failing to carry out its functional role over the past four years. Audio

Serious concerns have been raised about a lack of planning for floods that exceeded stopbanks in a 260-page report.

A long awaited report into the Hawke's Bay Regional Council's flood protections during last year's Cyclone Gabrielle will be released later this morning.

Residents in places like Esk Valley had worried the dust contained dangerous levels of silica, but a report has found it contains no more than normal garden soil.

The country's onion crop has been slashed by at least 20 percent because of humid weather which resulted in a leaf disease.