A new campaign to encourage New Zealand's 460,000 smokers to give up tobacco rolled out in Kaitaia on Monday.

The sorry state of Northland's storm-battered roads is gaining political traction ahead of this month's election

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Not many television personalities began their careers after being whacked by an uncle brandishing a cricket bat during a 'family friendly' game

Week 22 of the Far North Pool Association's weekly pool competition again saw more close encounters.

For the fourth year in a row, a team made up of players from the Mid North and Bay of Islands has dominated the Whangarei premier netball competition.

We can do it

Claims that Broadwood Area School students had helped overturn tables at last month's meeting with Statoil representatives has been rejected by principal Pani Hauraki as "absolute rubbish".

Many Far Northerners will be hoping that spring, which officially began yesterday, brings a change in the weather.

A Defence Force bomb squad was called to a Mangataipa Road, Mangamuka property in the wake of a fatal house fire.

For the first time since licensing began in this country, a local authority now has the power to determine how the liquor industry serves the community so that the least harm is created by both the sale and hours of consumption.

Runners from Paparore, Abundant Life, Oturu, Pukemiro, Awanui and Pompallier primary schools took part in the Central Zone cross country championships which were held on Heather Jones' farm on West Coast Road last Friday. Beach.

For 22 Northland primary school players aged under 13 and weighing under 57kg, the moment has arrived to wear the provincial club rugby jersey with pride and passion for the first time.

Community leaders in Kaikohe are calling on the Far North District Council to limit the number of liquor outlets in the town, and the district as a whole, and their opening hours, saying they contribute to crime, violence and poverty.

The closure by last month's storm of almost every road connecting the Far North to the rest of the country showed the government's road spending priorities were wrong according to Far North District councillor Ann Court.

Northland lifters lifted with distinction at the National Powerlifting Championships in Christchurch from August 6-9 and the following results were recorded...

Far North surfers secured three of the top 20 places up for grabs across five divisions in the third and final leg of the 2014 Northland Scholastics Surfing Series, held in chill deep winter conditions at Ahipara on Friday, August 15.

A hero's welcome

Try 'Filthy'

Brando Yelavich's triumphant completion of his 8000-kilometre trek around the coastline of New Zealand was delayed briefly on Saturday afternoon, while he enjoyed a brief swim directly beneath the Cape Reinga lighthouse.

The Far North District Council's draft policy, allowing for an unlimited number of off-licence premises in Kaikohe, and throughout the district, had little if any community support according to the Kaikohe Church Leaders' Forum.

It was nowhere near as protracted, or as damaging, as last month's storm, but last week's one-in-50-year downpour brought more slips and road closures in the Far North, already facing a $30 million roading repair bill after July's battering.

William Guy (Guy) Macpherson was a complicated man. He was a product of his upbringing, a little out of the ordinary perhaps, his parents, who were extraordinary characters, and the huge pressures faced by his generation.

A combination of sunstroke, heat exhaustion and food poisoning derailed any plans Brooke Ah Sam held of doing well at the Teen Gauntlet Gathering in San Diego last month.

Expect stocks of green and black face paint to be in high demand in Kaitaia shops this weeks as supporters and players from the top two teams in Mangonui senior club rugby go head to head in the Battle for the Bell Shield at Arnold Rae Park this Saturday.

As a boy, Paul Marshall Slade (Ngapuhi, Ngati Kahu) dreamed of carving pieces like those he saw at the Auckland Museum, and a move to the Far North more than 30 years ago helped make that dream a reality.

An oily question Here we are, a small group of two islands in the South Pacific, self-reliant on what we can export, from dairy products and produce. In real terms we aren't a rich country, but....