Stories that are making headlines around New Zealand at noon today include job losses and the still existing gender pay gap, dumb thieves who risk their lives for a few bits of copper, and students who play dead for a day.

Is there still a gender pay gap among local authority chief executives? A University of Canterbury researcher is keen to get to the bottom of it because the UN has urged New Zealand to sort it out.

Copper cable thieves who struck in Kawerau are lucky to be alive after their actions caused the explosion of a Horizon Energy power pole. Not a clever move, because the copper they were after only has a scrap value of around $20.

Forty students killed by drink-drivers and a serious crash on the school grounds made for a horror week at Okaihau College. Luckily, they were only dead for one day.

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Spring is in the air, and it has given Hawke's Bay's property market a significant boost.

Then again, it's also official that Tauranga was doused with the most rain this winter.

But make sure to hold on to your hat if you are in the South Island today, as strong winds are bringing power lines down and toppling trees.

After serving the community for 75 years, the Women's Health League is taking the time to reflect on its rich history. Women from all over the North Island who are involved with the league will make their way to Waiariki Institute of Technology's Tangatarua Marae.

Meanwhile, over 200 jobs are on the line now New Zealand's largest mussel factory, Tauranga-based North Island Mussel Processors Limited (NIMPL), has gone into receivership.

A mother and her two children escaped their burning house in Havelock North for the second time in a few months, but only because they paid attention when firemen told them to install smoke alarms.

Shots were fired through a wooden fence in Onerahi last night during a fight on a normally quiet street.

A consultant physician at Whangarei Hospital is in trouble because of blood-tinged vomiting.

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In Rotorua, they are doing their very best to prevent youngsters being run over in driveways.

Apparently, there are lessons to be learned from Aussie farmers as well.

The rising cost of petrol is influencing the type of car people buy. Dealerships in Masterton as well as in Tauranga have noticed an increase in demand for more fuel-efficient cars.

Practically everyone in Rotovegas thinks it's perfectly fine that beneficiaries with outstanding arrest warrants have their benefits cut, and you can vote, too.

The Classic Hits Winery Tour was so popular in the Wairarapa that the organisers have gladly added another venue to next years' tour. They are also proud they will reach the 100th live show this summer.

A luxury car that was recovered from the Rena wreck will soon be on its way to Christchurch. The a silver 2003 Mercedes C200 Kompressor was restored by local businesses and put up for auction to help out the Tauranga branch of the Child Cancer Foundation.

A teacher claims she was bullied and unfairly dismissed from a prestigious Hawke's Bay private school.

A Bay of Plenty Times reader sent in video footage and photos of a raging fire where flames were coming out of the bonnet of a parked car in Mount Maunganui.

The 'Beast' saga continues in Wanganui, as Stewart Murray Wilson's new abode just outside the fence of Whanganui Prison has arrived. It's expected it will be another three weeks before it will be ready for him to move in.

A night-time attack on trees at the Lincoln Event Centre was caught on film and the CCTV footage shows quite a lot.

You know you're from Rotorua when...

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