Stories making headlines across New Zealand at noon include a gang member about to make special TV appearance, black months on the roads are approaching and Matthew Timu got zapped with a Taser.
Heavily tattooed Mongrel Mob member Mana Tangitutu looks like he is getting a special TV appearance tonight. Meanwhile Rebels gang member Craig Wayne Matthews is still on the run.
As the traditional "black months" on the roads approach, there's been lucky escapes in Whangarei, Hawke's Bay and Matamata.
After fleeing police in a drunken state and endangering other motorists Matthew Hemi Timu crashed and ended up getting zapped with a Taser.
An elephant at Franklin Zoo which killed its keeper is heading to a new home in the United States.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett wants hunger striker Sam Kuha to start eating.
Meanwhile Kamo looks like getting a more user-friendly toilet block.
Stephanie Brebner was out for a run on 15th Ave in Tauranga when a dog ran out of a house and bit her on the calf.
Velma Rereao Zandstra, 84, of Tauranga was killed by a car reversing out a driveway.
An employee at Mastercraft Kitchens opened up the workshop this morning to find it filled with smoke.
At Ruakaka beach, emergency services arrived to find a 15 year old boy trapped with a motorcycle gear lever embedded in his calf muscle as the incoming tide pounded closer and closer.
Tourism Bay of Plenty chairman Paul Bowker says New Zealand's unique point of difference should not be sheep and disrespectful haka pictures.
Here's a video of Gisborne people speaking out against an increase in parking fees which includes some footage of people parking.
Meanwhile Gisborne Boys' High School students are set to descend on Manfeild Raceway next week for the National New Zealand Secondary Schools Minibike Grand Prix.
After enduring two earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks, Norm Symons and Cathy Trainor were aboard a tour bus in Hawke's Bay which got stuck on a tight corner up Te Mata Peak just hours before they were due to get married.
Daylight saving and warmer weather apparently bring a spike in burglaries, disorder, theft of motor vehicles, thefts and assaults or street robberies.
When one of his white tigers needed a vet, Bart Hartley called on Scott Hughes and Craig Hassell.
Meanwhile an economic downturn has led to the demise of another Stratford store.
Whanganui District Health Board had the fifth-highest mortality rate in New Zealand in the 2010-11 year.
If you want a rural home with a distinctive "barrel vaulting" design and the ability to withstand a one in 650-year 7.8 magnitude earthquake then here it is.
Wairarapa DHB say there is a still a lack of awareness about breastfeeding and formula.
The Canterbury earthquakes have forced a fundamental change in the South Island's tourism market.
If for some reason you are looking to rent a house in Ashburton, then you need to have deep pockets.
Biting the hand that feeds him is a daily struggle for Dunedin unemployment beneficiary Gordon Holmes.
Queenstown police have warned local drivers to err on the side of caution on roads used by many tourist drivers.
While being processed at the police station for a spree of offending, Marko Motu Williams pulled a camera from a stand and hid it in his underpants. Earlier he told a group of six Chinese tourists who were photographing a church he was going to get a gun after he unsuccessfully tried to rob them.
Another 80 hoggets have been stolen from a Herbert farm.
Boy band Titanium sang 13 year old Ria Doppenberg happy birthday.
Meanwhile on the West Coast, Prime Minister John Key has been walking in the footsteps of New Zealand's longest serving prime minister.
Top trending topics on Twitter in NZ at noon were: #followblair, #unionjtowinxfactoruk, #iloveunionj, #getunionjto240k, #MyWorstFear, Adam Lambert, Taken 2, #eqnz, #MKR and #TheRidges.