A Rotorua woman whose home was torched by her ex-partner is shocked he has been released from jail after serving just over one-third of his sentence.

One of the men involved in a gang-related brawl outside a child's first birthday party says he deeply regrets his actions as they have robbed his children of their father.

A Taupo woman described as a "one-stop shop" for drugs who was involved in drug dealing almost daily while under surveillance has been sentenced to four years in jail.

A pitbull which attacked a 10-year-old boy in Rotorua must be destroyed and its owner punished, a judge has ruled.

Editorial: Since the 1980s, scientists have been warning about the declining water quality in lakes around Rotorua, some of the country's most beautiful and popular.

Police are investigating whether a space-saver wheel played a part in the crash which killed a Rotorua mother.

The Green Party has criticised an agreement between Rotorua farmers and the regional council to reduce nitrogen levels in Lake Rotorua.

A 33-year-old woman is dead and her 15-year-old son is fighting for his life after a two-car head-on crash in the Bay of Plenty.

A teenager has been remanded on bail and four others also face charges following a police pursuit through Dunedin that went for 46km and reached speeds of up to 135km/h.

A High Court trial begins in Rotorua today of a trio charged with the murder of a tourist in a Rotorua park in January last year.

Six people have been sentenced to a total of more than 39 years in prison for their parts in a "large-scale" drugs and money laundering operation stretching across the Bay of Plenty and into Waikato and Auckland.

Though not as freaky and fruity, The Green are Hawaii's equivalent of New Zealand's most eccentric reggae band Kora.

A coroner is repeating calls for urgent laws to control cyber bullying in light of a teen taking her life after she set up a Facebook page targeting herself.

The teenager who stole an 82-year-old's car has been sentenced to five months' home detention.