Police were called to Whangarei Falls after a visitor reported seeing a child's limb floating in a pool, but it turned out to be part of a baby doll.

A Whangarei solo mum has resorted to stealing to feed her children, while another gets more money on the benefit than any job she can get in the region, a beneficiary support worker says.

Kids at Kamo Primary School at the northern end of Whangarei are split down the middle over an offer of free milk from New Zealand's biggest company, Fonterra.

Sydney police are hunting an "armed and dangerous" man after former Whangarei man Lance Hargreaves was stabbed to death near the factory at which he worked.

There could be some fish hooks in the way prizes are allocated in future but the organisers of the southern hemisphere's biggest snapper contest say it will definitely be held again next year.

"Crazy" people are at risk of being "fried" by high voltage powerlines - including people driving over and picking up 11,000-volt cables after two accidents in Whangarei.

A Whangarei man was taken to hospital after crashing into a power pole shortly after police abandoned a pursuit of his car.

A Northland woman has died in hospital after she was severely burnt in a gas explosion.

A prominent Northland businessman died from a heart attack while competing in the Wellington-to-Auckland Cycle Challenge.

A woman who has suffered burns to 70 per cent of her body had just arrived home when an explosion occurred, a resident who came to her help says.

A Whangarei couple who between them stole more than $72,000 from taxpayers by making false statements to get benefits have been sentenced to home detention.

A Whangarei man who bashed another in a random act of street thuggery and stole petrol five times has avoided jail mainly thanks to the efforts of his lawyer.

A Northland family hope the tragic death of Patricia Ann McGrath will not be in vain but may raise awareness about domestic violence.

Hours after Whangarei woman Patricia McGrath was fatally injured in a domestic dispute, her sister-in-law made a plea to the family not to take matters into their own hands.

A Whangarei mother of two has died in hospital after a domestic dispute and more serious charges are likely to be laid against the man accused of assaulting her.

Police cordoned off a Northland house following an alleged assault which left a woman critically injured in hospital.

The hunt for a super-sized Santa missing from atop a Thai restaurant in Whangarei is still continuing.

Footage from the police Taser gun allegedly used by a woman against a Northland policeman during a vicious assault is now being used as potential evidence against the attackers.

While those veges in the garden will be bolting with the warm rain, so too will the cannabis crops of Northland drug growers.