To meet domestic travel requirements from mid-December, 15-minute Covid-19 rapid antigen testing will be available at no cost from community pharmacies throughout New Zealand until the end of January 2022. When the Auckland boundary lifts at 11:59pm...

Two community-led climate change adaptation projects have received funds from Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council this week to explore the future impact on their community and begin planning. Successful applicant Ngai Tamawhariua will be exploring...

The team at the Western Bay of Plenty’s Acorn Foundation and Fund for Acting and Musical Endeavours Trust are proud to announce the first recipient of the Emerging Practitioner Awards. The Acorn Foundation is managing several scholarship and...

One person is reported to have suffered critical injuries in a single-vehicle crash in the Coromandel. Police were advised of a vehicle collision on Kauaeranga Valley Road, near Thames, at around 3.15pm. Another person has suffered serious injuries...

The Whakatāne community is gathering for a special ceremony to mark two years since the Whakaari/White Island eruption. On December 9 2019 at 2:11pm, 22 people were killed after the volcano erupted with 47 people present on the island, a majority...

Police are appealing for sightings of a missing woman in Te Puke today. Louise was last seen at Carter House in Te Puke today at around 12:40pm. She is believed to be wearing green, patterned pants, a grey cardigan and jandals. Louise is not familiar...

Bright orange road cones are the attention-seekers on state highway work sites, for good reason, says the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency. The agency’s Bay of Plenty system manager says the humble road cone plays a key role in guiding people...

Katikati based Project Parore is now able to put people, as well as ideas, to work for the benefit of its ecological restoration projects in the catchments of the Northern Tauranga Harbour. The project will receive $5 million of funding over five years. This...

    New Zealand’s Facebook users can now sign up to be notified of opportunities nearby to give blood and plasma. Facebook has launched a Blood Donations feature in partnership with New Zealand Blood Service. It comes as NZBS is...

Today there are five new cases in Bay of Plenty, with all being in the Tauranga area. Of these, three are linked to previously reported cases, and links with the two remaining cases are currently being investigated. All five cases are isolating at...

Police acknowledge the sentencing of the man who shot a Hamilton officer earlier this year. Shannon Henry, 23, was, on Thursday, sentenced to a total of seven years and eight months in the Hamilton District Court today on charges of wounding with intent...

Pale blue in colour, and with a resemblance to what could be described as an extra-terrestrial being, the blue bottle jellyfish is once again invading Bay of Plenty shores.   Warming water temperatures, wind and ocean currents bring the jellyfish...

Four new locations of interest for Tauranga have been announced today. People who visited the Brookfield Hot Bread on Saturday, December 4 between 12:30pm and 1pm are advised to self-monitor for Covid-19 symptoms for 10 days after they were exposed. “If...

A new synthetic drug has been detected in New Zealand for the first time. In a post on Facebook, the New Zealand Police say very little is known about the substance cathinone dimethylpentylone. “Very little is known about this substance, and...

Pāpāmoa College and Merivale Primary are set to get some new classrooms following a government announcement today. Education Minister Chris Hipkins says a further 23 schools are set to benefit from the investment in short-term roll growth classrooms...

Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall is announcing the government's Smokefree 2025 Action Plan after public consultation this year. The government has been considering proposals to meet the government's goal of making New Zealand smokefree...

The much-loved icon of Tauranga’s Memorial Park, Humpty Dumpty, has had a great fall.  The statue, which has been at the park's playground since 1959, was vandalised earlier this week. "The statue has been seriously damaged this...

Two years on from the disastrous Whakaari/White Island eruption, a lawyer representing Australian victims says the regulatory shortcomings are "terrifying". Horrific burns killed 22 people and more than a dozen others were critically injured...

  Charges have been filed against a former staff member following a police investigation into allegations of ill-treatment involving children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital in the 1970s.   An 89-year-old individual...

A lucky Strike player will be feeling festive after winning $200,000 with Strike Four in Lotto's Wednesday draw. The winning ticket was sold at Greerton Lotto in Tauranga. "Powerball was not struck this evening and has rolled over to Saturday...

New Zealand Food Safety is investigating following a further recall of about 8000 packets of Woolworths raw sugar from Countdown supermarkets nationwide overnight. New Zealand Sugar Company Ltd provided incorrect information to supermarkets which...

  Chinese restaurant Kwang Chow in Mount Maunganui has been listed as a high risk location of interest. People who were there at the times of exposure must self-isolate and get tested immediately and on day five after they were exposed.  The...

Bay of Plenty and Waikato have got through the opening day of the New Zealand Women’s Interprovincials at Timaru Golf Club unscathed and atop the leaderboard. They sit in equal first with two match wins today and seven games. Bay of Plenty...

A person has died after a vehicle went into the water at Chapel Street earlier this evening. A police spokesperson says emergency services were called to a report of a vehicle in the water shortly after 5pm. “Sadly, one person died at the...

Ōpōtiki District Council and Toi Te Ora Public Health are confirming that an Ōpōtiki resident has tested positive for Covid-19. The individual was tested outside of the region and has returned to Ōpōtiki to complete the required isolation with...

UPDATED 9pm: The truck that overturned at the Tauriko roundabout has been righted and the road is now clear. Waka Kotahi Transport Agency is advising the incident has been resolved. Emergency services received a report of a truck and trailer rolling...

A vehicle has overturned in Otumoetai. A SunLive reader at the scene says the van overturned near the corner of Otumoetai Road and Bellevue Road near the petrol station and liquor store. "An SUV has rolled and is upside down. It hit a parked...

UPDATED 5.40pm:  Police are responding to an incident on Chapel Street, involving a vehicle in the water. The street is closed to allow emergency services to attend, says a police spokesperson. "Traffic management is being put in place...

A mechanic by trade, Auto Craft Service Centre owner Andy Erith quickly became an amateur fire fighter when a tree caught fire next to his workshop in Tauranga on Wednesday afternoon. Just before 4pm, flames erupted from a tree with smoke billowing...