Hamish MacLean

A familiar welcome to the town of Lawrence will disappear before the end of summer.

The woman who resigned from a school board of trustees saying her concerns over the effects of Wi-Fi in classrooms were not being taken seriously is a shareholder and director of a Balclutha internet service provider.

The Mayor of Gore has cautiously welcomed the $8.65million sale of a Southland dairy farm by Solid Energy to a foreign buyer.

Security at staff bases will be improved and new, smaller exercise yards built in a $3.4million upgrade at the Otago Corrections Facility at Milburn next year.

Tenders closed this month on the first rating sale in the Clutha district since 2011, but there is no indication a sale has been made.

The kettle drum rolled, then the crack of percussionist Rob Craigie's ''thunder'' saw the pupils of Rosebank School jump back in their seats and sit to attention for a 40-minute concert of classical music.

The business part of the ''Battle for our Birds'' took just over three hours at the Catlins Maclennan Forest on Sunday.

A tractor fire in West Otago this month marked the beginning of a new era in a fire-fighting family dynasty.

Balclutha's Joan Hasler got a first-hand look at Cambodia's poverty and its slums last month.

A $1.5m government programme is aimed at convert more than 200 commercial boilers in Southland from coal to woodchip waste from the region's logging industry.

The murder of 18-year-old Michael Hutchings in Kaitangata is one of the memories Sergeant Craig Dinnissen will take with him as he contemplated his last day on the job yesterday in his hometown of Balclutha, before leaving for a new position in Dunedin.

Dead and dying willows on the shores of Lake Waihola are signs of progress in the battle to improve the quality of the lake. Hamish MacLean reports on the struggle, which is being led by the local community.

Clutha Mayor Bryan Cadogan's youth employment initiative is so effective at getting young people into work, the Ready, Steady, Work scheme has expanded beyond the district's border.

The Clutha District Council has dumped 26 projects worth $686,856 - approved in its annual plan - into its long-term plan.

Legislation dating back to 1968 has tripped up the Clutha Licensing Trust after an Audit New Zealand audit last year found two board members had a potential conflict of interest.

Three South Otago families who lost men in action in World War 1 and are represented on Balclutha's War Memorial feature in a new exhibition at the South Otago Museum in Balclutha, writes Hamish MacLean.

Rural doctors receiving training for some minor specialist procedures could help the Southern District Health Board achieve its goal of getting more services for less cost, Clutha Health First chief executive Ray Anton says.

It is a family affair.