David Bruce

Oamaru will be part of a simultaneous nationwide protest tomorrow over the 25c an hour increase in the minimum wage.

An art auction at St Kevins College is the first to benefit from a new scheme in the Waitaki district aimed at encouraging people to look at their waste as a resource.

A new report on land at Forrester Heights on Cape Wanbrow has given clearance for the infrastructure the Waitaki District Council needs to build for a 27-section subdivision.

Traffic on State Highway 82 is being disrupted for up to an hour as contractors carry out maintenance work on the 129-year-old twin bridges across the Waitaki River at Kurow.

A new group plans to boost the cycling opportunities around Oamaru, reviving the old BMX track in Mill Rd as a multipurpose facility to link with an extensive network of tracks.

The Environment Canterbury hearings process to decide on crucial water for 16 new dairy farms in the Omarama and Ohau areas will continue, despite the Government calling in effluent resource consent applications and handing them to a board of inquiry to consider.

A dog owner is objecting to having it classified as dangerous by the Waitaki District Council after it "nipped" an Oamaru woman.

The political spotlight on Omarama and Ohau is becoming intense as controversy rages over plans for 16 dairy farms with up to 17,850 cows in the two areas.

Millions of dollars have already been poured into properties in the Omarama-Ohau areas which two development companies want to turn into nine dairy farms housing up to 10,850 cows.

A medical team with equipment and supplies funded from Oamaru and its surrounding district could be operating in earthquake-devastated Haiti by the beginning of May, if $120,000 can be raised by then.

The single-lane twin bridges at Kurow across the Waitaki River will be replaced by two-lane structures, after a change of heart by the New Zealand Transport Agency.

Cabinet has asked for further consultation with affected parties before considering whether to call in resource consent applications for 16 new dairy farms proposed in the Omarama and Ohau areas.

The $45 million Dunedin Centre and Dunedin Town Hall projects have been rejigged and delayed by a year as Dunedin city councillors try to contain the size of this year's rates increase.