Rebecca Fox

The success of the campaign to keep neurosurgery in Otago and Southland was demonstrated last night with a celebration to welcome Dunedin's new neurosurgeons.

Council support services manager Gerard Collings said construction of the council chamber, which had a tender price of $615,000, was on schedule with the goal of it being completed in April. Wall frames went up this week and the steel work was expected to go in next week.

New Zealand's regional councils have been asked by the Government to set limits to improve water quality. Rebecca Fox looks at the different ways South Island councils are interpreting those directions while Sally Rae talks to farmers about the impact on their businesses.

A family of little shags nesting beside the Dunedin Botanic Garden duck pond have grown to become a small community.

Dunedin may have had its second-hottest January on record but it was still the coolest of the country's main centres.

Dogs are dying and suffering heat stress as people fail to consider their pets' susceptibility to hot weather.

An albatross has died as heat stress and fly strike hit the protected population of northern royal albatrosses at Taiaroa Head on Otago Peninsula.

While the ''H word'' (heat wave) might have been bandied about this week, Otago temperatures are not expected to be record-breaking.

Gem the sea lion was yesterday roaming Dunedin's Chisholm Park Golf Course and nearby coastal areas, apparently in search of her pup.

A hush fell over the crowd at the Otago Taieri A&P Show as a rare native falcon soared over their heads and down into the main ring.

Lindsay Creek ratepayers may face a 72% increase in their flood protection rates in nine years, if work to protect their Northeast Valley, Dunedin, homes and businesses goes ahead.

Hundreds of fillets of fish were auctioned off on Saturday in a first for the Karitane Festival Fishing Competition.

A glamorous 40m super yacht sailed into Dunedin yesterday bringing its two owners and five crew to see the city's sights.

Federated is among the many to speak out against the Otago Regional Council putting funding into the irrigation scheme proposed by Tarras Water Ltd.