Otago Regional councillors have asked staff to come up with a range of options which could halt declining bus patronage, although Cr Sam Neill says the move is a "knee-jerk" and "political" reaction to the figures presented.
In the past four months there had been a "hell of a lot" of underspending at the Otago Regional Council, Cr Duncan Butcher said.
Despite a snowstorm and high winds, spring turned out to be warm and dry for most of the region.
Orokonui Ecosanctuary has reached another milestone in its fight against pests - it has finally eradicated the rats and mice.
A family weight problem has been dealt to by three generations of a Dunedin family who have lost more than 53.5kg together.
Dunedin businessman Trevor Kempton spent $16,046.36 to help secure his seat on the Otago Regional Council.
Average maximum temperatures were 2degC to 4degC warmer throughout Otago last month, but Dunedin still came in the coldest of New Zealand's main centres.
Losing a chip to a red-billed gull might be frustrating, but you need to look at it as a contribution towards saving a nationally vulnerable species.
A group of school pupils and their teacher discovered dead trout floating in Kaikorai Valley Stream yesterday.
They are keeping up their air of mystery but the kiwi at Orokonui Ecosanctuary are believed to be settling in well.
Otago's latest winter air quality report card shows the region's most polluted towns are still exceeding national standards, although some are showing a steady reduction over time.
New water-take measurement and reporting regulations should be seen as an "opportunity" rather than an impediment by Otago's mining privilege holders, Otago Regional Council resource management director Selva Selvarajah says.
An initiative to prevent some of the 2.5 million litres of antifreeze that come into New Zealand being tipped down drains and running into waterways has begun in Dunedin.
Their request for a trial bus service between Karitane and Evansdale has been declined but Liz Abbott and Rudie Verhoef are not giving up.
Otago Regional Council chief executive Graeme Martin has received a salary increase of $10,960, but that could go up once fringe benefit tax and GST is accounted for.
A "gigantic waste of taxpayers' money", which will not benefit Otago, is how Otago Regional Councillor Duncan Butcher described the Land and Water Forum report on long-term strategies for managing freshwater in New Zealand.
An attempt to save a punctured royal albatross egg at the Taiaroa Head colony by patching it with antiseptic cream, tape and glue has failed.
Otago Regional Council chief executive Graeme Martin is threatening to advise the council to withdraw its support for the Government's proposed dam safety regulations because the "current liability is totally unacceptable".
A compromise has been reached allowing the Moeraki mataitai to be approved, albeit with different boundaries, 10 years after it was first proposed, but commercial paua divers still have concerns about its potential impact on the Otago paua fishery.
A rare chance to see wetlands usually inaccessible to the general public is to be provided by the Lake Waipori-Waihola Wetlands Society.
