Rebecca Ryan

An increase in targeted animal control patrols is reducing dog attacks in the Waitaki District, regulatory services manager Lichelle Guyan says.

Artisan Oamaru cheesemaker Whitestone Cheese won big at the New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards this week, winning the Champion Sheep Cheese category for its Monte Cristo sheep milk cheese.

Tourism Waitaki's new satellite office in Palmerston will provide an opportunity to directly promote growth and development of the southeastern area of the Waitaki district, general manager Jason Gaskill says.

Motorists on State Highway 1 between Palmerston and Oamaru should allow extra travel time from next week as work starts to strengthen and widen the Kakaho Creek Bridge north of Hampden.

A ''heartbroken'' family is mourning the loss of 5-year-old Ruby Jay Marris after a car crash involving a foreign driver near Moeraki.

Drought hit South Canterbury and North Otago farmers left their stresses at the door of the Kurow Hotel yesterday afternoon as they were treated to an afternoon of free entertainment, food and beer.

A cluster of large scrub fires stretching for kilometres south of Oamaru saw firefighters scramble yesterday afternoon.

An investigation has been launched into what caused a steam train to start 21 fires spread over 12km south of Oamaru, Dunedin Railways operations manager Grant Craig has confirmed.

''We will get through - it will rain one day.''

The smooth and powerful sounds of jazz music will fill the streets of Oamaru next weekend when the third annual Harbour St Jazz Festival hits town.

Oamaru District Court hearings will move back to the Oamaru Opera House while work to fix air quality issues at the Humber St prefabricated facility continues.

With a twinkle in her eye, Averil Omnet says she certainly never thought she would live to be 100 years old.

Oamaru rower Johannah Kearney last night won the supreme award at the 2014 Network Waitaki Sports Awards.

On January 4, 1964, Alan Bayliss and his wife Bev moved to Otematata.

The memories were flowing in Otematata over the weekend during the 50th anniversary of the commissioning of the Benmore Dam.

A major fundraising campaign for Waimate's new multimillion-dollar indoor stadium complex has begun.

The Otago Rural Fire Authority has appointed Kerry O'Neill as its new deputy principal rural fire officer for the Waitaki district.

Ryan Moore has been drawing on the decks of his skateboards since he was a teenager.

Two pairs of female St Kevin's College pupils showed the boys how it was done at the 2015 TeenAg Aorangi Regional Final in Oamaru recently.