Shawn McAvinue

A sea survival programme kept afloat by government funding is helping to save lives in Dunedin.

At the Volunteering Otago School Holiday Programme at Otago SPCA in Dunedin yesterday are Bayfield High School pupils (from left) Kara Hill (15), holding Border collie cross Basil, and JJ Thompson (15), holding Staffordshire bull terrier cross Willow.

Several Southerners have been named semifinalists in categories of the New Zealander of the Year awards.

Motorcycle mechanic Iain Kelly, of Dunedin, with the handbuilt trike he sold on New Year's Eve following successful surgery on a herniated disc in his back.

A new year dawned yesterday and resolutions were made.

Newlyweds Stan and Debi Dysart (49) glide down the dinosaur slide at Dunedin's Marlow Park on New Year's Eve.

A banished dog has been granted a reprieve to stay with his family in a Mosgiel state house.

Staff embroiled in a pay dispute at Anglican Family Care will return to work today after they were suspended without pay.

A criminal investigation has been launched after the death of a man at a Christmas party.

The power outage of about 470 homes in Leith Valley in Dunedin is expected to be restored by 8.30pm, Delta spokesman Gary Johnson said.

The Seacliff asylum patients in a mass unmarked Dunedin grave need to be remembered, the man who discovered the burial site said.

Burning sun pushed the mercury to nearly 30degC at the Boxing Day races at Wingatui Racecourse yesterday.

A waka submerged in a locked wooden tank at the Otakou marae in Dunedin continues to reveal the past to archaeologists.

A mother and daughter gardening partnership has contributed to the Olveston Historic Home being awarded garden of national significance status.

The cruise ship Dawn Princess docked in Dunedin yesterday, passengers and crew celebrating Christmas on foreign soil.

The Digital Writers' Festival organisers want emerging Dunedin writers to pitch ideas for a live 20-minute literary tour of their city.

A Dunedin book has made the ''must reads of 2014'' of one of the world's biggest eReader companies.

For strength and spring, the girls beat the boys in Dunedin yesterday but the insects beat them all.