Vaughan Elder

A new transtasman rivalry was brewing in Dunedin at the weekend.

Political party ads have been hammered into roadsides. It must be election year. But what are they trying to say? Vaughan Elder asks political researcher Ashley Murchison which messages work - and which do not.

The Green Party is under fire for supporting binge drinking after challenging Dunedin supporters to beat MP Gareth Hughes at a game of ''beer pong''.

A crackdown on out-of-control drinking in North Dunedin has pushed student parties into the Dunedin Botanic Garden, leaving garden staff to clean up the mess.

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce and Dunedin North MP David Clark are accusing each other of playing fast and loose with numbers over job losses at AgResearch.

Winning a Civil Aviation Authority safety award came as a surprise for Helicopters Otago chief executive Graeme Gale.

The Otago University Students' Association(OUSA) has three new executive members after a mass by-election followed a string of resignations.

Otago Museum is doing well but Dunedin residents are suffering because almost all government cash for museums goes to the North Island.

Ian Chirnside is one of New Zealand's oldest men and thought to be both the oldest surviving University of Otago graduate and earliest surviving staff member. Tertiary education reporter Vaughan Elder takes a look at some of changes Mr Chirnside has seen.

A pair of Hollywood heavyweights could be coming to Dunedin after a location scout from an American film production company was seen in Seacliff at the weekend.

Tertiary Education Minster Steven Joyce has rejected a call for the Government to stump up with extra cash to fund the University of Otago's $650 million building programme.

People looking for Dunedin International Airport are no longer being led astray by Apple.

A volunteer fair at the University of Otago yesterday was a ''raging success'' and showed increasing interest in volunteering among Dunedin students, organisers say.

University of Otago staff are being asked to find ways to do ''more with less'' as the institution expects tight times to continue.

AgResearch's expectation it will employ about 40 fewer scientists in 2015 than it did at the end of last year has added to concerns.

Architectural designer Reece Warnock did not expect to be living in a campervan for 18 months when he took on a project to build a family home around a 19th-century Outram smithy.