Inpatient surgical services - appear to have ended permanently at Balclutha Hospital, after a decision at the weekend to abandon plans for a community-owned service.
A heavily- swollen Lake Wakatipu, after threatening to flood for much of the day, began to flow into Queenstown about 10pm yesterday.
April 24, Oamaru: Farmers are planning a $7.6 million irrigation scheme using Waitaki River water to irrigate about 3300 hectares of the North Otago downlands.
July 29, Wellington: Parliament last night voted to lower the legal drinking age from 20 years to 18 but has moved to tighten exemptions so those under age will not be able to buy alcohol under any circumstances.
Parliament erupted in cheers last night as a landmark law to decriminalise prostitution passed by a single vote.
The single biggest residential and commercial development in the history of the Queenstown-Lakes district has been recommended for approval by a council hearings committee.
Nobody owns the foreshore and seabed and nobody ever will, the Government says.
United States President George W. Bush unleashed a war to topple Saddam Hussein yesterday with dawn air strikes on Baghdad, but the Iraqi leader responded defiantly, denouncing the "criminal Bush" and firing missiles at Kuwait.
Meridian Energy's Project Aqua power scheme is dead, killed off in a shock announcement by the company yesterday.
Precious little was left for Hollywood's stars at yesterday's Academy Awards ceremony, as the New Zealand-made The Return Of The King scooped an astonishing 11 Oscars.
FEB 8: Flash flooding which ripped through Dunedin last evening left retailers and emergency services mopping up through the night. The damage bill is expected to climb into the millions of dollars.
JUL 21: Firefighters were expecting to work through the night to control the central Dunedin fire which destroyed one building, threatened three others and left five firemen nursing burns yesterday.
FEB 2: The decision to dump Dunedin-based list MP Katherine Rich from her welfare portfolio has divided the National Party. Party leader Don Brash announced yesterday he was moving Mrs Rich from No 4 to No 10 on the caucus list - leaving an all-male line-up on National's front bench - after her refusal to endorse aspects of the welfare policies he outlined in a speech in Orewa last Tuesday.
SEP 27: The Carisbrook Stadium Trust is forging ahead with its plans to build a multimillion-dollar stadium in Dunedin, undeterred by recent criticism.
NOV 30: Cadbury Confectionery yesterday announced a $20 million manufacturing investment at its Dunedin plant, with strong hints more could be in store. Access to fresh milk from around the region is a key element of the decision, which will mean a 200% increase in production of Cadbury's "chocolate crumb" ingredient.
AUG 24: Dunedin is awash with the party drug ecstasy, which is readily available in city bars, police say.
Icebergs make their way up the Otago coast. The icebergs are about 90km south-southeast of Dunedin and travelling north-northeast at a speed of about 2kmh.
The severe winter cold snap gripping the South is freezing homes across the lakes district, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage and the worst may yet be to come.
David Bain last night celebrated with friends and supporters at an upmarket resort after he was granted bail in the High Court in Christchurch yesterday afternoon.
Dunedin South MP David Benson-Pope, who yesterday was forced to resign from Cabinet, will have to wait until after the 2008 election before he has any chance of returning to the top table.
