Tracey Roxburgh

More than 150 customers have signed up to use a ground-breaking Dunedin-based hospitality industry business tool and, with two major investors backing the project, its future looks bright.

Four new schools may be opened in Queenstown by 2017, with backers of an independent school in the resort announcing Jacks Point as its preferred location and a potential opening date in 2015.

Departing Lakes Environmental chief executive Hamish Dobbie says his decision to leave the position he has held since 2007 has been ''an evolving process in my mind''.

An announcement on the preferred site an independent school in Queenstown is imminent, following a meeting with the land owners in the resort last week.

The Queenstown postal worker who stole thousands of pieces of mail from Wakatipu residents has been sentenced to 17 months in jail.

New surveillance equipment will be installed at SkyCity's Queenstown and Auckland casinos which will allow Auckland surveillance staff to remotely access Queenstown surveillance cameras, now that it has received permission from the Gambling Commission.

Arrotown's Dorothy Brown's Cinema will host the second annual 2013 Alliance Francaise French Film Festival next month.

A ''historical moment'' is about to occur in New Zealand's wine industry following consultation this week between Central Otago winemakers and the Austrian Riedel Glass Company, which aimed to produce a wine glass specifically for Central Otago pinot noir.

The entire Lakes Leisure board resigned yesterday after finding themselves in an ''untenable position''.

After raising $800,000, two Queenstown businessmen have officially launched their film equipment accessory Genie, which they say will revolutionise motion-controlled time-lapse photography.