Shawn McAvinue

Her caring nature has resulted in Dunedin woman Helen Trainor winning the Otago Daily Times ''Why my Mum is the best!'' Mother's Day competition.

A sensitive Middlemarch colt who sold for $3000 is putting silverware on his rider's mantelpiece and is now worth more than $1 million.

The Otago SPCA says the dumping of nine kittens and two cats near a swede stand between Milton and Waihola yesterday was ''disgraceful'', coming just hours before the Government announced a Bill to create enforceable regulations covering the treatment of farm and domestic animals.

Dunedin budgeting service providers say they will apply for the new pool of Government funds announced yesterday.

A Dunedin mother wept in the Octagon yesterday while signing a petition for an immediate ban of synthetic cannabis.

Clothing shop Wolfenden & Russell, which has been trading in South Dunedin for more than 100 years, is to close.

The war on waterfowl was waged in a mix of weather at the weekend.

An Australian woman who has taken nearly three years to circumnavigate the world on a motorcycle has arrived in Mosgiel to house-sit for a month.

A Dunedin commercial boat owner says Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) prosecutes only when a seafarer dies and has ''no teeth'' to deter commercial boat owners from reckless behaviour.

As the grieving family read the Easy Rider inquiry report, a close friend of one of the victims continues to raise funds for a memorial ''to show the lost souls home''.

Gonzo the cockatoo's timing is off and he ''fluffs'' his lines but he has the starring role in a Dunedin play, which opened at the Globe Theatre yesterday.

The year-long renovation of the 5400sq m of floor space in the Donald Reid warehouse in Dunedin is nearly complete.

A Milton woman says she has received an apology from the Inland Revenue Department after claims it ignored her pleas that her name and IRD number were being used fraudulently by a Christchurch business for almost a year.

The Mosgiel son labelled a ''K2 monster'' by his mother has returned home from the Otago Corrections Facility at Milburn and joined her crusade to ban synthetic cannabis.

A buckled leadlight window, upstairs on the platform side of Dunedin Railway Station, will be ''fully restored'', says Leadlights & Lamps owner Kevin Casey.

The ''drab and bland'' entrance to the Athenaeum in the Octagon leads to myriad empty underground spaces ''screaming out'' to be used, tour guide Allan Baddock says.

Otago and Southland television watchers who have procrastinated over ''going digital'' will lose their signal tomorrow.

The synthetic cannabis a Mosgiel man ''ticked up'' and smoked made him a ''monster'', says his mother, who is campaigning for its immediate ban.

A St John ambulance officer treats a patient after a two car collision on Otago Peninsula yesterday.