John Lewis

You might think driving a truck in the Special Rigs for Special Kids event year after year would become a bit repetitive.

One thing Ailsa Carroll is now sure of: she has what it takes to become an astronaut.

Dunedin barrister Trevor Shiels has become the city's first lawyer in about 15 years to be appointed Queen's Counsel, following a Silk ceremony in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday.

Three Otago Boys' High School pupils say they feel like ''sitting ducks'' as they wait to hear if they have made it to the final six bands in the New Zealand Smokefreerockquest.

School reunions are traditionally an opportunity to catch up with old school cobbers.

A class of Bayfield High School food and nutrition pupils were wide-eyed and a little bit teary from all the sliced onions as they got cooking tips from television Masterchef Brett McGregor this week.

The swell of anticipation and excitement is growing for a former Dunedin man as the start of his world record attempt to become the oldest and fastest man to sail around the world solo draws closer.

The Otago Boys' High School 150th reunion this weekend will be one of the largest functions the city will host this year, a Dunedin event management company says.

An integrated Dunedin school battling the Ministry of Education to have its roll cap increased, has gone ahead and built a fourth classroom in the hope the ministry will approve the increase later this year.

Taieri Gorge train wheels will keep on turning, following the refurbishment of a piece of machinery formerly owned by Hillside Engineering Workshops.

Andersons Bay School pupils and staff have opened a new chapter in the school's 153-year history with the official opening of a multifaceted learning centre.

Heading to Italy just to play ''a decent game of squash'' might seem an excessively long way to go for some, but for Kay Baldock and Helen Brownlie it will also be a chance to ''right some wrongs''.

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has called for the Government's controversial Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Bill to be thrown out.

War can scar a man's psyche for life, but nothing could prepare witnesses for the battle between Alf's Imperial Army and the dark forces of Kaos on Saturday.

More than one in three New Zealand secondary schools are not providing a curriculum that prepares their pupils for life after school, an Education Review Office (ERO) investigation has found.

Hundreds of people turned out in the Octagon today to protest extensions to the powers of the Government's spy agency.

A former inner-city Dunedin school has become an ''absolute disaster area'' with used syringes lying on the premises and people dossing down in school buildings, neighbouring residents say.

It seems cars with smashed windows or vehicles moved from their parks into the middle of the street are becoming common sights in Dunedin's City Rise.

The Ministry of Education has chalked up more than $14 million from the sale of 53 former schools across the country in the past decade - and at least another 35 are still awaiting disposal or sale.

A request for public consultation on the future of the Esplanade at St Clair is to be made to the Dunedin City Council, following a public meeting at the St Clair Surf Life Saving Club last night.