John Lewis

Things most people would take for granted are counted as major improvements in Shania Hutton's world.

Dunedin police and a Balclutha transport company are shocked at the stupidity of two people who tried to hitch a ride by standing on the rear bumper bar of a truck bound for Timaru.

For the past four years, Pamela Brown has been so wrapped up in her master of fine arts studies at Otago Polytechnic, she decided to swathe her house in wallpaper - inside and outside.

During tough fiscal times, New Zealand schools appear to be refining their budgets by hiring increasing numbers of teachers on short-term contracts.

There were nods of understanding from some parents, and some moments of epiphany for others, when leading international educator Joseph Driessen gave tips for parenting teenagers.

A planned upgrade of Carisbrook School continues to be delayed as the Ministry of Education urgently considers how to squeeze a significantly higher number of pupils than was originally anticipated on to the site.

An abundance of sunshine has helped Otago's commercial accommodation providers beat a nationwide slump in visitor numbers, recording their best January occupancy rate since statistics began in 1996.

With energy to burn, about 500 preschoolers celebrated Playcentre Awareness Week in ways only preschoolers can - by eating non-toxic paint, mashing modelling dough into their clothes, and collecting grass stains as they chased each other around the fields.

Several seminars about research into treatment for neurological diseases marked the start of International Brain Week at the University of Otago St David Lecture Theatre Complex on Saturday.

A five-year-old East Taieri boy was taken to Dunedin hospital by ambulance today following an accident in the south-bound lane of the Southern Motorway near Burnside.

A World War 2 pilot from West Otago is one of 11 New Zealand servicemen buried at Benghazi War Cemetery, Libya, whose gravestones were desecrated at the weekend by what appears to be an Islamist militia group.

Otago children with autism and their families have received a major financial boost this week from the late screen legend and lifelong philanthropist Paul Newman's foundation.

Sixteen Taieri College pupils will take a walk on the wild side later this year in a four-week educational expedition to Botswana and Namibia.

A Dunedin conservation organisation laid down its shovels yesterday - just long enough to let the dirt dry - to receive one of the top Keep Dunedin Beautiful awards.

The Ministry of Education intervened in the operations of seven schools in Otago last year, for issues ranging from employment disputes and board of trustees management, to financial concerns.