Hamish MacLean

Oamaru police are asking neighbours at Awamoa Park to be vigilant after would-be thieves broke into - and tried to start and steal - two cars at Oamaru's unofficial car sale yard at the weekend.

Recreational bag limits for blue cod are some of the most liberal in the country off the Dunedin and North Otago coasts — and they could be about to drop.

The Waitaki River is not ‘‘lost’’, the president of a community-based volunteer organisation trying to enhance the salmon fishery in the river says.

Two Waitaki projects awarded $223,000 from the Government’s now closed regional and mid-sized tourism facilities fund may not meet the deadline for using the money.

People were turned away at the door at the Oamaru Opera House last night after a large crowd crammed into the old town hall for a Waitaki meet-the-candidates evening.

With costs set to double, the Waitaki District Council should consider replacing rather than restoring Oamaru's Craig Fountain, a councillor says.

Dozens of workers were evacuated from Alliance Group's Pukeuri meat plant after a fire broke out this morning.

The plan in place to reshape care at Oamaru Hospital is flawed from its lack of input by doctors, senior doctors' union executive director Ian Powell says.

Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher says he wants to look at ways for locals to have "as much access as can be permitted" to the Oamaru breakwater and the beach at Oamaru Harbour.

Waitaki District Council staff are increasingly being abused by the public, the council says.

Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher called for the Waitaki District Council to scrap its annual residents survey, after resident satisfaction dropped in more than half of the survey’s categories.

The Waitaki District Council’s property debt has been nearly cut in half over the past three years, council documents show.

Waitaki residents are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the district’s rural roads, the Waitaki District Council’s annual resident survey shows.

Year 5 girls start their race at the North Otago Primary and Intermediate Schools Cross-country in Oamaru yesterday.

Hundreds more wallabies will meet their end next month as the Department of Conservation continues a mass cull of the pests in the Hakataramea Valley.

She can still fit in her Land Rover, but if Abby Hayes (9), of Reidston, tries to put her feet down, her knees bump up against the steering wheel.