Rebecca Fox

History was made at the Otago Regional Council compliance committee meeting yesterday, when a substitute chairman had to be elected, after the two councillors who usually led it did not attend.

They were the "silent army'' keeping the home fires burning, while the men fought for their lives and their country in foreign lands.

Trudging along in the great outdoors in ill-fitting clothes will soon be a thing of the past, says a Dunedin designer who is releasing a new clothing line for the female hunter.

A lot more fishers could be tying up for good if the Kotuku tragedy results in more compliance costs for an already embattled small fishing fleet, Port Chalmers Fishermen's Co-op Society president Neil McDonald says.

Hundreds of shocked workers walked away from Fisher and Paykel Appliances Mosgiel yesterday morning to contemplate their futures.

Tonight's the night for sports personalities-turned-ballroom dancers Monty Betham and Temepara George, but Dunedin experts say it is too hard to pick who will win the final of Dancing With The Stars.

Dunedin nature writer Neville Peat is looking to lobby the Government for the chance to make Otago Peninsula New Zealand's first Unesco biosphere reserve.

The sunny weather continued in Dunedin in March, with the city again receiving well above its usual sunshine hours for the month.

Various water issues dominated the second Dunedin City Council annual plan consultation meeting, with more than an hour passing before a question was asked about its support of the Awatea St stadium.

Disruption on Dunedin Passenger Transport bus routes may continue "off and on'' during the next few months as the company struggles with a continued lack of drivers, in addition to sickness and extra leave, it says.

Otago has received $182,905 for four projects in the latest round of national biodiversity funding, with the bulk of it going to the Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust.

The chance for new information highlighting the special nature of the Nevis River to be presented at a tribunal hearing is being welcomed by Fish and Game Otago.

It will be another three months before the Otago Regional Council makes its final decision on its funding contribution to the planned Awatea St stadium, and the public will get a say first.