Rebecca Fox

A lack of economic analysis featuring in the thinking of Otago Regional Council staff is being questioned by its new chief executive.

The battle to keep Fiordland didymo-free has been lost.

The stretch of the Water of Leith in front of the University of Otago's registry building looks set to get a multimillion-dollar makeover this summer.

Just how useful pre-election reports by councils will be at ''stimulating debate'' before October's local body elections is questionable, Andy Asquith of Massey University, says.

For the past five years, Prof Colin Campbell-Hunt has been sharing the life of his late wife through the words of her unfinished PhD research.

A decision to grant Port Otago consent to deposit dredged material near nationally protected surf breaks is likely to be challenged in the Environment Court by disappointed surfers.

Author and former Otago regional councillor Neville Peat intends to stand for the Dunedin City Council in the October local body elections.

It will take 100% collaboration and 200% commitment for New Zealand to reach Generation Zero's goal of zero carbon pollution, University of Otago Centre for Sustainability director Dr Janet Stephenson says.

The chance to take part in the New Zealand's Got Talent drew hundreds of people to queue in the Octagon, despite wintry weather yesterday.

Some Taieri farmers are facing a major clean-up job after last month's floods.

Water conservation orders have escaped the knife under the Government's freshwater reforms, to the relief of Fish and Game Otago and the disappointment of the Otago Regional Council.

Southern rail freight transport has been disrupted as damage caused by waterlogged soils is only just being discovered along Dunedin's rail corridor.

The disappearance of 25% of Otago's unique small fish in the past decade means trying to save those remaining is ''finger-in-the-dyke stuff'', the Department of Conservation warns.

Setting pay rates for a council that has yet to be elected is a bit ''strange'', Otago regional councillor Doug Brown says.

Coastal Otago may have flooded, but it was Central Otago which recorded its wettest June since records began.

A special project team has been set up within the Otago Regional Council to develop its approach to implementing water quality regulation changes.