A Balclutha man who stabbed a sheep to death told the farmer he did it because he was hungry.

A knife-wielding man who paraded around in public with his shirt off, challenging people to fight him, has been jailed for nearly two years.

The Minister for Primary Industries has approved a customary fishing reserve in Otago Harbour following an eight-year consultation and proposal process.

The Dunedin City Council faces a potentially protracted legal battle as New Zealand's supermarket giants join forces to fight the city's local alcohol policy.

A Lord of the Rings sightseeing flight crashed, killing the pilot, after he flew low to clear livestock from the airstrip.

A group of students went out for a dive in Otago Harbour yesterday and came back with a whale of a tale.

An international student has avoided conviction for starting a nuisance fire, despite admitting lighting the blaze.

A 33-year-old psychology student has admitted leaving a trail of destruction following a drunken wild ride through Mornington last month.

A former North Otago star rugby player charged in a fatal crash in Hakataramea Valley Rd, near Kurow, in May last year has pleaded guilty to all charges.

Four Queenstown men are lucky to be alive after their kayaks overturned and they were swept out to sea off the Otago coast.

Police were called to reports of disorder following a large student party in the Dunedin Botanic Garden yesterday.

Nine ducklings survived a deadly dash across a motorway yesterday afternoon. Their mother wasn't so lucky.

A judge has labelled an Arrowtown road rage incident as an "appalling piece of behaviour" while a couple was assaulted while their kids were in the car.

Elisabeth Easther finds a small South Island town that rocks and regularly dances.

A quick-thinking fast-food worker extinguished a bus fire in Dunedin.

On an insider tour of Dunedin's hidden treasures, Eleanor Ainge Roy discovers the other Edinburgh deserves a second glance.

COMMENT: I think we have a winner for Lawyer of the Year. The award goes to the wizard who side-stepped jail time for Nikolas Delegat.

The sentence given to Nikolas Delegat for assaulting a policewoman has been widely condemned.

The rich-lister's son who punched a female police officer unconscious has today apologised for his "bad decision in the heat of the moment".

The female police officer punched in the face by the son of a rich-lister who escaped a jail sentence is still being helped by colleagues on her road back to work, 18 months after the attack.

Parts of the country are experiencing balmy summer-like temperatures as the mercury soared above 20C at lunchtime today.

A Dunedin mother fears for her daughter's safety after she was knocked unconscious by the same teenager in two assaults in as many months.

An ambulance officer is being treated for moderate injuries after an ambulance hit ice and slid off the road on the Southern Motorway near Dunedin tonight.

The 15-year hospital food service contract with the Compass Group had to be renegotiated because so few DHBs had joined, it has emerged.

Mount Aspiring College's principal says the school will try to continue with business as usual.

Two 13-year-old schoolgirls 'had a scrap'' at McDonald's Restaurant in George St yesterday afternoon, police said.

The Arrowtown couple left homeless after their rental property went up in smoke on Friday have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Wakatipu.

A Mt Aspiring College pupil is being treated for meningococcal disease in Dunedin Hospital.

A mourning family is preparing for the possibility the man who pleaded guilty to causing a crash which killed Dunedin man Riley Baker may never serve prison time.

Up to three dead cows have mysteriously washed up on a Dunedin beach this weekend.