Stories by Ian Telfer

Tempers frayed in Lumsden in Southland last night as 250 locals strongly rejected the closure of the town's birthing centre.

The ride-sharing company which has shaken up passenger transport in more than 600 cities world-wide is launching in Dunedin and Queenstown in May.

The Tiwai aluminium smelter will be paying the greatest share of a $4 million deal to clean up thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste.

Parents around northern Southland are vowing to fight a plan to close a baby birthing centre in Lumsden.

The group set up to get agreement for the first marine reserves on the Otago coast has failed and handed in two different plans, disappointing the fishing industry and environmental lobby.

Dunedin's first iwi-led community health centre is being praised as a pioneering example of Whānau Ora in action.

A defamation trial against Tim Shadbolt has been told he used newspaper columns to smear a political opponent.

A Southland town is fearing for the future of its main street as owners ditch their buildings rather than earthquake-strengthen them.

People feared their homes overnight would be lost as embers from a large fire burned industrial buildings in Dunedin set their backyards alight.

Untreated sewage is beginning to flow into Dunedin's streets as flooding worsens in the city.

Despite toilets and a rule banning vehicles without self-contained plumbing, Lake Hayes is Reserve is being overrun with freedom campers, local say.

The Gore District Council is set to go to court to find out who is responsible for thousands of tonnes of stockpiled waste from the Tiwai aluminium smelter. Audio

A South Island veterinary chain warned for alleged price-fixing says it never meant to be anti-competitive.

The site for a new Dunedin hospital has been narrowed down to the north end of the central city.

Fiordland residents are calling for Te Anau's sewage water to be fully treated before being pumped out around the local airport. Audio

Easter Sunday trading has been approved in Dunedin, in time for an influx of visitors to next year's Ed Sheeran concerts.

Some buses are not showing up and others are breaking down.

Pop star Ed Sheeran has turned up the heat on Dunedin's Easter Trading debate, with fears the city will struggle to host 65,000 extra concert goers if the shops are shut.

A whistle-blower has written to the Commerce Commission alleging the Dunedin's power network is heading towards a major collapse.

A Dunedin refugee advocate is setting up her own support centre for the city's Syrian refugees because she believes not enough is being done to help them.

Support services at Otago University are responding to a major increase in calls for help with mental health after a surge of student suicides.

Repairing thousands of dangerous Otago power poles is making the network even more unsafe, says the whistle-blower who revealed the problem.

Council incompetence is to blame for the loss of a waterfront road to coastal erosion, residents of the Southland town of Colac Bay say. Audio

Southland's council has decided to put off a decision on closing Colac Bay's eroding foreshore road.

Otago University will install two dozen security cameras on Dunedin streets in an effort to curb crime by and against students.