Stories by Tim Brown

Former doctor Venod Skantha has been sentenced to at least 19 years behind bars for the murder of 16-year-old Amber-Rose Rush.

The issue of what to do with 10,000 tonnes of aluminium dross stored in Mataura is causing a quandary for authorities, but just as vexing is how it came to be there.

Southland Charity Hospital now has a home after being given a tavern operated by the local licensing trust.

It's too early to count the cost of last week's flooding, but it'll be significant with the repairs to Milford Road alone costing millions of dollars to fix, authorities say.

The small Otago community of Middlemarch is gutted after a vital tourist train route was cut from the town.

The Otago Daily Times is reviewing Garrick Tremain's future with the publication and will not publish any of his cartoons until the review is complete. Audio

Dunedin teenager Amber-Rose Rush was stabbed to death in her bed in February last year. Almost 22 months on, a jury has convicted her one-time friend Venod Skantha of her murder.

Amber-Rose Rush's sister sounded warnings about her friendship with her accused killer in the months before she died.

Dunedin students say the flat party culture has grown in response to Otago University acting as the fun police and clamping down on student pubs and bars. Video

Property values have levelled off but there are high rental costs, low-wage workers resorting to sharing beds and issues for neighbouring Central Otago.

Residents of a former Queenstown camping ground may be homeless after being evicted to make way for a billion-dollar development.

Staff say that they felt humiliated, intimidated and that there were unsafe work practices and theft at Te Whare Pounamu Dunedin Women's Refuge.

Dunedin police have sent a warning to the city's motorists after a series of concerning drink driving incidents over the weekend.

About 90 people have handed in firearms at the first buyback in the Southern district - an area where 10 percent of the population are firearms owners.

The police are flouting the rules on breath testing, carrying out tests in people's homes to catch them out sometimes up to two hours after they were last seen driving, a Dunedin lawyer says.

Dunedin has not given up the fight to claim the world's steepest street again, even though the title has been officially stripped from Baldwin Street by Guinness World Records.

The committee charged with reviewing policy and strategy for Queenstown Lakes' infrastructure hasn't met in almost a year, despite strain due to rapid growth in development and visitor numbers.

The health minister has given his clearest indication yet that a national cancer agency may not be part of the government's plans for overhauling cancer care.

Dunedin residents want permanent protection for Foulden Maar, which was under threat of being mined until the company planning to do so went into receivership.

Plaman Resources, the company behind a controversial mineral mine in inland Otago, has been placed into voluntary receivership. Audio

A Southland father with terminal bowel cancer hopes to trigger a citizens-initiated referendum to reform cancer care in New Zealand.

Crusaders coach Scott Robertson is starting the players at the centre of allegations of impropriety against the Blues at the weekend.

An Otago Regional Council move to allow Ngāi Tahu to hand pick two candidates to sit on its policy committee has been called racist by councillor Michael Laws.

A protest is planned after a second video of assaults involving pupils from Southland school was circulated on social media. Audio

Farmers in Otago's Clutha district are struggling with ongoing dry conditions, prompting calls for a drought.