The continuing obstinacy of courts, police and government is thankfully no match for the determination of Joe Karam, writes Sir Bob Jones.

Flying debris and trees and branches falling across roads could make it unsafe to be outside if predicted severe northwest gales hit Otago and Southland today.

Since the death of celebrity sheep Shrek in June 2011, a Queenstown taxidermist has been inundated with inquiries into the status of his most high-profile "client".

A truck driver was trapped in his vehicle when it crashed on Lindis Pass early this morning, blocking the major Otago highway for several hours.

Otago's Courtney Duncan is still beating up the boys, even though she reckons she's "not up to speed yet".

An Alexandra rest home resident who loved sweets choked to death on one of his favourites, Turkish Delight, the Alexandra Coroners Court heard.

Shedding staff cost the Dunedin City Council more than $600,000 in the last year, and more than half the money went to two senior managers.

An accounts manager who stole nearly $240,000 from the University of Otago was always warning his team to look out for fraud, a court has been told.

A safe containing almost $11,000 in cash has been found in bush in the Catlins - missed by thieves who took passports and jewellery in another compartment.

Herald Online reporter Paul Harper is making his way around the South Island by rail.

Greg McGee is the author of The Open Side, the biography of All Black captain Richie McCaw. He is also a literary gender bender: McGee

K2 is the most toxic and harmful of the synthetic cannabis products he has witnessed in patients, an emergency department specialist says.

A woman has been sentenced to community work and reparation for dishonestly obtaining nearly $2000 from a rest home resident.

Otago police have been visiting retailers selling the synthetic cannabis K2 and asking them to drop the item from their shelves.