Garston Hops, a family-owned hop-growing business operating near the southern limits of what's commercially viable on the planet, took the top prize at the 2026 DHL Export Southland Gala Dinner on Friday night. More than 200 exporters, businesses and supporters gathered at Ascot Park Hotel for the biennial

Invercargill Airport has named a new runway take-off point after Burt Munro — and the fit is hard to argue with. MUNRO became operational on Thursday, giving pilots the option to depart from an inset point on Runway 04 without backtracking the full length of the strip. It cuts the taxi

Southern Institute of Technology has signed new partnership agreements with three Chinese universities after its CEO joined a government-led education delegation to China in late July. Bharat Guha was part of an 11-institute polytechnic delegation that visited Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou from July 26 to 31, travelling alongside Tertiary Education

Career firefighters in the south continue to strike twice a week, and today marks the 60th time they will stand on the street corner in Invercargill. But there's been a new change of guard in the Southern branch of the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) with Brent

The resource consent for the Datagrid Hyperscale Data Centre at Makarewa will not be reviewed. An independent hearing commissioner made that call on September 4, rejecting a request from the Southland Sustainable Resources Coalition to scrutinise the consent conditions under section 128 of the Resource Management Act. SSRC's

Environment Southland is using emergency powers to mechanically open Waituna Lagoon to the sea, after water levels stayed dangerously high for weeks. The lagoon has sat above 2.3 metres for the past five days and above 2.2 metres since late July. That sustained high water is hitting nearby

The Invercargill Transfer Station's outgoing weighbridge is being replaced, and for the next month, getting to the tip will take a little longer than usual. Work begins Thursday September 10 and is expected to run for about a month. The weighbridge — more than 30 years old and well

An Invercargill MyLotto ticket is among the winners from Wednesday night's Lotto draw, with the holder in line for $14,093 after matching Second Division. Draw 2617, held Wednesday September 2, produced three First Division winners of $333,333 each. Those tickets were sold at Fresh Choice Te