Newly created independent media group Newsroom is claiming Prime Minister Bill English paid off one of the staff of Clutha-Southland Member of Parliament Todd Barclay to avoid legal action.

Newsroom cites a text message from English to Clutha-Southland electorate chairman Stuart Davie.

Doctor Ella Lawton appears to have won the seat on the Otago Regional Council left vacant by the death in March of her mother Dr Maggie Lawton.

Preliminary results show Lawton, of Wanaka, leading Gary Kelliher, of Alexandra, by 7184 votes to 5213 votes.

Voting ended at noon today, but votes in transit and special votes are still to be counted.

South Otago Police are investigating burglaries at several businesses in the Milton area which have happened in the past few weeks.

Five burglaries have been reported to Police so far, and all have occurred in the early hours of the morning.

The burglars appear to have taken cigarettes, tools, cash and alcohol.

Otago Polytechnic became "tech heaven" for a group of 40 Dunedin students today.

'ShadowTech Day", at Otago Polytechnic, saw the girls paired with female mentors who are leaders in the IT industry.

The young women spent the day learning about the real-world skills needed to work in Information Technology.

A Dunedin school is set to become a community leader in Chinese language teaching and promoting Chinese culture.

Otago Girls' High School is opening its very own Confucius classroom.

The classroom aims to support and encourage activities related to Chinese language and culture.

Staff at Dunedin's Glenfalloch gardens are frustrated with what they're calling mindless vandalism.

The trust's marketing manager says there is security on site, and the Police are not involved.

Dunedin Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding a suspicious package located in Moray Place on Friday.

Students at Otago Girls' High School enjoyed a welcome study break today by way of four-legged visitors.

A fundraising event was held at the school for the Dunedin SPCA, including a mini-menagerie of cats, dogs and rabbits.

The Midway Dairy in Milton has been broken into for the second time in three weeks.

The owners discovered the break-in at the Union St store on Friday morning.

A police spokeswoman says the owners found someone had tried to gain entry to the store and caused a pipe to burst.

The wall was damaged and pipes were leaking when the break-in was discovered.

Construction of the new multi-million intensive care unit at the Dunedin Hospital has begun.

Over the weekend a golden sledgehammer was used to begin demolition of a wall on the fifth floor of the Hospital.

You've heard of Nadia Lim's My Food Bag - now it's Dunedin's turn.

The Valley Project is offering a more affordable alternative, Kai Share.

The food share service is becoming increasingly popular with nearly 3000 food boxes being distributed for free since it started in 2014.

Presbyterian Support Otago's Octacan event is being held on Thursday June the 22nd from 7.30am.

Some schools in the area have been collecting cans, and today pupils of Bathgate Park School took part in a colourful way.

Artist Trudy Lane stands in front of a projection of the sun at her Urban Dream Brokerage event yesterday.

Six 800kg concrete sheep are being installed by the Dunedin City Council in Jetty Street to stop traffic, with the aim of creating a pedestrian-only zone in the heart of the city.

And the cost: $550,000.

Some of the biggest names in New Zealand art and politics are appearing at Otago Museum this Friday.

The art community is making moth art to send pupils from Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Otepoti to an international academic conference.

Dunedin Police cordoned off parts of Moray Place this afternoon after reports of suspicious package at the Post Shop.

An Otago Peninsula resident is counting his blessings after his yacht was left undamaged when it was swept on to rocks at Broad Bay during Tuesday night's stormy conditions.

High school choirs congregated in Dunedin yesterday to take part in the Otago-South Canterbury regional Big Sing competition at the Dunedin town hall.

A Dunedin school's mural design has taken out the top prize in this year's Keep New Zealand Beautiful Wall Worthy competition.

Those entering the contest presented ideas on enhancing the beauty of local areas through art.

The artist and painters picked up a brush and spoke with Rosel Labone about how the work came together.

Puppies will take over part of the Otago Polytechnic campus on ''puppy love day'' next week.

For the first time ever, the polytechnic is offering dogs to help de-stress students during the tense exam period.