By Alison Campsie WITH whisky baron Johnnie Walker as Kilmarnock's most famous citizen and the distillery perhaps its finest landmark, the town has always had a close relationship with drink. But maybe just a little too close.

By GORDON THOMSON HEALTH chiefs today pledged to keep open accident and emergency units at Ayr Hospital and Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock.

A TODDLER struck down by the potentially deadly E-coli bug remains "stable" in hospital today. The four-year-old boy, who has not been named, is being treated at Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock.

By WILLIAM TINNING AN investigation is under way after four people contracted Ecoli O157 in Ayrshire. NHS Ayrshire and Arran said one of those infected was being treated at Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock. The three others have not been admitted to hospital.

By SHAN ROSS A NURSE who gave the wrong treatment to a cancer patient who later died has been allowed to keep her job. Leanne Hogg, 26, wrongly administered drugs into Maureen Frew's bloodstream instead of her stomach when she was a patient at Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock.