Downtown Christmas Celebrations will kick off Thursday and Friday in Hastings, Grand Island and Aurora.

An Aurora teenager convicted of setting Aurora's historic Fidelity Building on fire was ordered Friday to live in a state-run group home.

Construction of the 113-million-gallon Aurora West ethanol plant has been temporarily suspended until next summer, according to Aventine Renewable Energy.

When Terry Scherff's son was 11 years old, he threatened his 10-year-old sister with a knife. He wanted her Barbie doll, and she wouldn't give it to him. Scherff's other daughter, about 17 at the time, intervened and de-escalated the situation.

It's a confident Aurora team that qualified for its 12th straight Nebraska State Volleyball Tournament.

That confidence comes from playing well late in the season and beating Seward -- a team the Huskies had lost to twice during the season -- in the district final.

One of the two Aurora teenagers convicted of setting Aurora's Fidelity Building on fire was given three and a half years of probation on Monday.

After record October rainfall, area aquifers are charging at a rapid rate, which could spell flooding trouble next year if there's a rainy spring. The Central Platte Natural Resources District is just completing its fall groundwater readings of selected wells across the district. Preliminary results indicate some well readings are near what was recorded last spring.

Qualifying for the state volleyball tournament has become a tradition for the Aurora Huskies, and the 2008 team wasn't about to let their state qualifying streak end.

The Class B No. 7-rated Huskies steamrolled Class B No. 3 Seward 25-14, 25-15, 25-17 Friday night to win the Class B, District 4 championship and return to state for the 12th consecutive year.

Volleyball is a physically intimidating sport, but it can also be mentally intimidating. The Aurora Huskies (22-9) gave Columbus (9-25) a lesson in both Thursday night with a 25-18, 25-13, 25-21 straight-set victory over the Discoverers in opening round play in the Class B, District 4 tournament.

A prime reason why harvest this season is running behind is a rainy October.

Class B No. 7-rated Aurora swept its matches at the Holdrege triangular on Thursday.

The ice storm that blanketed Aurora in January 2007 cut electricity to the care center, transferring the burden to one generator, which only powered one of the home's four wings. On Wednesday, the manor received two generators purchased used from Omaha.

More evaluation was ordered Tuesday for one of the two Aurora teenagers convicted in juvenile court of intentionally setting fires that destroyed Aurora's historic Fidelity Building.

Two separate traffic stops over the weekend led to the arrest of two men and the seizure of 75 pounds of marijuana.

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Department is investigating a traffic accident involving a vehicle and girls on horseback.

Several young adults from Central Nebraska were honored during the Ak-Sar-Ben Coronation Ball, titled "Jewels of the Heartland," on Oct. 11 in Omaha.

A couple of bad innings was all it took to end the season for Aurora's softball team.

The Huskies, who were making their first state tournament appearance since 2003, opened the Class B state tournament at the Smith Softball Complex with a 6-2 loss to Omaha Skutt.

That pushed the Huskies into the loser's bracket where they fell 7-2 to Omaha Gross to finish the season 23-9.

The Aurora softball team aimed to still be playing this week.

"Our No. 1 goal was to qualify for state," coach Lisa Kosek said.

Now that the Huskies are a part of the Class B state tournament field, a big challenge awaits them in the first round Thursday at Hastings' Smith Softball Complex.

Aurora (23-7) faces No. 2-rated Omaha Skutt (20-4) at 3 p.m.

Talk of a day care shortage in Aurora has been running through town for years, but for Aurora Child Care's board of directors, it all comes down to one question. If a new industry came to town, could Aurora provide its work force with sufficient child care?

Freeze warnings were out Tuesday morning for Central Nebraska following a weekend where area rainfall was nearly 2 inches at some locations.