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

The Nebraska Country Music Foundation hosted its 2008 "Keepin' it Country" Festival last month in Hastings.

Hastings St. Cecilia coach Carl Tesmer wasn't searching for excuses following Monday's Class C-1 playoff quarterfinal against Pierce.

But he was trying to find some answers.

The No. 1-rated Bluehawks committed seven turnovers at Hastings College's Lloyd Wilson Field, and the final one led to Pierce getting the lone score for a 7-0 win.

From the Thanksgiving story to making beaded necklaces to playing a shell counting game, there was something for everyone to learn at the Hastings Museum's "Our Native Friends" preschool playday Saturday.
 

 A 19-year-old man has been charged with three felonies for an early morning accident that killed a Hastings man.

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.

The Crossroads Center Rescue Mission in Hastings used to rely on two cyclical factors that led to more residents: heat and cold. Now to those it has to add one more: the economy. 

One Hastings man was killed and another was arrested for motor vehicle homicide and drunken driving in an accident in Hastings early Friday morning.

One Hastings man was killed and another was arrested for motor vehicle homicide and drunken driving in an accident in Hastings early this morning.

A Nebraska State Patrol investigator said on Thursday that the daughter of the Adams County treasurer admitted sending a false sales tax form to Texas officials on her parents' behalf.

Public fluoridation was a big loser Tuesday not only in Grand Island but across Central Nebraska. Every other Central Nebraska town that had the issue on the ballot -- Aurora, Broken Bow, Central City, Hastings, Ord, Ravenna, St. Paul, Shelton, Stromsburg and Wood River -- voted to opt out of the state's fluoride requirement.

Three challengers ousted incumbent Central Nebraska mayors in Tuesday's elections, with two taking the reins of city governments in turmoil. Voters in Hastings, Burwell and Wood River all approved the turnover.

Dennis Utter, a retired Hastings banker, won a tight race Tuesday to represent District 33 in the state Legislature. With all of the district's votes but provisional ballots counted, Utter led, 7,383 to 6,791, over Chuck Shoemaker.

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

Winners have been announced in the 57th annual Melody Round-up Parade that was Oct. 18 in downtown Hastings.

The tax evasion case against the daughter of the Adams County treasurer will go ahead with a preliminary hearing in Adams County Court in December.

Little cowboys and cowgirls, Jedi knights, cats, princesses, dinosaurs, pirates and pandas all filled Hastings Museum on Saturday night for the Halloween Boo-seum Spooktacular.

Hastings St. Cecilia cross country coach Chris Cooney sometimes feels like she has a pretty easy job.

Her boys cross country team has a way of coaching itself.

"They read and figure things out," Cooney said. "They're a very bright bunch of kids. They want to try this and try that. They really coach themselves in that they try to figure out what to do to make themselves better."

If the Bluehawks get much better, they just might bring a Class C championship home from the state cross country meet Friday at the Kearney Country Club. Last year St. Cecilia finished second behind Norfolk Catholic. Five of the Bluehawks runners ran at state a year ago.

A Hastings man was injured and a duplex was heavily damaged in a fire that started in a kitchen Tuesday evening.

Patrol dogs trained to sniff out drugs hit on several vehicles parked at Hastings High School during a search there Tuesday.