The Hastings Police Department celebrated the promotion of Jason Haase to Captain and Nathan Hanson to Sergeant Thursday afternoon, June 1. 

Friends, family and co-workers, and City of Hastings Administration members shared this joint celebration.

Captain Haase has provided 14 years of service to the Hastings Police Department and the Hastings community. Captain Haase has been a…

Hastings’ first responders are once again turning the need for blood donations into a friendly competition.

Hastings Fire and Rescue and Hastings Police Department will be competing in the fifth-annual Battle of the Badges Blood Drive on Friday, June 9. 

The 2022 Hastings Competition was won by the Hastings Police Department. 

“I want to thank everyone that supports the Battle…

Administrative and finance offices for the City of Hastings are scheduled to begin moving on Tuesday, June 6 from the City Hall building at 220 N. Hastings Ave. into the Landmark Center at 2727 W. Second St.

Services for the two departments will be limited during the move, which is scheduled to occur between Tuesday and Friday. 

The City of Hastings entered into an agreement April…

The City of Hastings held the first meeting of its Lake Hastings Citizen Engagement Group Thursday afternoon, June 1 in the Hastings Utilities board room at North Denver Station, 1228 N. Denver Ave. 

Ten members participated in person and one by phone.

The Citizen Engagement Group is an offshoot of the Lake Hastings Water Quality public meeting held on April 6. Citizen Engagement…

The City of Hastings is pursuing a strategic plan, which is the ongoing organizational process of using available knowledge to document an organization's intended direction. 

This process is used to prioritize efforts, effectively allocate resources, align shareholders and employees on the organization’s goals, and ensure those goals are backed by data and sound reasoning. The strategic…

Lake Hastings Water Quality Public Meeting
April 6, 2023, 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Parks & Recreation Community Center
2015 W 3rd Street, Hastings, NE 68901

- Project representatives in attendance: Tara Ogren (City of Hastings), Kristen Ohnoutka (JEO), Bryce Helms (City of Hastings), Alex Engel (Nebraska Game and Parks), Upper Big Blue NRD, Little Blue NRD
- The meeting…

Chad Bunger will start on Monday, June 5 as the Development Services Director for the City of Hastings.

Bunger has served as director of community and economic development for the town of Bennett, Colorado since July 2022.

Bunger previously spent 15 years with the city of Manhattan, Kansas — first for 6 ½ years as a planner, then for four years as a senior planner, and eventually…

Hastings Municipal Airport will be one of the intermediate stops as part of the 46th Air Race Classic, the annual all-women cross-country airplane race.

Forty-two teams, consisting of 100 women pilots from across the United States and around the world, will take off at 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 20 from Grand Forks International Airport, Grand Forks, North Dakota, for a 2,684-statute mile competition…

The next Hastings City Councilmember town hall meeting will take place 7-8:30 p.m., Thursday June 29 at Hastings College's Barrett Alumni Center, 1001 N. Sixth Ave. 

This town hall meeting will include Fourth Ward representatives Matt Fong and Shawn Hartmann.

The town hall meeting was organized by the City of Hastings and Hastings Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Fourth Ward…

Hastings Public Library kicks off the 2023 Summer Reading Program with a Community Block Party. The theme of the 2023 Summer Reading Program is "All Together Now" with a focus on practicing kindness, celebrating community, and promoting inclusivity.

The Community Block Party will be 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 27 at the Hastings Public Library, 314 N. Denver Ave. 

The Community…

The City of Hastings offices will be closed on Monday, May 29, in observance of Memorial Day.

Front desk services will be unavailable at the Hastings Police Department, Hastings Fire and Rescue, Hastings Public Library, City Hall, Hastings Utilities, Parks and Recreation Department and the Solid Waste Landfill. 911 and utility emergency services will remain available.

The Hastings…

Streets in Hastings will see hundreds of runners, and access will be limited at several intersections along routes, during the Half Hastings races on Saturday, June 3. 

The Half Hastings races include a half marathon, half marathon relay, 5k and 1-mile fun run. 

The half marathon and relay both start at 7:30 a.m. at Hastings Middle School and go east through town, ending at Hastings…

Larry Fox started Monday, May 15 in the city’s newly created Assistant Director of Finance position.

The Assistant Director of Finance position was created to lead the Hastings Utilities accounting team and an ongoing major software conversion as the city continues the implementation of its Enterprise Resource Planning modules. The ERP implementation began in fall 2017.

ERP Modules…

The Hastings community celebrated its inclusive playground on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 16.

The Hastings Community Foundation and the City of Hastings Parks & Recreation Department organized a ribbon cutting for the Crosier Park playground at 13th Street and Pine Avenue. 

The playground provides a sensory-rich environment that enables children of all abilities to engage physically…

Crews from Looks Great Services, a contractor from Columbia, Mississippi will begin tree-trimming efforts in Hastings on Monday, May 15. 

There are two areas to be addressed in this project.

Area 1 is a backward L-shaped space in east Hastings. The west boundary is Denver Avenue south of First Street to Seventh Street. The north boundary is Seventh Street between Denver and Elm avenues,…

Ben Engel Construction will close Hastings Avenue from South Street to First Street beginning Monday May 15 for the start of the Quiet Zone projects. The street will be closed to pedestrians and traffic, temporary warning signs will be placed for traffic control.

The project includes temporary closing the BNSF railroad crossing for the reconstruction of Hastings Avenue for new concrete pavement,…

Jacob Fisher Rainbow Fountain is now in operation for the summer season. 

The fountain was initially turned on Monday, May 8 for testing. The traditional season for operation begins Mother’s Day weekend and concludes when temperatures get colder, usually in early October.

The iconic lighted fountain stands near Hastings Utilities headquarters at 12th Street and Denver Avenue.

Work…

Beginning May 7, Werner Construction will be removing and replacing pavement on Westlawn Avenue, Crane Avenue, Barnes Avenue and Chestnut Avenue intersections with new concrete pavement along 7th Street.

Werner Construction plans to start work first at Westlawn and Barnes Avenues intersections and then at a later day, remove and replace Crane and Chestnut Avenues intersections.

Work…

Construction is scheduled to begin this month on the first railroad crossing included in the city’s BNSF Railway quiet crossing project.

The Hastings Avenue crossing will be the first to see work. Ben Engel Construction of Hastings was awarded the contract for the Hastings Avenue crossing as well as the Pine Avenue crossing. 

The work is scheduled to begin in May, but the actual…

The Hastings Museum now has a familiar greeter outside the building at 1330 N. Burlington Ave.

A crew from Icon Poly Studio of Gibbon delivered and set up the 6-foot Kool-Aid Man statue on Saturday, April 29, 2023.  

Kool-Aid Man’s exterior is made from urethane fiberglass. The interior includes a heavy duty polyurethane foam in the legs and urethane wooden armature inside the structure…