No newspaper for Dec. 29 News-Dispatch readers will not see a Dec. 29 issue the last week of the year. The News-Dispatch publishes 51 issues per year and our staff takes the 52nd week of the year to spend with family and loved ones. Hays County holiday closures and tree recycling Hays County offices...

Negley Elementary students got the chance to interact with a 30-year-old tortoise, a bomb-sniffing dog and even take in a helicopter fly-in during the 2016 Negley Outdoor Expo Friday. Negley coach Pete Welma was the driving force behind the event, which included multiple organizations and department...

The Hays High Marine JROTC varsity Marksmanship team earned top honors after earning the top ranking as the best Marine Corps Marksmanship team in Texas. Hays High’s team was also ranked as No. 4 team in the nation. The news came after the team was celebrating a first place overall title at the Bren...

Christmas cheer was in the air as the Buda Elementary School Choir performed its program of seasonal songs to the Sodalis Elderly Care Center. Director Deborah Martinez led her choir members through a selection of seasonal songs.  Sodalis residents, parents and family members applauded with every so...

Hays Education Foundation board members toured Hays CISD campuses last week bearing gifts of Innovative Teaching Grants and multiple minigrants. Recent record-breaking community support allowed the Foundation to award more than $75,000 in needed funds for a total of 49 projects. The board, right, ga...

(photo by Jim Cullen) Twenty-six Buda Elementary School students battled it out in the 2016 BES Spelling Bee. But it wasn’t until the 15th round when fifth grader Zoe Contreras edged out third grader Amari Peterson for the school championship. Contreras won the title by spelling “precursor” and “inf...

(photo by Jim Cullen) Drama was high at the Elm Grove Elementary School spelling bee as Eagle third grader Cooper Yanta claimed the title of spelling bee champion. Yanta closed out the title by correctly spelling “ravine” and “rendition.” Yanta will continue his journey by appearing at the upcoming ...

he establishment of a new Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post in the city of Buda is in motion as Bob Holcomb, a local veteran and member of the Kyle/Buda VFW Post 12058, seeks to expand the presence of the nonprofit veterans organization. Holcomb has been a member of the VFW for over 11 years, but ...

hen the final ballot is counted and the last precinct’s votes come in, some assume the job of an elections administrator is finished. Hays County Elections Administrator and Voter Registrar Joyce Cowan, who has held the position for the last 31 years, said that’s far from the truth.   When the calen...

illy the Kid rode into Fort Sumner, New Mexico with five fellow fugitives on the night of Dec. 19, 1880, but sensing danger in the darkness, the most wanted outlaw in the Southwest pulled up leaving a young Texan in the lead. If his parents had not perished in a smallpox epidemic soon after emigrati...