Plans are being unveiled for a national veterans cemetery to be built just south of Omaha that would offer plots to veterans in both Nebraska and Iowa. Will Ackerman, a spokesman for the Department of Veterans Affairs, says the cemetery would be large enough to initially accommodate more than 55-hundred graves.

Ackerman says, “This is good news for veterans because the VA is very interested in providing not only health care and other benefits when they’re alive but also honoring them through the national cemetery when they have passed away.” There is already an Iowa Veterans Cemetery located just south of Interstate 80 in Dallas County which opened in 2008. Ackerman says that facility near Van Meter is state-owned while the new facility near Omaha would be federally-owned and operated.

“The site is a 230-acre parcel in Sarpy County,” Ackerman says. “The only other national VA cemetery is at Fort McPherson here in Nebraska. This is different from the state cemeteries. These are national VA cemeteries by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.” A meeting is planned to discuss the new cemetery tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1 P-M at the Homewood Suites in downtown Omaha.

(Radio Iowa)

Montgomery County Emergency Manager Brian Hamman says members of the Midwest Regional Dive Team were called to assist Poweshiek County authorities at Lake Ponderosa for a recovery of a man that fell through the ice Saturday evening. The dive team left this (Monday) morning.

The unidentified man was riding an all-terrain vehicle on Lake Ponderosa when ice broke and he fell into the lake.  Divers and searchers have unsuccessfully tried to locate the man since he went into the icy water on the northeast side of the lake located near Montezuma around 6 p.m. Saturday. A search went on until about 2 a.m. Sunday when it was called off because equipment kept freezing. The search continued Sunday afternoon but ended just after 6 p.m.

Efforts to find the man were suspended indefinitely because it became too dangerous for divers.   Montezuma Fire Chief Chris Widmer says divers, plunging into 37-degree water, were unable to find the man whose name is expected to be released later today (Monday).

(Updated 8:20-a.m.) — A house that was completely engulfed in flames early this (Monday) morning southeast of Massena is a total loss, but no one was injured.  Massena Fire Chief Brad Lank told KJAN News a man who was the lone occupant of a home at 70082 760th Street, got out safely and went to a neighbor’s home down the road to call for help.

Photo courtesy Cass Co. Emergency Mgmt. Coordinator Mike Kennon,

The fire was reported at 6:06-a.m.  Crews from Massena, Anita, Cumberland and Corning responded to the scene.

Lank says the home was out of propane for heating so an electric space heater was being used, and the device was the apparent cause of the blaze.

Crews were still on the scene at 8-a.m. conducting “mop up” activities, and were expected to remain there for about another hour.