The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System has announced road closures beginning Monday, April 2nd, on the Omaha VA Medical Center campus. The closures are designed to accommodate the construction site for the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC).

The road closures impact Nimitz Drive, the road that connects Woolworth Avenue to the hospital’s main entrance and parking lots, and Puller Drive, the road that connects Center Street to the main entrance. The closure will be permanent as the new ACC building will connect to the existing hospital. The hospital and outpatient clinics may be accessed by the Woolworth Avenue entrance.

The loading dock, physician parking lot, Building 9 and Building 8 will continue to be accessed from Center Street. In addition to the road closure, a section of parking lot 2 (located northeast of the main hospital entrance) will be closed. Lot 2 will be relabeled to provide Veterans with the closest available parking on campus. Shuttle service will continue from the parking lots to the main entrance.

Additional Veteran, visitor and employee parking has been secured at a University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) owned lot approximately one mile away from the VA. Shuttle Service will be provided from this lot to the medical center.

While the impact should be minimal, Veterans, visitors and employees are encouraged to consider how the road closures and parking changes will affect their transportation to the medical center beginning April 2.

A special meeting of the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors will take place 5:30-p.m. Monday (April 2nd), in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall. Action items and/or New Business on their agenda include:

• A Public hearing on the plans, specifications and form of contract, for projects
• Action on a Resolution approving the plans, specifications and form of contract.
• Review construction bids.
• Resolutions making an award of contract.

Four people have been arrested so far this Easter weekend, in Montgomery County. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports at around 4:35-a.m. today (Sunday), 57-year old Richard Louis Charles, of Clarinda, was arrested at the intersection of Highway 34 and Evergreen Avenue. Charles was taken into custody on a Pottawattamie County Bench Warrant for Theft in the 1st Degree. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $10,000 bond.

At around 9:15-p.m. Saturday, Montgomery County Deputies arrested 49-year old Michael Sean Colebank, and 49-year old Christina Ann Slauter, both of Red Oak. Both were taken into custody in the 2400 block of N. 8th Street, in Red Oak, and charged with Domestic Abuse Assault. Colebank and Slauter were being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

And, at around 8:45-p.m., Saturday, Red Oak Police were called to the 300 block of E. Market Street, following a reported domestic assault. Upon investigation, Officers arrested 25-year old Dustin James Danick, of Red Oak, for aggravated Domestic Abuse Assault by impeding air or blood flow. He also faces a charge of Interference with Official Acts, after allegedly obstructing the Officers’ investigation. Danick was being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond, pending an appearance before the magistrate.

Deputies with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office early this (Sunday) morning, investigated a suspicious vehicle in the 1700 Block of Willow Avenue. At around 3:35-a.m., and upon further investigation, five juveniles were cited into juvenile court for being a Minor In Possession of Alcohol. Their names were not released because of their age.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

CRESTON, Iowa (AP) — A memorial service has been held for an Iowa couple and their children who died at a Mexican resort. The service was held Saturday afternoon in the gymnasium at Southwestern Community College in Creston for 41-year-old Kevin Sharp and his wife, 38-year-old Amy Sharp, and their children, 12-year-old Sterling and 7-year-old Adrianna. A Mexican prosecutor says a gas leak in a water heater is suspected of killing them inside their rented condominium in Tulum. Their bodies were found March 23.

ELDON, Iowa (AP) — Renewed attention on actress Roseanne Barr following the return of her TV show has led some to wonder what happened to a massive abandoned house she was building in Iowa with former husband Tom Arnold. The Des Moines Register reports that the half-finished mansion has sat crumbing since construction was halted on the luxury country estate near Eldon amid the couple’s divorce proceedings in 1994. The property manager says the mansion was too expensive to tear down.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines are investigating the death of a 71-year-old woman whose body was found in her home on the north side of the city. Police say officers were called Friday afternoon to the home for a report of a death, which police have deemed suspicious. Police have not released the woman’s name or how she died, saying detectives are awaiting results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A painting found in the dusty attic of Des Moines’ historic Hoyt Sherman Place has turned out to be a big deal. Television station KCCI reports that the painting, “Apollo and Venus” by late 16th Century and early 17th Century Belgium painter Otto van Veen, is believed to be worth millions of dollars. Someone found the 400-year-old painting about two years ago while looking for Civil War flags.

The Atlantic Easter Egg Hunt was held on Saturday at the Atlantic City Park hosted by the Atlantic Rising organization.

Despite the chilly and breezy weather, hundreds gathered for the event and tracked down 15,000 eggs.

A collision between a car and an SUV Saturday, in northeast Iowa’s Delaware County, has claimed the life of a teenage driver, and resulted in injuries to a woman and a child. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2011 Ford Focus driven by 16-year old Mackenzie McArthur, of Asbury, was traveling south on 300th Avenue at around 10:25-a.m., when the vehicle crossed the center line of the road, and struck a northbound 2006 Pontiac Torrent head-on.

The driver of the SUV, 31-year old Kendra Klein, of Dyersville, and her one-year old daughter Willow, were injured in the crash. Both were transported by ambulance to Finley Hospital, in Dubuque. McArthur died from her injuries at the scene. All parties in the crash were wearing their seat belts.

The accident remains under investigation.

CRESTON, Iowa (AP) — A memorial service has been held for an Iowa couple and their children who died at a Mexican resort. The service was held Saturday afternoon in the gymnasium at Southwestern Community College in Creston for 41-year-old Kevin Sharp and his wife, 38-year-old Amy Sharp, and their children, 12-year-old Sterling and 7-year-old Adrianna. The burial was closed to the public.

A Mexican prosecutor says a gas leak in a water heater is suspected of killing them inside their rented condominium in Tulum. Their bodies were found March 23.
The family was reported missing by relatives about a week after they left for vacation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in Des Moines are investigating the death of a 71-year-old woman whose body was found in her home on the north side of the city. Police say officers were called Friday afternoon to the home for a report of a death, which police have deemed suspicious.

Police have not released the woman’s name or how she died, saying detectives are awaiting results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Police say the woman’s car was missing from her home when police arrived, but that it was later found elsewhere.

ELDON, Iowa (AP) — Renewed attention on actress Roseanne Barr following the return of her television show has led some to wonder what happened to an abandoned 28,000-square-foot house she was building in southeast Iowa with former husband Tom Arnold.

The half-finished mansion has sat crumbling since construction was halted amid the couple’s divorce proceedings in 1994, just a year after Arnold and Barr began building the luxury country estate near Eldon, the Des Moines Register reported . Barr and Arnold, an Iowa native, donated the 1,338-acre property to the Indian Hills Community College Foundation, which sold it to MJW Hawkeye LLC.

The mansion was too expensive to tear down, said Darrell Limkeman, the manager of the property through Mid States Farm Management Co. “Not much left of it but a big pile of concrete. The walls have crumbled down,” Limkeman said. “They built that 2-acre pond back there. Roseanne wanted it heated to swim in, so there is a lot of wiring going back there.”

Several other structures remain on the property, including six homes that are rented. One building that at one point was set to be the guard shack is now a home owned by a local resident, he said. Though the site is difficult to get to because it’s surrounded by pasture lands with no finished roads, more than 400 people attended a tour of the property five years ago. Limkeman said some of the visitors were disappointed to see ruins instead of a completed mansion.

An estimated 18.4 million people tuned in to see the debut of ABC’s reboot of “Roseanne” on Tuesday, more than two decades after the original series ended its hit run.