DENVER (KDVR) — The largest regional park in Arapahoe County is reopening Monday following a massive remodel that took more than a year.

Dove Valley Regional Park underwent an $18 million makeover that began in March 2023. On Monday at noon, the park will reopen.

According to the Arapahoe County Government, the 35-year-old park has doubled in size and now occupies over 90 acres.

“Upgrading the facilities and amenities in our parks will help more people spend time outdoors, stay active, and build stronger relationships with their neighbors,” said District 2 Commissioner Jessica Campbell. “By investing in our parks, we are investing in the future of our county and a healthy quality of life for our residents.”   

If you head to the new and improved park on Monday, here is what you can expect:

• Upgraded athletic fields 
• New roadway access and parking lot 
• Walking trails 
• New 165-car parking lot 
• Large playground for ages 2-12  
• New off-leash dog park 
• Outdoor fitness equipment station with stair climb overlook 
• Shade pavilion with picnic shelters 
• Sledding hill for winter months
• Refurbished restroom facilities 

Arapahoe County also said the park will have a bike park and pump track, which are expected to open later this summer.

The $18 million makeover was funded by the Arapahoe County Open Space Sales and Use Tax, which the county said helps fund and improve services in the area.

The Dove Valley Regional Park is located at 7900 S. Potomac Street Road in Centennial and is right next to the Denver Broncos training camp facility and the Centennial Airport.

The Seattle Seahawks are hoping to escape the mediocre tier in the NFL for the upcoming season.

The past two years have led to 9-8 records, which have seen the Seahawks teetering on the line of playoff team and just outside the postseason. That’s a dangerous place to be in the NFL as Seattle has failed to experience playoff success while also being unable to start over.

That’s why Bleacher Report writer Alex Ballentine suggests that the Seahawks should consider tanking in the upcoming season.

“If going 9-8 and flirting with the playoffs was a good bar for Seattle, they likely wouldn’t have made the choice to move on from Pete Carroll as head coach,” Ballentine writes. “However, making the move to sign Mike Macdonald opens the door for the Seahawks to lean into tanking toward a high draft pick in 2025. The Niners have a strong grip on the NFC West right now. But the Seahawks could ostensibly make a run at a wildcard spot and hope that Sam Howell can be the quarterback of the future. Instead, trading an aging player like Tyler Lockett in the middle of the season might a tanking move worth considering to increase their draft investment and potentially get a new quarterback prospect in 2025.”

The Seahawks are far from the San Francisco 49ers, but they are also far from the Arizona Cardinals in their current setup. Seattle has a chance to be a very good team in the upcoming season, but likely not a Super Bowl contender. That’s why they can choose to make a move or two that will allow them to select players (and potentially a long-term solution at quarterback) that can get them closer to putting themselves in that conversation.

Sometimes, the way to move forwards is to move backwards, and it certainly makes some sense for Seattle to do that. However, the Seahawks believe they have a playoff team already in the building, so they would be silly to hit the reset button right now. They should give coach Macdonald a chance to establish himself before putting him in a position to fail.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that he expects the upcoming NATO summit to provide specific steps to strengthen his country’s air defenses against Russia, hours after a Russian missile attack killed at least 31 people and wounded 154 others in various locations, including a children’s hospital in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy met with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw to discuss further support for Ukraine from NATO, as well as signing a bilateral cooperation and defense document.

“We would like to see greater resolve in our partners and hear resolute responses to these attacks,” Zelenskyy told a joint news conference, stressing that Ukraine will take its own retaliatory steps.

“I can see a possibility for our partners to use their air defense systems in a way to hit .. the missiles that are carrying out attacks on our country,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy stopped in Warsaw en route to a NATO summit, which begins Tuesday in Washington, marking the Western defense alliance’s 75th anniversary. Leaders are expected to discuss ways of providing reliable long-term security aid and military training for Ukraine more than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

At the start of the news conference with Tusk, Zelenskyy asked those gathered to observe a moment of silence for the victims of Monday’s airstrikes.

Tusk offered every available form of help for the children evacuated from the bombed hospital.

The two leaders signed a cooperation and defense agreement that spells out Poland’s continued support for Ukraine in defense, especially air defense, energy security for Ukraine, and Poland’s participation in reconstruction.

A legion of Ukrainian volunteers currently abroad will be trained in Poland with the aim of joining the defense effort on Ukraine’s soil, Zelenskyy said.

Poland will be represented at the NATO summit by President Andrzej Duda, who was scheduled to meet with Zelenskyy later Monday. Poland is among the staunchest supporters of Ukraine and has offered around $4 billion in military equipment, training and other items for defense. It is also offering humanitarian, political and economic support.

An initiative likely to be endorsed at the three-day summit is NATO taking more responsibility for coordinating training, and military and financial assistance for Ukraine’s forces, instead of the U.S. Europeans also are talking about giving Ukrainians a greater presence within NATO bodies, though there’s no consensus yet on Ukraine joining the alliance.

Tusk said that Poland will “continue to advocate among our allies that this path for Ukraine to reach the EU and NATO membership should be as fast as possible.”