DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Ankeny man whose baby died after becoming wedged between a mattress and a wall has pleaded guilty to child endangerment and other counts.

The Des Moines Register reports that 48-year-old Matthew Cohara recently pleaded guilty to child endangerment and possession of marijuana and cocaine in a deal with prosecutors. In exchange, Cohara must attend substance abuse evaluation and treatment and may get deferred judgment.

Police were called to the Ankeny home of Cohara and 33-year-old Michelle Atwell on Aug. 26 after the 7-month-old baby was found not breathing. Police say the baby became wedged between the bed and wall and suffocated after Atwell left her on the bed for hours after breast-feeding her. An autopsy found a cocaine byproduct in the baby’s system.

Atwell has pleaded not guilty to child endangerment causing substantial risk and several drug charges. Her trial is set to begin April 30.

DANVILLE, Iowa (AP) — A county prosecutor has dropped charges against a southeastern Iowa nursing home operator. The Des Moines Register reports that Des Moines County Attorney Amy Beavers dropped the felony dependent adult abuse-exploitation charge against 47-year-old Marc Johnson, Hamilton, Illinois, whose company runs the Danville Care Center in southeast Iowa.

Beavers says if Johnson were prosecuted, the facility might be forced to close, displacing its three-dozen residents. Authorities had said Johnson took about $1,700 from a center resident to buy a television and other items for the facility.

Dean Lerner, who once ran the Iowa agency that inspects nursing homes, was critical of Beavers’ decision, saying that to “leave this man in a position of authority so the business can remain open just seems absurd.”

Johnson’s attorney, Aaron Hamrock, says the care center maintains there were “no improprieties or irregularities” involving resident trust accounts.

More area and State news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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The area’s latest and/or top news stories at 7:06-a.m., w/KJAN News Director Ric Hanson

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A central Iowa woman will be in Washington D-C Monday, to lobby one of the state’s key elected leaders about ending global poverty. Megan Berberich, of Urbandale, is in the nation’s capital representing the ONE campaign and she’ll be meeting with Senator Joni Ernst. “We’re going to be asking her to fully fund the International Affairs budget which makes up only less than 1% of the overall budget,” Berberich says. “Cuts to these programs would be devastating to life-saving programs that have had proposed cuts of up to 30%.”

ONE was co-founded by U-2 singer Bono as a campaigning and advocacy organization with the goal of ending extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Berberich says she wants to shed light on this critical budget issue that’s been largely overlooked.  “It goes to make sure these poverty-fighting programs exist,” Berberich says. “It can go anywhere from making sure vaccines get on the ground to making sure the infrastructure’s okay.”

She says untold numbers of children and families are dying globally from preventable diseases and unimaginable conditions. “Because we have the opportunity to advocate for these people living in extreme poverty who usually don’t have any way to advocate for themselves and advocate for issues and education and health care and all kinds of things like that,” Berberich says, “we have the duty and obligation as Americans and Iowans to do it for them.”

(Radio Iowa)

State tourism officials are offering Iowans and visitors alike a new service — recommendations on the best places to eat statewide. Jessica O’Riley, with the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s tourism office, says it’s all online, with “99 Counties, 99 Restaurants.”

“Travelers like to eat where the locals eat,” O’Riley says, “so we thought we’d make it easier for travelers to find those locations by picking one restaurant in each county that they should try.” O’Riley explains how the 99 eateries were picked for the list.  “We looked at places that served a unique dish or had a unique atmosphere, maybe they’d won an award for the best burger or best tenderloin,” she says. “Also, we travel and find restaurants we enjoy. We also looked to Yelp for some positive reviews there.”

The list of 99 restaurants includes stops in Fairfield, Ogden, Orient, Le Claire and Prairie City.  “It’s a very diverse menu and there should be something for everyone’s tastes,” she says. “We encourage everyone to get out and try a bunch of places.”

Find the complete listing on the web at traveliowa.com/99restaurants.

(Radio Iowa)

A traffic stop early this (Saturday) morning in Ringgold County resulted in the arrest of a Decatur County man on drug charges. The Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office reports deputies conducted a traffic stop in the parking lot of a Casey’s General Store. During the stop, the K9 “Heky” was deployed and alerted on the vehicle. The driver of the car, 32-year old Joshua Jerome Baker, of Leon, was arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. A passenger in the vehicle, 37-year old Travis Eugene Moffitt, of Mt. Ayr, was charged with Possession of Marijuana. Both men were being held without bond in the Ringgold County Jail, until appearing before a magistrate.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the Page County Sheriff’s Office contacted Montgomery County at around 1:47-a.m. today (Saturday), with regard to a car accident that had occurred somewhere between the Page and Montgomery County line. Several agencies were called to search for the accident scene. The overturned vehicle was located at the intersection of 270th Street and D Avenue, in a cornfield. The driver, 26-year old Ethan Ted Schoonover, and his passenger, 22-year old Demi Rae Skidmore, both of Red Oak, were checked by rescue crews for injuries. Schoonover refused transport to the hospital, but Skidmore was transported to the Shenandoah Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries.

Schoonover was subsequently arrested for OWI/1st offense. His intoxication test came out to .160%, twice the legal limit. He was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 cash bond.

Agencies assisting at the accident scene included: Montgomery County Emergency Management, Red Oak Fire and Rescue, Essex Fire and Rescue, and Shenandoah Rescue.

A longtime deputy commissioner of the Iowa Division of Labor, who died just over a year ago, left behind a large gift that will benefit firefighters across the state. The bequest from Walter Johnson came as no surprise to his friend and former co-worker Mary Bryant, who says “Wally” spent 30 years in public service. “And he pretty much dedicated his life to safety for Iowa employees,” Bryant said.

Walter Johnson

A 130-thousand-dollar ($130,000) check was recently delivered to State Fire Marshal Dan Wood. Johnson, in his will, requested the money be directed toward the state’s Fire Service Training Bureau. “At this time, we’re kind of evaluating what we’re going to spend that money on so we spend it the right way, the proper way, and the most effective way…we have nothing specific yet planned,” Wood said.

Wood, a Clarinda native, became the State Fire Marshal late last year. Walter Johnson was a Hopkinton native who graduated from Maquoketa Valley High School in 1965. He died last February at the age of 69 due to kidney failure and other complications.

(Radio Iowa)

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

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has denied an appeal filed by an Iowa farmer-turned-reality television celebrity charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Chris Soules asked the Iowa Supreme Court to dismiss the felony charge before it goes to trial but the court denied his request.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A prominent basketball coach has left his organization amid an Iowa criminal investigation into secret video recordings of nude teenagers. The Iowa Barnstormers of the Amateur Athletic Union announced Thursday that 42-year-old coach Greg Stephen was no longer with the traveling organization, where several prominent basketball players have been on the roster. Court documents show the Division of Criminal Investigation served a search warrant Thursday at Stephen’s home in Monticello

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — The owner of a gun that a 4-year-old boy used to accidentally kill himself in Iowa last year has been sentenced. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa says Daniel Henriksen was sentenced Wednesday to two months in federal prison and three years of supervised release. He had pleaded guilty last year to a federal count of possessing a firearm while being an unlawful user of marijuana.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police have charged a man in the shooting death of another man last year near a Des Moines elementary school. Des Moines police said in a news release Friday that detectives arrested 19-year-old Jahmar Saheim Mustin, of West Des Moines, charging him with first-degree murder and criminal gang participation in the May death of 23-year-old Choice Elliston.