IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Some Iowa City elementary students are urging the school district to recognize Muslim holidays, and board members say they’re willing to consider the request. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports several students proposed the idea at a school board meeting last week. They suggested the district schedule days off for the Muslim holidays of Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha.

Fifth-grader Reem Kirja says she wants other students to know both holidays are times for families to get together, similar to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Board member Ruthina Malone says the board can explore the feasibility of accommodating major holidays celebrated by Jewish and Muslim students.

The board has time to decide, as neither Eid Al-Fitr nor Eid Al-Adha fall on a school day until the 2020-2021 school year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Roman Catholic bishop of the Des Moines Diocese has turned 75 and submitted his required resignation to Pope Francis. Bishop Richard Pates, who took the post in 2008, announced his intended retirement in the diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Mirror. He says “the past 10 years in the Des Moines Diocese have flown by.”

It’s unclear when the Vatican will announce Pates’ successor. The diocese serves people in 23 counties in Iowa’s southwestern quadrant.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a male body was found inside a car after Sioux City firefighters extinguished a fire that blackened it. The fire was reported about 5:45 p.m. Sunday inside a car parked outside a residence. The person’s name hasn’t been released. An autopsy has been scheduled.

Police and fire officials are investigating the blaze and the person’s death.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Jonathan Narcisse, who ran twice for Iowa governor and who fought for social justice, has died at the age of 54. His mother, Gaynelle Narcisse, says he died Saturday evening at a Des Moines hospital after a heart attack. Narcisse was a member of the Des Moines school board, 2007-09, and ran for governor in 2010 and 2014 as the Iowa Party candidate.

He was editor-in-chief of the Iowa Bystander, a Des Moines-based newspaper founded in 1894, and publisher of two statewide Latino publications. He also ran The Communicator, a central Iowa weekly that Narcisse helped reorganize into a publication about good news in Iowa. Narcisse was inducted into the Iowa African American Hall of Fame in 2009.

State Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad says the loss of Narcisse will “create a serious void in Iowa.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden officials are looking for Des Moines’ help to protect the garden’s valuable indoor collection of exotic plants. The officials say the facility’s 39-year-old heating and cooling system barely functions and needs replacing. The nonprofit wants the city to cover half the $3 million cost to replace the HVAC system, although the lease agreement says the city is not responsible for maintenance.

Des Moines City Manager Scott Sanders told The Des Moines Register that it might be in the city’s interest to work with the nonprofit. He says that if the nonprofit has to raise contributions for the full $3 million, that could harm the garden’s programming. He says turning the property back over to the city would be worse.