DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Flowers and decorations left on graves in several Des Moines city cemeteries must be picked up by the end of the month, or be thrown out by city workers. Des Moines Parks and Recreation staff will begin removing memorial decorations placed on gravesites in municipal cemeteries on March 1. Cemetery visitors have until Wednesday to collect any decorations they’d like to keep.

Items cemetery staff will remove and discard include vigil lights, statues, floral decorations, fences, boxes, toys, vases, glass, wood signs, cement blocks, and similar articles. Workers will complete the clearing by March 16. Afterward, the public will again be allowed to place decorations on gravesites, which may remain until the next municipal cemetery cleanup, scheduled to begin the week of July 2.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — County supervisors in western Iowa have renewed a ban on guns in the courthouse after a dispute over allowing weapons in parts of the building where court services aren’t held.

The Sioux City Journal reports that Woodbury County Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday against permitting guns in non-court controlled spaces of the courthouse.

Supervisor Jeremy Taylor switched positions after being a chief supporter of allowing guns in the courthouse. Taylor says it’s “impractical” to bring guns into portions of courthouse floors, while restricting them on others above and below.

The issue has been widely debated by county supervisors and residents since the expanded gun rights bill took effect in July. It’s also been the subject of two orders by the Iowa Supreme Court.

The new gun law expands Iowa’s stand-your-ground provision.

Icy roads contributed to an injury accident Saturday morning near Minden, in Pottawattamie County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 23-year old William James Andrew Sidzyik, of Council Bluffs, was transported to Myrtue Memorial Hospital in Harlan, after he lost control and crashed the 2001 Oldsmobile Alero he was driving.

The accident happened at around 8:30-a.m., on Interstate 80 westbound, near the Minden exit. The Patrol says Sidzyik’s car went out of control on the ice covered road and entered the gore between I-80 and the westbound on-ramp from Minden. The vehicle continued over the on-ramp and struck two linear posts before coming to rest in the north ditch.

Sidzyik, who had been wearing his seat belt, complained of pain and was transported by private vehicle to the hospital, where he was located by the State Patrol during the accident investigation.

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.