COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The Pottawattamie County attorney says an investigation has found a Council Bluffs police officer was justified in shooting a suspect.

County Attorney Matt Wilber joined with other law enforcement officials Friday to announce officer Trevor Benson’s actions in the Feb. 1 shooting were justified.

Benson shot 21-year-old Daton Petrey, of Omaha, during an early morning altercation.

Police say Petrey refused to tell Benson his name or get out of his car. When Benson opened Petrey’s door to try to remove him, Petrey put the car in reverse, dragging the officer about 40 feet.

Benson fired two shot, hitting Petrey in the chest. He’s expected to be released soon from an Omaha hospital.

Benson wasn’t hurt.

Authorities say Petrey will face parole violation charges in Nebraska and then will be tried on Iowa charges.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Longtime Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner has announced he will run for a seventh term.

Wagner announced his re-election bid in a news release earlier this week.

Wagner, who has led the sheriff’s office for 23 years, says he would continue to emphasize law enforcement professionalism, technology enhancement and public service if elected to another term.

No one else has announced they plan to run for the sheriff’s position. People can file for county offices until March 1.

Wagner, a Republican, is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, past president of the Nebraska Chapter of the FBI National Academy Associates and past president of the Nebraska Sheriffs’ Association.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium in Omaha has a panda on display — but not the black-and-white animal from China.

The zoo has a red panda on display ahead of completion of the zoo’s new home for the animals — set to open in the spring — in it Asian Highlands exhibit.

Zoo officials say the 2-year-old red panda named Tofu arrived from the Detroit Zoo in January. Tofu will eventually be joined by another female and a breeding male.

The Omaha zoo first acquired red pandas in 1987, then phased out the species in 1997.

Despite the name, red pandas aren’t related to giant pandas. Red pandas are close relatives to raccoons, skunks and weasels and are the size of a small raccoon.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A school district board in eastern Nebraska has voted to eliminate middle school French and German language classes.

Millard Public Schools board also voted to change middle school schedules to consist of seven periods a day instead of eight for the 2018-19 school year, the Omaha World-Herald reported . The changes will save the district about $1 million.

The changes are part of an overhaul spurred by stagnant test scores, officials said. Fewer class periods mean teachers will have more instructional time in core academic subjects, which officials hope will boost student success on assessments, officials said.

Student proficiency levels on state math, reading and science assessments have been “inconsistent and do not show a pattern of growth,” according to a report on the proposal.

The decisions were largely based on instructional time and not finances, said Board President Mike Pate.

Some students and parents say these were the types of cuts voters had hoped to avoid when they approved an increase to the district’s taxing authority in November.

“I feel betrayed as a taxpayer,” said Pam Hoover, a retired Millard South German teacher who supported the increase.

The district is trying to use restraint with its additional taxing authority, said board member Dave Anderson.

But members of the public said cutting languages diminishes the quality of the district.

Alli Lueders, 17, told the board that languages help expand her world view. Lueders is president of the German Club at Millard West High School.

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world,” she said.

Language courses will still be offered at the high school level. Spanish language courses will also be available in sixth, seventh and eighth grades because more students request to take Spanish courses, officials said.

SEWARD, Neb. (AP) — Southeastern Nebraska officials say two Detroit men have been arrested after officers found hashish in their vehicle during a traffic stop.

The vehicle was stopped Thursday afternoon in Seward County on suspicion of changing lanes without signaling. The Seward County Sheriff’s Office says deputies searched the vehicle and found 367 hashish wax containers, 134 cartridges of hashish oil, 20 grams of mushrooms and 38 candy bars laced with THC, the psychoactive substance found in marijuana. Deputies say they also seized 8 ounces of liquid THC, less than 1 ounce of marijuana and cash believed tied to the purchase or sale of illegal drugs.

Authorities estimated the street value of the drugs at $25,000.

The 24-year-old driver and a 26-year-old passenger were arrested.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police are seeking a gunman witnesses say burst into a Lincoln apartment were a group was playing dice, demanded money and randomly fired into the crowd of people there.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the shooting happened Thursday night, injuring one person.

Lincoln Officer Angela Sands says seven people were inside the apartment at the time of the ambush. One man was shot in a leg and taken to a local hospital. He is expected to recover.

Police say some of the people in the apartment knew the gunman, who has not been found.

Police say several of the witnesses are cooperating with investigators.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — The driver of a pickup truck died after a crash with a semitrailer truck on a snowy highway in southeast Nebraska

Chief Deputy Gage County Sheriff Doug Klaus told KWBE that the crash happened Wednesday morning about three miles east of Odell.

The crash happened on Highway 112 which was partly covered with snow. The bed of the pickup truck was sheared off when it was struck by the semi.

The identity of the pickup truck driver wasn’t immediately released Thursday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former Omaha teacher and coach accused of child sexual assault has been sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.

47-year-old Daryl Clark was sentenced Wednesday to 25 to 30 years in prison after pleading no contest to attempted visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct and enticement by electronic devise. State law requires him to serve at least half the sentence, so he will be eligible for parole after 12½ years.

Prosecutors had already dropped three counts of child sexual assault when they determined the girl had been 16, the age of sexual consent in Nebraska. They amended other charges in exchange for Clark’s pleas.

Clark was a middle school business teacher and coached youth softball.

Court records show he lives in Crescent, Iowa.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former Omaha police officer charged in the stun gun-related death of a mentally ill man has pleaded not guilty to two criminal counts.

Scotty Payne entered the pleas Wednesday in Douglas County Court at his arraignment on charges of assault and use of a weapon. Police investigators say Payne discharged a stun gun 12 times last June while trying to take 29-year-old Zachary Bearheels into custody after a reported disturbance at a local convenience store.

Payne and another officer, Ryan McClarty, were both fired and charged after police video showed Payne stunning Bearheels and McClarty repeatedly punching Bearheels after he was already on the ground. Bearheels died shortly after the confrontation.

Payne’s trial has been set for Nov. 26.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — School officials and police say a 7-year-old student was found with an unloaded handgun on a Grand Island school bus.

The bus driver took the gun from the student Wednesday morning and contacted school staff.

Police Capt. Jim Duering says school officials had already seized the gun by the time police arrived. A statement from Grand Island Public Schools say the gun was unloaded and that the student had no ammunition for the gun and that “no students or staff were ever in danger.”

Police say the student was not taken into custody, but officers did take the gun. Duering says a police report has been turned over to the Hall County prosecutor’s office for review.