OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska is defending a parent who says the Omaha Public Schools superintendent threatened him with legal action over statements he made at a recent school board meeting.

Parent Alex Gates asked board members in October to create a documented process that lets people formally request an investigation and removal of an ineffective principal.

He told members that parents have sought for years to replace a school principal. He said he emailed Superintendent Mark Evans about the matter but was frustrated with Evans’ reply.

Gates reached out to the ACLU, saying Evans threatened him the day after the board meeting with a lawsuit for defamation or slander. The ACLU wrote a letter warning Evans against taking such action.

A district spokesman said district officials are aware of the ACLU’s letter but are declining to comment.

DENVER (AP) — A father whose four young sons could communicate only in grunts when authorities rescued them from a filthy Denver apartment has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Wayne Sperling was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to his second offense of child abuse.

Judge Eric Elliff didn’t think the 67-year-old had learned his lesson and says he hopes this sentence sends a message that children can’t be treated like pets or possessions.

Authorities say Sperling, his wife and the boys lived in an apartment filled with cat feces and flies.

His wife was previously sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years of probation.

Prosecutors say the boys are improving while living together in foster care, but they still struggle.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Court documents show Bellevue police found an unresponsive 2-month-old baby in dirty living conditions at her father’s house.

A warrant shows officers were called to the house on Dec. 21. Jasmine Thompson was located and later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Officers reported seeing an empty bassinet without a mattress and mildew or mold. There were several bags of garbage in the kitchen, and the house smelled of bleach and feces.

Jasmine was declared a ward of the state shortly after her birth in October. Authorities say her mother tested positive for drugs when she gave birth.

Three other children have since been removed from the house. No one has been arrested or charged in connection with Jasmine’s death.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha authorities are investigating the death of a man whose body was found outside in the frigid weather.

Police spokesman Michael Pecha (PEH’-kuh) says officers were sent to the southwest Omaha location around 7 a.m. Tuesday to check on a report of a man down. Pecha says early signs suggest the man died from exposure. A car with one door open was found in the area Monday night.

The National Weather Service says the overnight low in Omaha hovered near zero, with a wind chill that hit minus 20.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The ACLU of Nebraska wants a judge to bar a prison inmate and his transgender fiancee from joining the ACLU’s legal challenge to the state ban on same-sex marriage.

Inmate Harold B. Wilson and Gracy Sedlak, formerly named John Jirovsky, earlier this month filed a motion to intervene in the federal lawsuit. It was filed in November. On Monday ACLU attorneys filed an objection, saying Wilson and Sedlak have not demonstrated or alleged that the seven Nebraska couples already in the suit do not adequately represent the couple’s interests. The ACLU also says any extra complainants would unduly delay and complicate the case.

The judge has yet to rule.

Wilson and Sedlak say they’ve twice been denied a marriage license by Lancaster County.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Prosecutors have decided not to pursue a rape case against a 19-year-old Lincoln man.

Austin Phipps had been scheduled for arraignment on Monday. He’d been arrested Dec. 10 on an arrest warrant alleging sexual assault. An 18-year-old woman had reported being attacked in a west Lincoln home.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute Phipps.