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.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a second person has died following a boarding house fire in southeast Omaha.

The Omaha Fire Department says 27-year-old Eddie Valentine died Friday. An official cause of death is pending autopsy results, but a preliminary investigation suggests it was smoke inhalation.

Valentine and 37-year-old Demetria Sanchez were inside the boarding house when it caught fire on Dec. 23. Sanchez was pronounced dead a short time later.

Authorities say they’re still investigating what caused the fire.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has terminated a consent order against World’s Foremost Bank, a Lincoln-based credit card operation set up by the outdoor outfitter Cabela’s.

The order was ended Nov. 4 but not announced until Monday. The original order in March required World’s Foremost Bank to pay a $1 million penalty and restitution to about 1.8 million card holders for what the FDIC said were deceptive and unfair acts. The bank agreed to the sanctions but did not admit or deny the violations.

FDIC spokeswoman LaJuan Williams-Young says a termination order typically indicates “that the bank has complied with the original stipulations” in the consent order. She declined to comment further. A bank representative didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

PONCA, Neb. (AP) — Two people have been injured in a two-vehicle collision in northeast Nebraska.

The Dixon County Sheriff’s Office says an SUV was traveling eastbound Monday on Nebraska Highway 12 near Ponca when it lost control and slid into the path of a westbound truck.

The driver of the SUV was airlifted to a Sioux City hospital. A passenger in the SUV was driven to the same hospital.

The driver of the truck was not hurt. Authorities say the SUV lost control due to icy road conditions.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska cities along the Missouri River are still waiting for nearly $7.2 million to be reimbursed from state and federal agencies, more than 3 years after a 2011 flood.

Five cities haven’t yet received payments between $275,000 and nearly $4 million. Omaha is owed the most at $3.6 million.

Grants from the Nebraska and Federal Emergency Management Agencies have helped pay for flood damage and recovery, but Nebraska still owes 43 percent of the nearly $17 million owed in flood claims. A NEMA official says processing claims takes a lot of time and work.

Meanwhile, the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management has paid all but 5 percent of its $38.6 million in claims.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska inmate Michael Ellington calls prison one of his biggest accomplishments.

The 32-year-old from Clarksdale, Mississippi, is in prison for robberies he committed in June 2007. But now he has two work release jobs and talks about taking positive steps.

Ellington has been at the Community Corrections Center for a year, and he credits it with helping to prepare him for society. He has a parole hearing on New Year’s Eve.

Ellington said prison provided him a foundation to get his life back together.