DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — About 100 people protested outside a Des Moines church where a pastor planned a sermon condemning homosexuality. Yesterday’s protest came after the Reverend Michael Demastus advertised the sermon with a message stating “Gay is not okay” on the marquee outside Fort Des Moines Church of Christ.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A Texas man has been sentenced to nearly 21 years in federal prison in Iowa for his role in a drug distribution conspiracy. Thirty-year-old Alvin Lee Cooper, of Plano, Texas, was the fifth person sentenced in a case that began in Davenport, Iowa, concerning the trafficking of large amounts of marijuana and cocaine.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A U.S. Air Force sergeant from Iowa has been killed in a motorcycle accident in southern Arizona. Thirty-six-year-old Technical Sergeant Dustin Jackson, of Red Oak, Iowa, died Friday in an accident near Saguaro (sah-WAHR’-oh) National Park.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man who prosecutors say distributed more than 1,200 pounds of marijuana and nearly 300 pounds of cocaine will spend nearly seven years in federal prison. Fifty-one-year-old Richard Mendez was part of a Colorado-based ring that distributed drugs in the Quad Cities area between 2004 and 2007.