OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A rally outside Omaha’s courthouse protested what participants say are government policies that protect immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Between 30 and 40 people attended the rally Friday, which was timed to coincide with a closed court hearing for 20-year-old Sergio Martinez-Perez.

Martinez-Perez is charged with first-degree murder in the July rape and beating death of 93-year-old Louise Sollowin in her home. Authorities say Martinez-Perez is a Mexican national in the country illegally.

Speakers at the rally included state Senator Charlie Janssen, a Republican candidate for governor, and Republican Iowa U.S. Representative Steve King. Both men have been vocal about their opposition to granting legal status to immigrants now here illegally.

Rally organizers are demanding that the Nebraska Legislature pass a measure “barring local sanctuary policies across the state.”

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A student has been suspended after allegedly pelting a Des Moines high school teacher with pencils, striking students with a pipe and books and yelling while standing atop a desk. Des Moines TV station KCCI reports Roosevelt High School teacher Greta Standish noticed a problem when the pencils hit her from behind. The 14-year-old boy was suspended for three days and recommended for placement in a different education program.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A judge has sentenced the father of one of the cousins abducted in Evansdale to prison on drug charges. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports Judge David Staudt sentenced 37-year-old Daniel Morrissey of Waterloo yesterday to up to 90 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of 30 years. Morrissey is the father of Lyric Cook, who disappeared with her cousin, Elizabeth Collins, while riding bikes in Evansdale in July 2012. The girls bodies were found in a remote wooded area in December.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A 52-year-old Davenport woman has been given a year and a day in prison for defrauding a credit union between August and January of this year. Kelly Taylor pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Davenport and was sentenced on Thursday.

CLINTON, Iowa (AP) — Dozens of cats have been removed from a home in Clinton and turned over to a shelter where they are being fed, treated and will soon be put up for adoption. The Quad-City Times reports 73 cats were removed from a home earlier this week after Clinton police discovered the situation.

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A judge has sentenced the father of one of the cousins abducted in Evansdale to prison on drug charges. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports Judge David Staudt sentenced 37-year-old Daniel Eugene Morrissey, of Waterloo, on Friday to up to 90 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of 30 years.

Morrissey had earlier pleaded guilty and agreed to Alford pleas, which acknowledges evidence needed for a conviction, to charges involving the manufacture of methamphetamine and other drug offenses. The charges stem from incidents before and after the cousins disappeared.

Morrissey is the father of Lyric Cook, who disappeared with her cousin, Elizabeth Collins, while riding bikes in Evansdale in July, 2012. Their bodies were found in a remote, wooded area 25 miles away last December.

The Atlantic City Council will enter into a closed session near the end of their regularly scheduled meeting next Wednesday, to discuss legal matters pertaining to the POET, LLC Ethanol Transfer Station. According to the Council’s agenda, Mayor Dave Jones requested the session with City Attorney Dave Wiederstein, to discuss possible litigation relative to the transfer station.

This past Tuesday evening, the Atlantic Planning and Zoning Commission met in a regular session and discussed the POET situation. Zoning Administrator John Lund and members of the commission were not at all happy with POET for beginning work on the ethanol transfer station without first having consulted with the City. The issues of contention boiled down to public safety and wear and tear on City streets.

The only communication the company had, which was nearly a year ago, was with Atlantic Fire Chief Mark McNees, and that was with regard to the safety precautions the company said it would have in-place. Those precautions included four spill pits underneath the rail cars as they were being loaded with fuel from tractor trailers which will be coming to Atlantic from POET’s production facility in Coon Rapids.

Dave Wiederstein has indicated there isn’t much the City can do to stop or prevent work from continuing on the project, but Mayor Jones said at the P-and-Z meeting, that the City wasn’t done exploring its options on how to deal with the issue. Now it appears the track may lead to a legal resolution. The Atlantic City Council meeting begins at 5:30-p.m., on Sept. 18th.

In an update to a story we told you about earlier this week, the Iowa Dept. of Transportation has revised the date for closing the Iowa Highway 92 near Massena. The road was originally set to close at midnight on Sept. 18th for a bridge replacement project, but the DOT’s construction office in Creston says that will now take place for nine-days beginning at 7-a.m. Sept.27th.

The Iowa 92 closure is necessary as work crews remove the existing bridge and slide the new bridge into place. Traffic will be detoured around the construction zone. As previously announced, eastbound Iowa 92 traffic will be detoured on Cass County Road N-28 north to Cass County Road G-48, east to Iowa 148, and then back south to Iowa 92.

Westbound Iowa 92 traffic will be detoured north on Iowa 148, west on Cass County Road G-48, and then south on CassCounty Road N-28 to Iowa 92.

DOW CITY, Iowa (AP) — A bag of bones found in a warehouse in the small western Iowa community of Dow City two years ago are very old and will not prompt a criminal investigation. The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office was called to investigate two bags of bones found in May 2011 inside an old warehouse in the town of about 500 people. The sheriff called the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation which had the bones examined by the state medical examiner’s office.

Forensic archeologists determined the bones were from a man and a woman and at least 75 to 100 years old. The Center for Human Identification will attempt to identify DNA and the profiles will be uploaded to the Unidentified Human Remains Index and other databases of missing individuals.

ROCKWELL CITY, Iowa (AP) – Officials say a police officer in the small northern Iowa community of Rockwell City has been shot to death after responding to a standoff.  Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Michael Motsinger said at a news conference Friday morning that Officer Jamie Buenting was hit by a single gunshot and died in the early morning standoff. Officers had responded to a home after receiving a report Thursday night.

Officers arrested 32-year-old Corey Trott and charged him with first-degree murder. He was held in the Sac County Jail and information about upcoming court appearances weren’t available.

Buenting was 37. He was married with two young children.