State briefs 5/10/16

NAACP questions racial profiling data

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- St. Louis NAACP officials are questioning the accuracy of Missouri data on racial disparity in police stops. St. Louis chapter president Adolphus Pruitt said during a Monday legislative hearing biased policing could be underreported. Missouri requires officers to record information such as the race of drivers after vehicle stops. Analysts then review data for racial-disparity trends in policing. Pruitt pointed to 2012 reports from one St. Louis County officer. He said the officer's activity log for one day notes arrests not included in data submitted to the state. He said that could mean annual reports don't show an accurate picture of police bias. Pruitt said reporting laws need to be tightened. The state attorney general's office must submit the analysis of 2015 data no later than June 1.

Sales tax for parks going on ballot

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri voters will decide this fall whether to extend a sales tax that funds state parks and conservation projects. Gov. Jay Nixon announced Monday the one-tenth-cent parks, soils and water sales tax will appear on the November ballot. The tax is written into the state constitution, but voters must reauthorize it every 10 years. Voters first approved the tax in 1984. About three-quarters of the state parks system's funding comes from the tax, and it pays for soil and water conservation projects. The state has approved $348 million in conservation grants since the tax was reapproved in 2006. Officials said those projects have prevented more than 177 million tons of soil erosion into streams, rivers and lakes.

Gunshots reported near Joplin campus

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Authorities are investigating after gunshots were reported near a Missouri Southern State University residence hall. No injuries were reported. The university said in a news release campus police received a report of gunshots being fired about 2:30 a.m. Sunday. The release stated surveillance video showed the shots were fired into the air from a vehicle that came from a nearby apartment complex, then sped away. Campus and city police are investigating. No other information was available.

Fire extinguished at Mizzou frat

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Crews extinguished a fire in a bedroom at a fraternity at the University of Missouri. The fire was reported Saturday night at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity annex on the east side of the Columbia campus. Battalion Chief Clayton Farr said no one was injured. The cause of the fire is being investigated.

KC's Bartle Hall sculpture removed

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Crews temporarily have removed a 24,000-pound aluminum sculpture from on top of Kansas City's Bartle Hall. The artwork, which has been on the building along with three other pieces for more than two decades, was removed by crews in a helicopter Sunday. The Sky Station works were installed in 1994 as part of the city's public-art program. The piece removed Sunday will undergo repairs for a lightning strike and water damage. Dozens of spectators gathered to watch the procedure. Nearly all of the $1.3 million cost for repairs is covered by insurance. Reinstallation is expected in September.

-- From wire reports