NAACP issues first-ever travel advisory for a state: Missouri

Compiled from news services

KANSASCITY, Mo. — NAACP officials say their recent travel advisory for Missouri is the first that the civil rights group has issued for any state.

Thetravel advisory, circulatedin June by the Missouri NAACPand recently taken upby the national organization, comes after travel alerts beganappearing in recent years in light of police shootingsin the U.S. and ahead of immigrationlegislation in Texasand Arizona.

Missouri became the first because of recent legislation making discrimination lawsuits harder to win, and in response to longtime racial disparities in traffic enforcement and a spate of incidents cited as examples of harm coming to minority residents and visitors, say state NAACP leaders.

Police officers under fire

State attorneys are dismissing dozens of cases in Baltimore after reviewing a video that appears to show a police officer planting evidence while two other officers look on.

Over a hundred criminal cases that would have relied on testimony from those three officers are now under review. As of Wednesday afternoon, 41 had been dropped or were set to be dropped. Baltimore is addressing these videos in an era marked by growing concerns about police accountability.

N.C. power outage

RALEIGH, N.C. — Workers were setting aside equipment that wasn’t in use when they caused a massive power outage that drove thousands of tourists from two islands in the Outer Banks, North Carolina transportation officials said.

The new details on how the accident happened came as utility officials said that they hope to have power restored to Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands by early next week, more than nine days after the underground cables were damaged.

Also in the nation ...

Jeffrey Huran, the former CEO of once-popular male escort service website Rentboy.com who pleaded guilty last year to promoting prostitution, was sentenced to six months in prison Wednesday by a judge who said she wanted to send a deterrent message even though she knows the business helped people. ... The 3,700 employees at Nissan’s factory in Mississippi have seen the anti-union company videos. Now it’s up to them to decide whether they want to join the United Auto Workers. ... A group representing mayors and cities in the Great Lakes region has dropped its fight against letting Waukesha, Wis., draw water from Lake Michigan.