A 39-year-old Joplin man has pleaded not guilty to the fatal shooting of an assistant football coach at Missouri Southern State University.

Jeffrey Bruner is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Nov. 1 death of 37-year-old Derek Moore outside a Joplin movie theater.

Online court records show Bruner pleaded not guilty Thursday in Jasper County Circuit Court. He’s being held without bond in the county jail, with his next hearing set for Nov. 27.

Moore was shot several times in the parking lot of a theater where he had gone with Bruner’s estranged wife.

The university plans a moment of silence for him at Saturday’s game against Lindenwood-Belleville.

(AP) Missouri’s top education official says she’s encouraged by the efforts of several groups to work on a long-term plan for unaccredited schools.

In a statement released Thursday, Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro highlighted the efforts of a group of school superintendents. They recently unveiled an alternative to a Missouri law that allows students to transfer from unaccredited to accredited districts.

Missouri’s Normandy, Riverview Gardens and Kansas City districts are currently unaccredited.

Nicastro says other groups also are discussing the issue of failing schools and that additional ideas are expected to surface in the coming weeks.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars will hold its 2018 national convention in Kansas City, choosing its home community over 11 other cities that were in the running.

Officials of the Convention and Visitors Association announced the booking Thursday. The gathering is expected to draw more than 10,000 people, with an estimated impact of $6.5 million for the local economy.

(AP) A newly released report says a funding gap exists between the transportation system that Missourians demand and the one the state can provide with current funds.

Missouri Department of Transportation officials outlined more than $70 billion of wants, needs and projects Thursday in unveiling a draft of the agency’s latest 20-year plan.

But MoDot said that the amount is significantly greater than the estimated $17.3 billion of funding available over the next 20 years. One of the most expensive proposed projects – improving Interstate 70 between Kansas City and St. Louis – would cost from $2 billion to $4 billion.

MoDot talked to Missourians statewide about what they wanted in developing the draft.

The Missouri Clean Water Commission has approved new water quality rules that bolster protection for rivers and lakes and bring the state closer to compliance with the federal Clean Water Act.

The revised standards, voted on Wednesday, set specific limits for pollutants discharged into an additional 90,000 miles of rivers and streams and 2,100 lakes and are expected to require expensive upgrades for many water treatment facilities.

(AP) – Missouri’s fourth- and eighth-graders are doing about the same on math and reading tests as they were two years ago and about average when compared with the rest of the country.

That’s according to the 2013 Nation’s Report Card, which was released Thursday. The results come from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, which is given to a sample of students.

Among fourth-graders, 39 percent scored at or above the NAEP proficient level in reading and 35 percent in math. The percentages were similar among eighth-graders, with 36 percent scoring at or above proficient in reading and 35 percent scoring at or above the proficient level in reading.

Missouri education commissioner Chris Nicastro says the state still has “work to do.”

(AP) — A Kansas City man who was the mastermind of a nationwide tax fraud conspiracy that attempted to receive nearly $96 million in illegal refunds has pleaded guilty and will spend 13 years in federal prison under a deal with prosecutors.

Gerald Poynter, also known as Brother Jerry Love, was facing 66 charges in a 72-count indictment that also named 13 co-defendants. He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Kansas City Thursday to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by filing false tax returns and one count of filing a fraudulent tax return.

Prosecutors say his scheme involved the fraudulent use of 1099-Original Issue Discount forms, typically used by tax filers who pay taxes on income from bond investments.

Ten others also have pleaded guilty in the scheme.

(AP) — The president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri plans to retire this spring after years at the center of the abortion debate.

Peter Brownlie announced his plans Thursday, without setting a specific date for his departure.

He’s been the top administrator of the Planned Parenthood chapter since August 1999.

During his tenure, his organization challenged anti-abortion laws enacted by Kansas legislators and was the target of a lengthy criminal case in Johnson County that was dismissed last year.

Kansas legislators are still pondering additional changes, and Planned Parenthood still has federal lawsuits pending over anti-abortion laws enacted in 2011 and 2013.

But Brownlie said in an interview before his announcement that he believes the organization’s most difficult legal and legislative battles are behind it.

(AP) Harley-Davidson says it will build two new lightweight motorcycles at its Kansas City plant, beginning next year.

The new Street 500 and Street 750 models are the company’s first lightweight models since the 1970s. The Kansas City plant will build them for U.S. buyers. The bikes for international customers will be built in India.

The  bikes are designed to be agile for driving in urban areas and are aimed at younger customers. They will cost between $6,700 and $7,500.

The company says production at the Kansas City plant will start late this year or early in 2014.

The extra work at the Kansas City plant will be handled by seasonal employees.

(AP) — A new Census report shows that Iowa and several other Midwest and Plains states have the lowest poverty rates when cost of living is factored into the calculation.

The report released Thursday showed that Iowa had the lowest rate at 8.6 percent. The national rate under the new measure is 16 percent.

Iowa is followed by North Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota and Nebraska with the lowest rates in the nation.

The states with the highest poverty levels under the new measure were ones with high housing costs and large numbers of immigrants. California topped the list with a 23.8 percent poverty rate followed by Washington D.C.’s 22.7 percent.

This new measure of poverty is designed to provide a better picture of the problem, but it doesn’t replace the official rate.