TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Negotiations between teachers and school boards may be drastically narrowed as the Kansas Legislature looks for greater efficiency.

The House Education Committee approved a bill Tuesday that would require the two parties to only negotiate salaries and work hours in yearly talks. Both sides would have to agree beforehand to discuss any other subject, such as sick leave, insurance or safety.

Associations of teachers, administrators and school boards have criticized the bill, preferring instead a compromise they reached last month. Under that agreement, each side could propose five subjects in talks in addition to wages.

A Senate panel conducted a hearing Tuesday on a bill representing the compromise. Cheryl Semmel of United School Administrators of Kansas said she is hopeful the compromise will have a better chance in the Senate.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Net income for U.S. farmers is expected to fall by nearly 32 percent this year because of low crop prices and increasing expenses, placing many farmers in an unprofitable situation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released estimates on Tuesday that show 2015 is expected to be the second year in a row that farmers will see their income fall. Income was down 16 percent from 2013 to 2014.

The report estimates net farm income will be $73.6 billion in 2015, down from $108 billion in 2014. It was at a record $129 billion in 2013.

The report also anticipates that as income falls, expenses will increase by one-half percent.

Government programs that pay farmers when commodity prices are low are expected to increase 15 percent this year.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Democrats have outlined proposals to increase the state’s minimum wage and set higher wages on public works projects.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka and House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs of Kansas City had a Statehouse news conference Tuesday to unveil the measures. They said their proposals would help working-class families.

One proposal would boost the state’s $7.25-an-hour minimum wage to $11.32 an hour over five years.

Another would require contractors on public projects to pay what’s known as the prevailing wage in the local area for each job. The figure is set by the federal government, and critics say it typically follows union pay scales.

Republicans who control the Legislature resist such proposals and worry that they’ll raise costs for businesses and for public projects.

FORT SCOTT- A Kansas teenager was injured in an accident just after 7 a.m. on Tuesday in Bourbon County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1995 Cadillac Deville driven by Leyka Ann Yakel, 16, Fort Scott, was west bound on Kansas 7 just west of U.S. 69.

The driver braked to avoid an animal.

A 2002 Toyota Tacoma driven by Damon Charles Duren, 24, Fort Scott, rear-ended the Cadillac.

A 2014 Ford Focus driven by Angela Christine Brumback, 43, Arma, then rear-ended the Toyota.

Yakel was transported to Mercy Hospital. Brumback, Duren and a child in the Toyota were not injured.

The KHP reported all were properly restrained at the time of the accident.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a bill closing most of a projected $344 million shortfall in the state’s current budget.

Brownback announced his action Tuesday and said lawmakers worked hard in passing it last week.

The bill mostly diverts money from highway projects and other special funds to general government spending. The state also is shorting contributions to pensions for teachers and government workers.

Separately, Brownback announced plans last week to cut nearly $45 million in funding for public schools and higher education.

Kansas also faces an additional shortfall of nearly $600 million in the budget for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.

The budget problems arose after lawmakers aggressively cut income taxes at Brownback’s urging in 2012 and 2013.

COLUMBUS, Kan. (AP) — The Cherokee County Commission has approved a resolution to support the Kansas attorney general’s attempt to bar the Quapaw Tribe from extending a casino from Oklahoma into Kansas.

The Joplin Globe reports that the Cherokee County Commission approved the resolution on Monday. The attorney general wants to bar the expansion of the Downstream Casino after the National Indian Gaming Commission granted the Quapaw Tribe permission to expand onto its former reservation land. In 2012, that particular piece of land was placed into a trust stating that it would only be used for parking and agriculture, not gaming.

In late 2013, Downstream Casino applied to operate Class 3 gaming, which includes roulette and craps, on the land in Kansas. Class 3 gaming is unconstitutional in Oklahoma.