KATHLEEN HENNESSEY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is slated to finalize a set of new executive actions tightening the nation’s gun laws.

At a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Obama is expected to sign off on a package of proposals aimed at curbing gun violence and cracking down on unregulated gun sales.

The package includes a proposal to expand background checks on gun sales by forcing more sellers to register as federally licensed gun dealers. The changes would be aimed at some sellers who skirt the background check laws by selling at gun shows or informal settings. Another proposal being considered would improve reporting of lost and stolen weapons, according to a person familiar with the plans.

Gun rights groups are likely to challenge the proposals in court.

CANTON, Kan. (AP) — A central Kansas farmer is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to anyone responsible for killing and mutilating one of his cows.

John Shearer tells KWCH-TV of Wichita that he was feeding his cattle on New Year’s Day in McPherson County when he found one of the cows dead, its eyes gone.

It’s murky how the animal was killed. Shearer says the family’s veterinarian did find an injection mark on the cow’s neck, though it’s unclear whether that was from a previous vaccination.

The cow’s death came roughly two weeks after a farmer in Harvey County found one his bulls dead, its sex organs removed.

WICHITA- Two Kansas women were injured in an accident just after 10p.m. on Sunday in Sedgwick County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1993 Mazda Protégé driven by Charlotte L. Bolain, 51, Wichita, was northbound on Interstate 235 just north of Seneca.

The driver lost control while eating and struck the inside guardrail. The vehicle then crossed the roadway and struck the outside guardrail.

Bolain and a passenger Jessica A. Valdovinos, 24, Wichita, were transported to St. Francis Medical Center.

Both were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The Lawrence City Commission will decide whether to make land-use and zoning changes that would allow for a new 250,000-square-foot shopping development.

The Lawrence Journal-World reportsthat the commission will meet Tuesday to discuss the KTen Crossing project planned on the city’s south side.

Commissioners must agree to rezone about 60 acres at the project’s intersection from residential to commercial property before North Carolina-based development group Collett can move forward. The city’s comprehensive plan must also be altered to reflect commercial use.

The issue was originally scheduled to go before commissioners Dec. 8 but was pulled from the agenda because one commissioner could not attend.

Collett hopes to break ground on the project this summer. The shopping center could open as soon as fall 2017.

INDEPENDENCE, Kan. (AP) — A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next month for a man shot and wounded by police in southeastern Kansas after he allegedly fired at them.

The Parsons Sun reports that 24-year-old Kenneth J. Jones of Parsons remains jailed on $1 million bond in Montgomery County. That’s where he’s charged with attempted second-degree murder and aggravated assault on a law officer.

Court papers show that the felony counts relate to a Nov. 5 confrontation between Jones and Coffeyville police, who were not injured.

It was not clear Sunday if Jones has an attorney.

JOHN HANNA, AP Political Writer

ELLSWORTH, Kan. (AP) — Unemployment is down and wages are up in Kansas — except for corrections officers.

They are leaving state prisons in droves because of low pay. It’s creating a public safety crisis that legislators will have to deal with on top of plugging a budget hole.

Their starting pay is about 33 percent less than the state’s average hourly wage of $20.20.

Their overall wages are about a quarter lower than the national average. The annual turnover rate is up to nearly 30 percent.

Things are so bad that the state is hiring 18-year-olds to manage hardened criminals, despite some prison leaders’ misgivings.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback says he favors higher wages for corrections officers but state spending will be pinched by at least $160 million in the next fiscal year.

GEARY COUNTY – The Saline County Sheriff’s Mounted Patrol Water Rescue Squad was called in to recover a vehicle from Milford Lake on Saturday.

A fisherman from Salina was backing his truck down Milford State Park Marina Boat Ramp when it started sliding and would not stop.

The truck slid all the way under the water.

Most likely this was due to ice and old vegetation growth on the ramp, according to officials. No names have been released and no injuries reported.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Topeka, Kansas, couple has been ordered to stand trial on charges that they sexually assaulted a child since 2008.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that 37-year-old Kenneth Seel and 34-year-old Tiffany Seel are to stand trial on felony counts of rape, aggravated indecent liberties with a child, sodomy and endangering a child.

Kenneth Seel was ordered on Thursday to stand trial on 12 counts. His wife was bound over in October for trial on 11 felony counts and a misdemeanor battery count.

Both Seels have pleaded not guilty.

Tiffany Seel’s trial tentatively is scheduled to begin on Jan. 25, while her husband’s trial is set for May 23.