WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Defense attorneys say they worry that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ directive to pursue the most serious charges and longest sentences possible is likely to thwart recent efforts to address heavy-handed practices by some federal prosecutors in Kansas City, Kansas.

Sessions’ directive impacts federal prosecutions across the nation, but it has raised particular concerns about the Kansas City office where a yearslong struggle has been underway to curb what the defense bar calls prosecutorial abuses.

Sessions says violence in some big cities and the opioid epidemic show a need for a return to tougher tactics. Critics call it a return to failed drug-war policies.

U.S. Attorney Tom Beall’s office issued a statement saying Sessions’ directive gives his office discretion to apply the law to the facts of each case.

DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Highway Patrol says one person was killed and seven others were injured when a driver hit a bull standing in the highway.

The patrol says 66-year-old Alma Bencomo, of Dodge City, died after her vehicle hit the bull Saturday on U.S. 400, about 26 miles (40 kilometers) east of Dodge City. The collision forced Bencomo’s vehicle across the center line, where it hit a vehicle driven by 41-year-old Phouthavone Tony Thirakul of Wichita.

Five people in Bencomo’s vehicle were injured. Thirakul and a passenger in his car also were injured. A 7-year-old girl in Bencomo’s car was flown to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. The others were treated at a Dodge City hospital.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators plan to resume negotiations over raising income taxes to fix the state budget and provide additional funds for public schools.

House and Senate negotiators were meeting Monday. Both chambers scheduled afternoon sessions to allow them to take up any plan emerging from the talks.

Kansas faces projected budget shortfalls totaling $887 million through June 2019, and the state Supreme Court ruled in March that the state’s funding for its public schools is inadequate.

Lawmakers have been looking at rolling back past income tax cuts enacted at Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s urging to raise $1 billion or more over two years.

They’ve also discussed proposals to boost other taxes.

Legislators were supposed to end their annual session Wednesday on its 100th day but were likely to work longer.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new state Revenue Department preliminary report says agricultural land property values have dropped in Nebraska for the first time since at least the early 1990s.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the drop from last year is small: 0.15 percent. Ag experts had expected the drop because of lower commodity prices and ag income.

Larry Dix is executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials and he says county assessors have been reporting that prices for agricultural land have been going down.

The Revenue Department’s 2017 preliminary report provides preliminary total property values from county assessors for ag land, commercial property and residential property. Final numbers will be available in fall, when local governments set tax rates.

NEWBURG, Mo. (AP) — A 12-year-old boy died and five other people were injured in a fire at a central Missouri home. The Phelps County Sheriff’s Department says the fire occurred Sunday in Newburg.

KRCG reports emergency responders found the home fully engulfed in fire and were told the boy was on the second floor of the home. Crews tried to enter the home but couldn’t because of heavy smoke and fire.

Three juveniles were taken to the Phelps County Regional Medical Center for smoke inhalation and burns and an adult was treated for injuries at the scene.

A sheriff’s deputy was treated and released for smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire had not yet been determined.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Police say a man was shot while greeting people at a south Kansas City church.

The shooting occurred Sunday at the House of Refuge Family Worship church. The greeter, Montell Bruce, was struck in the head and was treated for non-life-threatening wounds.

Police say a suspect entered the church through a back door and fired multiple shots.

Bruce told KCTV5 that he intervened after he saw someone pull a gun during an argument. He says he tried to get the gun and throw the suspect to the ground. Eventually he ran and fell through a window to get away.

Bruce was the only person hurt in the shooting.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri plans to spend $550,000 this summer to repair its iconic columns on the Francis Quadrangle.

The six columns were built on the campus in 1842, and have been battered by weather and students over the years.

The Columbia Missourian reports the repair work will include smoothing and sealing cracks, attaching loose stones and sanding veins. Scaffolding went up last week and work is scheduled to start Monday.

Jeffery Brown, senior director for campus facilities, says the columns are structurally sound. Neither Brown nor Majid Amirahmadi, the principal architect on the project, could predict how long the repairs would last.

The columns are all that remains of the school’s original Academic Hall, which burned down in 1892.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Haskell Indian Nations University has canceled its upcoming track and field season due to several factors, including cost, facilities and competitiveness.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that President Venida Chenault last month approved placing the program on suspension.

Haskell Board of Regents members say the program costs about $8,000 annually in addition to coaching salaries. They say the price is a small percentage of the school’s overall athletics budget.

Chenault says the university often competes against schools that invest millions of dollars in their programs. The current collegiate standard for a track is eight lanes, but the university only has six. It also lacks high jump pit or a standard discus or javelin pit.

Chenault says the university doesn’t have a permanent athletics director. She says it’s unknown when the school will be able to hire one.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kris Kobach is preparing to help lead a new presidential commission on election fraud with the certitude that he’s found significant evidence of problems in Kansas.

As Kansas secretary of state, he was the first state elections chief to gain a prosecutor’s powers.

Kobach said he’s not pre-judging what might be happening in other states before the commission appointed by President Trump begins compiling hard data.

In Kansas, he has described the dozens of non-citizens on voter rolls and nine successful prosecutions as evidence of a significant problem.

Voting rights advocates have criticized the commission and Kobach’s appointment.

He has been advising Trump for months and said he talks to the White House each week. He is the new commission’s vice chairman, with Vice President Mike Pence as the chairman.