OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former ConAgra sales executive is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 12 in Omaha for wire fraud.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports  that Donald Wilson pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha, where ConAgra is headquartered. Wilson originally pleaded not guilty to eight counts of wire fraud or aiding and abetting wire fraud.

Wilson was accused of using nearly $606,000 from his company’s marketing budget to help pay personal expenses and expenses for a professional softball team he helped sponsor.

Authorities say that from 2006 through April 2012 Wilson worked in Bothell, Washington, and supervised four regional managers. ConAgra provided him with a marketing budget, but he was not allowed to use it for personal or unapproved expenses.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two state senators from Wichita say they want to introduce a plan in the Legislature to eliminate sales tax on food purchased for preparation at home.

Republican Sen. Michael O’Donnell says he worked on a similar proposal on the tax code during the 2013 legislative session but the House rejected it.

The Wichita Eagle  reports O’Donnell is working with Democratic Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau on a plan that would slowly reduce the sales tax on food over several years.

The Kansas Department of Revenue says groceries make up about 15 percent of total sales tax collections, bringing in about $392.5 million each year — most of which goes into the state’s general fund.

Kansas is currently projected to have a $260 million deficit by the end of June 2016.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — Johnson & Johnson will start safety testing in early January on a vaccine combination that could protect people from a strain of the deadly Ebola virus.

The health care products maker says it has committed up to $200 million to speed up and expand production of a vaccine program being developed by its Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies.

J&J is developing the vaccine with the Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic. It involves a regimen in which two vaccines are delivered two months apart. The combination provided complete protection in animals against a virus strain similar to the one causing the current outbreak in West Africa that has killed thousands of people.

The New Brunswick, New Jersey, company says it will also determine whether its vaccine protects against the version causing the outbreak.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — FedEx expects another record for holiday-season deliveries.

The company forecast Wednesday that deliveries between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve will rise 8.8 percent over last year, to 290 million shipments. That’s a more subdued forecast than a year ago, when FedEx predicted 13 percent growth for the season.

Volume is expected to surge on each of the first three Mondays in December.

FedEx says the peak day is likely to be Dec. 15, when it expects to handle 22.6 million shipments around the world. The company plans to hire 50,000 seasonal workers to help carry the load.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.) released the following statement today in response to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) announcement on new travel regulations for passengers flying to the United States from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea:

“This simply doesn’t go far enough. I continue to believe that the best approach is a temporary suspension on all travel visas for those traveling to the United States from Ebola-stricken countries.”

To read Blunt’s statement last week, click here. To watch his remarks on NBC’s “Meet The Press,”click here.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Democratic Party says the mid-term campaign for control of the Senate is “a neck and neck” situation.

Florida Congresswoman Deborah Wasserman-Schultz says Nov. 4 isn’t a referendum on President Barack Obama. And she’s brushing off talk that endangered Democratic Senate incumbents are trying to avoid associating with President Barack Obama.

She tells MSNBC Wednesday that Obama was on the ballot in 2008 and 2012, not now.

Yet, Wasserman-Schultz cites his economic record when asked about Democratic prospects, saying “we have pulled ourselves out, thanks to his leadership.”

Former Democratic chairman Howard Dean, appearing on the same network, says “you can’t get away with that. … The president is on the ballot.”

Republicans could recapture the Senate from Democrats with a net gain of six seats.

EDWARDSVILLE- Two women were injured in an accident just before 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Wyandotte County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Chevy Venture driven by Ashley Leann Gourley, 28, Houston, TX., was northbound on 98th Street in Edwardsville and failed to yield to a 2011 Honda Accord driven by Camella Carrillo, 32, Edwardsville, that was eastbound on Kansas 32. The vehicles collided.

Gourley and Carrillo were transported to KU Medical Center.

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

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri is hosting a competition for authors of screenplays and TV pilot scripts that use Missouri as their setting.

Three winning scripts will be selected. The authors will receive a free trip to Missouri for a February fellowship with professional script writers as their mentors.

Parts of the new hit movie “Gone Girl” were filmed in Cape Girardeau, where the cast and crew spent about two months. The state Department of Economic Development has said more than $7.8 million was spent on the Missouri portion of the production.