Today’s quick hits, Aug. 19, 2019

Antibiotic spray ineffective against citrus greening (New York Times): In a test of a medically important antibiotic approved for spraying orange trees, researchers found the oxytetracycline had no impact on citrus greening, a bacterial disease that kills orange and grapefruit trees.

E-Verify weakness exposed at meat plants (Washington Post): Touted as a tool against undocumented immigrants, the E-Verify database failed to detect fraudulent use of authentic documents, allowing meat processing plants in Mississippi to hire hundreds of workers who later were arrested by federal agents.

Trump gave green light for ethanol waivers (Reuters): President Trump gave the go-ahead to EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to issue waivers that retroactively exempted 31 small petroleum refineries from compliance with federal requirement to blend ethanol into gasoline, said three unnamed sources.

Trump ‘has the backs of farmers’ (CBS News): The billions of dollars in federal payments to farmers and ranchers are proof “President Trump has the backs of farmers” in the Sino-U.S. trade war, said White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on “Face the Nation.”

Pumpkin spice Spam (Hormel Foods): A limited run of pumpkin spice Spam will go on sale online Sept. 23.