Deep snowpack: Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is twice as deep as normal for a Feb. 1 and the deepest in four decades. (Los Angeles Times)
Market-development funds: Companion bills in the Senate and House would double the funding, to $469 million, for two USDA programs that share the cost of developing foreign markets for ag exports. (King)
Monarchs rebound again: The population of western monarch butterflies has rebounded for the second year in a row, according to a survey that found more than 330,000 butterflies wintering along the California coast. (Associated Press)
Ag appropriations members named: Georgia Rep. Sanford Bishop will be the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture this session, with Democrats Chellie Pingree of Maine, Lauren Underwood of Illinois, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Barbara Lee of California and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida also on the subcommittee. (House Appropriations)