Child obesity climbs during pandemic: Pediatricians and public health experts say child obesity rates, already at 19 percent, are climbing during the pandemic due to poorer diets and less exercise resulting from school closures. (The Counter)
Trump pardons meat misbranders: Hours before leaving office, President Trump pardoned Martin, Deborah, and Gregory Jorgensen of South Dakota, who were convicted of mixing inferior trimmed meat into their Dakota Lean beef and selling it as heart-healthy and free of antibiotics and hormones during the 1980s. (Sioux Falls Argus Leader)
Western monarch nears extinction: An annual survey found only 1,914 western monarch butterflies overwintering along the California coast, a 99.9 percent drop in the population since the 1980s. (Xerces Society)
EPA approves RFS exemptions: The Renewable Fuels Association asked a federal appeals court to override three Renewable Fuel Standard exemptions issued by the EPA less than a day before the Trump administration left office. (RFA)
Eat invasive carp: Asian carp are among the few of the 4,300 invasive species in the United States that could be suppressed by human consumption, say researchers, since they are as nutritious as some fish already popular with Americans. (Virginia Tech)