Undercover food bank for farmworkers (Santa Cruz Patch): A clandestine operation, relying on word-of-mouth to pass along its secret location in Santa Cruz County, delivers food donations “to people who can’t afford the food they harvest for others and are so worried about immigration enforcement that they are afraid to visit official food banks and sometimes even grocery stores.”
Houston doctor in running for FDA chief (Houston Chronicle): Stephen Hahn, the chief medical officer at MD Anderson Cancer Center, is one of three candidates for FDA commissioner; the others are acting commissioner Ned Sharpless and Harvard dermatology professor Alexa Kimball.
Brazil to hire short-term forest-fire cops (Reuters): Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said, due to funding shortages, Brazil will hire local environmental police to work on their days off to enforce federal rules, with hopes of getting the new force in the field before the peak deforestation and fire season begins next May or June.
Grocery strike may be averted (Los Angeles Times): Union members, who authorized a strike if need be, will begin voting today on a tentative contract with grocery chains Albertsons and Ralphs, which operate more than 500 stores from the Central Valley to California’s border with Mexico.
Lives disrupted as USDA agencies move (Washington Post): In the next few weeks the work lives of dozens of USDA employees will abruptly end, as their agencies, the Economic Research Service and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, move to Kansas City without them.