The Watchdog: Man’s death not ‘mad cow’-related (The Kansas City Star) Robert C. Long read a brief note in the Jan. 15 edition of The Star about a man from Colby, Kan. who may have died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare fatal disease that affects the central nervous system and turns brain tissue spongy. [News Source]

Seeking Alternatives to Animal-Derived Drugs (New York Times) Concern about the possibility of animal viruses has led to a renewed search for synthetic replacements for certain crucial medicines that are still derived from animal parts. [News Source]

Mexico Resumes Imports of Breeding Cattle From U.S. (KOLN Lincoln) Mexico has resumed imports of breeding cattle from the United States and Canada, bringing back a $125 million industry that stalled because of fears of mad cow disease. [News Source]

Lessons learned from largest U.S. meat recall (AG Weekly) Not since Upton Sinclair’s 1906 book “The Jungle” has the American meat market been this shaken. [News Source]

Predicting the Next Major Virus (LiveScience.com via Yahoo! News) This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. ... [News Source]

McKinney man recalls fatal drunk driving accident (McKinney Courier-Gazette) It was Dec. 7, 2002 when Mike Cieminski’s life was forever changed. Cieminski, his wife Lisa and their six-year-old daughter, Molly, were driving home from Presbyterian Hospital of Allen when the family was struck by a drunk driver. [News Source]

Five area school districts received recalled beef (The Mercury) Five area school districts received shipments of beef that was included in the largest ground beef recall in U.S. history last month, according to a list released last week — under pressure from lawmakers — by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. [News Source]