The Guardian

• Trump administration pushes on with construction of controversial Big Bend border wall

  Customs and Border Protection faces bipartisan backlash from locals for 30ft border wall through west Texas

  The Trump administration is pressing forward with construction on the controversial border wall in the Big Bend region of west Texas, even as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faces furious backlash from local leaders and landowners for its fast-moving plans.

  Construction began this week in Hudspeth county, which lies just east of the city of El Paso. CBP has been pressing landowners there to grant permission to allow the agency to erect a 30ft steel bollard border wall in that area, offering them signing bonuses as an incentive to avoid eminent domain disputes.

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• US veterans have greater levels of Pfas in their blood than civilians, new study finds

  Soil and water around military bases show elevated levels of Pfas pollution due to chemicals used in firefighting foam

  Many US military veterans have much higher levels of Pfas “forever chemicals” in their blood than non-veterans, new peer-reviewed research finds, raising more questions about health risks the nation’s service members face after serving at polluted bases.

  Ground water, surface water and soil around military bases show among the highest levels of Pfas pollution in the US because the chemicals are used in firefighting foam deployed during training and emergencies. While the problem has been clear for over a decade, the new Brown University-led study is the first to compare levels in veterans’ blood with those in civilians.

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• Fat Bear Week has returned – and the salmon are swimming for their lives

  The public will, for the 12th year in a row, vote for the fattest of brown bears in Alaska’s Katmai national park

  The bears have returned to the river and are packing on the pounds as another Fat Bear Week begins at Katmai national park.

  The 12th annual Fat Bear Week, in which the public will vote for the fattest of Katmai’s brown bears as mothers, cubs and males gather along the salmon-run at Brooks river in Alaska begins on Monday.

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• Private jets pollute up to 14 times as much as commercial planes and are undertaxed in US, report says

  Number of private jets has surged in recent years, but they do not pay commensurate portion of fees to FAA operations

  A new report has put a spotlight on the rapid expansion of private jet travel in the US, revealing that owners are not paying their fair share of aviation tax despite the average owner’s wealth being $190m and private jets being up to 14 times more polluting than commercial flights.

  The Institute for Policy Studies’ new report, High Flyers 2026, examines the growing use of private aircraft, the public infrastructure supporting them and the tax policies benefiting private jet owners.

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• US wheat farmers navigate uncertainty amid drought and geopolitical chaos

  Some experts worry factors affecting wheat exports could push global food prices even higher than they are now

  Wheat prices are at their highest level in three years, which means farmer Merrill Nielsen should be getting more for his crops out of his 2,500-acre (1,010-hectare) Kansas farm.

  Yet even as future prices for bread-type wheat are up 39%, Nielsen is unsure whether increased prices will raise his bottom line. The price of diesel fuel, which he needs to run his tractor, has hit record highs. Then there’s the erratic weather that made him lose his entire wheat crop in the spring, and drought has overtaken the southern Great Plains.

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