The Guardian

• All the buzz: US dog helps researchers identify bacteria that harms honeybees

  Maple, a springer spaniel, is part of a project at a Michigan university focused on risk factors affecting the bees’ health

  One dog in Michigan hasn’t been content with merely belonging to the species famously known as man’s best friend. She has strived to be bees’ best friend, too.

  Maple, a springer spaniel aged nine, is earning news headlines by helping Michigan State University (MSU) researchers identify bacteria that is harmful for bee colonies.

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• Colorado deploys more than 1,000 firefighters to battle two huge blazes

  Lee fire is one of largest blazes in state history after burning 130,000 acres, while Elk fire surpassed 14,000 acres

  Firefighters in Colorado responding to one of the largest blazes in the state’s history are facing gusty winds and dry conditions that are expected to continue to drive extreme fire behavior.

  More than 1,000 firefighters have been deployed, and while crews have gained containment on one fire, another has grown amid fire-friendly weather.

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• Flooding hits midwest as Milwaukee experiences second wettest day ever

  Heavy rainfall cut power and closed roads across Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin

  Heavy rainfall in half a dozen midwest US states forced motorists to abandon their vehicles, cut power to thousands of households and closed busy roadways over the weekend.

  The National Weather Service issued flood watches and warnings for parts of Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin. After rainfall began on Saturday in some areas forecasters predicted “repeated rounds of heavy rain”, along with hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes into Monday.

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• Waste from agricultural plant poisoned US town’s water with Pfas, lawsuits allege

  Some Salisbury, Maryland, residents say the contaminated water from Perdue Farms’s local plant has sickened them

  Wastewater from an industrial soya bean farm and processor has poisoned a Maryland town’s drinking water with Pfas, several lawsuits allege, raising questions about residents’ health and “forever chemical” pollution from industrial agricultural operations nationwide.

  Perdue Farms acknowledged that its 300-acre Salisbury, Maryland, operation is polluting local waters, but the chemicals’ sources have not been confirmed. It appears the Pfas is in part also coming from some combination of sludge used as fertilizer and pesticides, attorneys for plaintiffs say.

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• Court bans fishing in Pacific protected area overriding Trump officials’ rollback

  Judge in Hawaii rules that commercial fishing is illegal in Pacific Islands Heritage marine national monument

  A federal judge in Hawaii has ruled that commercial fishing is illegal in the Pacific Islands Heritage marine national monument, a federally protected area in the central Pacific Ocean.

  The decision from Judge Micah WJ Smith overturns an April letter released by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) – also known as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) Fisheries – that allowed fishing in parts of the monument that Barack Obama had protected during his presidency. The letter came about a week after Donald Trump’s presidential proclamation to reverse fishing regulations across the national monument, a world heritage site that includes archeological treasures, marine mammals, seabirds and coral reefs.

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