On Wednesday’s NewsHour…

GULF OIL SPILL UPDATE | BP crews launched a long-awaited operation to stop spewing oil at the source by pumping heavy drilling fluids into the massive leak. Jim Lehrer talks to Greg McCormack, director of the Petroleum Extension Service at the University of Texas, for more on the procedure and the chances for success.

ENDANGERED WILDLIFE IN COASTAL LOUISIANA | Tom Bearden reports on the implications for the wildlife along Louisiana’s fragile coast and attempts to protect the ecosystem from heavier oil.

U.S., MEXICO BORDER SECURITY | The Obama administration has announced plans to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to perform support roles, such as surveillance and intelligence analysis. Judy Woodruff gets two views on the strategy from Thad Bingel, former chief of staff of U.S. Customs and Border Protection duing the Bush Administration, and Rick Nelson, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

DRUG VIOLENCE IN JAMAICA | Margaret Warner has an update on the violence gripping Jamaica’s capital where more than forty people have died, after security forces stormed the slums in search of a reputed drug lord.

FACEBOOK PRIVACY CONTROVERSY | Users of social network website Facebook have pushed back against recent changes to the site’s privacy practices. Corespondent Spencer Michels reports. Then, Jeffrey Brown talks to Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable.com, about the growing pressure to safeguard user information online.

GULF OIL PHOTO ESSAY | Since the oil leak began in the Gulf more than a month ago, Associated Press photographer Gerald Herbert has as been documenting the people and places at the center of the disaster.

Wednesday’s anchors are Jim Lehrer and Judy Woodruff. Hari Sreenivasan will have the day’s other top news stories and a look at Web features, including links to live video from the leak in the Gulf of Mexico and our response page on YouTube, where you can send us comments and video about how officials should clean up the mess.

Plus, view more of Gerald Herberts’ images and find an animation that explains the “Top Kill” technique being used on the leak.

We hope you join us.