22News at 4: Digital Edition 8/28/26

Welcome to 22 News at four. I'm Oretta Odiah. We'll get to your top four at four in just a moment. But always a look at your commuter traffic and weather with Brian Lentis. Don't I know you from the Echoes of Us podcast? We're just on the same wavelength today. I appreciate you being here. A lot of Friday energy happening around the building. How are we looking for the end of the week? Pretty good. But traffic is a little weird for some reason. Maybe it's because the school year is underway. But there are some slowdowns to show you. You can see them here. Either end of 291 running a little slow. This is a little early for this traffic to be slow given the fact that we're in the mid to late afternoon hours. And also a slowdown on I-91 southbound Forest Park Long Meadow area. And also Route 5 in Long Meadow seems to be a little slow. Just letting you know. Otherwise traffic seems to be OK on the Pike and also I-91 north of Springfield. Temperatures right now 84 in Greenfield. 81 in Northampton. 85 in Springfield. In the Berkshires you're in the mid to upper 70s. 77 right now in Great Barrington. Clouds and radar. Keeping our eye on the radar there's been a couple of sprinkles in eastern Hampshire County. But otherwise it's dry and there is significantly drier air on the way in for the west. Which means that we're confident of a mostly if not completely dry weekend. We'll update our chances with the 22 News Storm Team forecast. Thanks for that Brian. Governor Maura Healey's emergency order goes into effect today. Classifying all forms of kratom into Schedule 1 under Massachusetts law. This bans the possession, distribution and manufacture of the substance across the state for up to a year. The measure restricts statewide retail sales and grants local health boards and municipal agencies expanded authority to enforce compliance against stores selling kratom products. But now four Massachusetts retailers that sell kratom have sued the Department of Public Health to block the order. They're arguing state health officials do not have the legal authority to reclassify the substance, saying the order does not meet state requirements. And Governor Healey has announced a new statewide campaign to help launch careers in the mental health services industry. It's called turn your passion, compassion, excuse me, into your career and connect students in job seekers with a variety of career opportunities. This includes information about mental health jobs, education and training, financial assistance and career support services. In a statement, Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll says that Massachusetts is committed to building a strong behavioral health workforce, highlighting the importance of mental health services in local communities. In nearly two dozen states, including Massachusetts, are suing the Trump administration to block new federal changes to a family planning grant program. The suit argues the new changes to Title 10 conditions would illegally punish states and providers that offer gender affirming care or refuse to conform to the administration's contraception ideologies. The states also allege that the federal government imposed those new conditions without following the required process. Similar restrictions on Title 10 policies during the first Trump administration caused a nearly 60% drop in patients in just two years. A federal judge is blocking President Trump's executive order that sought to limit mail in voting for the midterm elections. A 14 day hold was put in place after a fresh round of lawsuits just days before mail ballots begin to go out. The case could be headed back to the Supreme Court, which sided with Trump earlier this week. Meanwhile, a hearing in the case is set for September 3rd. Now another round. Today's weather sunny. I went out and it was nice. Yeah, little humid. Did you notice that? Yeah, I definitely with the long sleeve. It was a little rough. Well, I'll tell you, you're probably going to need that. Is that a sweater? It is Justin Haynes. Actually, that's very lovely. Thank you very much. So kind of a locally sourced. Of course. Support local businesses. I'm artsy sweater. Absolutely. And Justin's been on the Echoes of Us podcast. You do my research. I like it. You're kind of a big deal. Alright, so let's prepare for the weekend. Let's do that. Let's stay on track here. This is fantastic. OK, so clouds and radar here. You can see if you look closely. Eastern Hampshire County. Little sprinkle here and there. That's about it. And there's much drier air off to the West. If you have outdoor plans for this evening, keep an eye on the radar. Just in case there's the chance for a scattered shower here through 7 o'clock, but most of us will not see a raindrop. Indigo girls at Look Park tonight. Cummington Fair this evening. The Ware Grange Fair happening as well and MGM Free Music Friday and there are a multitude of other events happening this evening. For the most part, we're talking about dry weather, clear weather, evening temperatures in the 70s and 60s and then overnight lows will be in the low 50s, so it will be jacket and sweater weather early tomorrow morning. 7 o'clock sweater weather. Probably not jacket weather, but you get the idea. Low 50s. There may even be a few spots to get into the 40s in Western Franklin County in northern Berkshire County, but we expect a dry day sunshine at 10 o'clock noontime sunshine. Light breeze out of the north northwest tomorrow and a high temperature of 78 to 82. There are some. Inklings that there could be a little sprinkle here on Sunday. Will track those chances on 22 news starting at 5. Thanks Brian and trending today. The city of Springfield is recognizing National Black Breastfeeding Week. The week was initiated 14 years ago to uplift black families and connect parents with breastfeeding support and resources and Springfield Health and Racial Equity Co chair Chanel Ford and Doctor Lucinda Canty are among the leaders in this important work. National Black Breastfeeding Week started Tuesday. It continues through Monday, August 31st. Tomorrow the town of Southwick will host a community wide celebration to mark America's 250th anniversary. Organizers say the celebration will include a parade, live music, family activities and a large fireworks display. The afternoon of fun will begin with the community parade at 4 PM. It features agricultural groups, emergency responders, classic cars and more. Then later in the evening. Attendees can experience some food trucks and the fireworks show. The remaining festivities will begin at 5 PM at Whaley Park. Now a look at what we're cooking up for 22 news starting at five. Our coverage continues on the Springfield Courthouse. Find out who is looking to dismiss the latest injunction filed by two of the losing bidders and what all parties involved have to say. Plus we'll have a closer look at Providence Police's independent review of the city's response regarding the December 13th Brown University shooting and our storm team takes a look back at Tropical Storm Irene, which caused major flooding 15 years ago today over in Franklin County. You don't want to miss it. Traffic right now is a little bit slow considering the time of day. Notice a bit of slowdown at the end of 291 and I-91 through downtown. We've also got some backups on Route 5 in Long Meadow and on I-91 southbound in Forest Park, so just keep that in mind. Pike looks good. 91 north of the city looks good. Most of the weekend's weather looks good. Will show you on 22 news starting at 5. Thanks for joining us this afternoon for 22 news at four again. Join us on TV tonight starting at 5 and of course you can get all your local news and weather updates anytime online at WWLP.com and the 22 news mobile app.