22News at 4: Digital Edition 9/3/26

streaming from the 22 News Broadcast Center. This is 22 News at four p.m. Digital edition. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to 20 News up four. I'm Christina Demores. We'll get to your top four for in just a moment. But first, a look at your community traffic and weather. 22 Storm Team Meteorologist Brian Lapis is here. Hi, Brian. Hey, Christina. It's muggy out. It is gross. Dew points are close to 70 degrees. Still the slight chance for a shower, but I'm optimistic that the bulk of the rain this week is over. Nice. Great. Let's take a look at traffic. Shall we can see here that, uh, got a little backup at the end of 2 91 where it merges with the pike. Otherwise, no major backups, slowdowns. Oh, a little slow. I 91 southbound near Mount Tom. That little curve around Mount Tom there. So just keep that in mind. Otherwise, we're in good shape. Let's take a look at temperatures right now. 78 North Hampton and Greenfield, 81 Westfield and Springfield, 76 in Orange and we're in the seventies to low eighties in the Berkshires. We've actually cleared out a bit as we expected. Still keeping an eye on the radar, though, for an isolated shower. There is. Well, there was one a little little batch of showers here over parts of Franklin County and northern Berkshire County. So an isolated shower is possible through sunset. Otherwise, we've got pretty good news heading into the weekend. We'll show you with our 22 new storm team forecast. All right, thanks, Brian. Gloria Steinem, a major voice in the feminist movement, has died at the age of 92 on Wednesday in New York City. Steinem was a Smith College alum and began her career as a journalist. One of her biggest stories was in 1963 when she reported on the degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner's Playboy Empire. Steinem would later go on to find the publication Ms Magazine in 1971. Much of Steinem's life as an advocate was spent on the road. Speaking of college campuses, community centers, rallies and marches, she would continue fighting for feminist causes throughout the recent the rest of her life, recently speaking out against the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Now to an update in the Sandra Birchmore case, a Massachusetts judge has ruled that jurors in the upcoming murder trial can hear about her mental health history. Her death in 2021 was originally ruled a suicide, but federal investigators later determined to be a homicide. Former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell is accused of strangling the then pregnant Birchmore. He has been indicted on charges connected to her death, but had pleaded not guilty. His events team argues her death was in fact a suicide. The trial is set to begin in October. A new report finds that mass health prescription drug costs jumped by about $350 million last fiscal year. The agency expects to spend over $3.3 billion on medications in 2026 before rebates and federal reimbursements. Rebates are expected to bring back $1.75 billion with the federal match at 65.5%. Officials say the growth comes from higher expensive drug use, such as GLP ones. Mass health will end coverage for the weight loss drugs. Next year, the state is pushing for savings, negotiating nearly 100 supplemental rebate agreements, including 11 value based deals. The Springfield City Council's Health and Human Services Committee is meeting to discuss the statewide ban on kratom products. The ban classifies kratom as a schedule one controlled substance under Massachusetts law. That means those products can no longer be sold in stores across the state. Local boards of health and municipal officials have additional authority to enforce the ban. The City Council meeting starts at 4 45 this afternoon and will be open to the public. You can join in person at City Hall or through a virtual option. Now let's get another check of today's weather with Brian Lapis here. Brian muggy gross out. Don't like it. Oh, I meant to show you the dew points. Do that before the end of the newscast tonight. Uh, yeah, kind of, uh, moist outside and there are a couple of isolated showers that have just developed over, uh, Franklin County and northern Berkshire County. So a chance for a shower remains here through about seven o'clock this evening. You can see here five o'clock, a little isolated shower. Here's seven o'clock, a little shower over the southern Berkshires. These showers are going to be few and far between. I would not cancel any outdoor plans, but I would be mindful of the fact that there could be a raindrop or two around. Otherwise, it's variable clouds here tonight. Evening temperatures will be in the seventies. Overnight lows will be in the sixties. There's a little storm system to our south that might just gray southern Berkshire County or western Hamden County overnight with a couple of showers. But for the most part, it's a rain free night and tomorrow for the most part is rain free seven o'clock tomorrow morning, sunshine 10 o'clock bright, noontime bright, a few scattered clouds developing during the afternoon here tomorrow with a high temperature of 82 to 86 looking more and more likely that we may have a few raindrops to dodge on Saturday. We'll update that on 22 new starting at five trending today. An upcoming professional clothing drive aims to help members of the community seeking economic independence and new employment opportunities. It's hosted by months and savings bank and we'll accept gently used and clean professional business attire. Donations will benefit to non profit organizations suit up Springfield and dress for success of western Massachusetts. The drive runs from september 8th through the 12th at all months in savings bank branches during normal business hours. September just began, but you might already be on the upcoming. Your mind might already be on the upcoming holiday season. While it may feel far away, experts say it's a good idea to think about booking flights now. The advice has long been that the best time to book a domestic flight is 1-2 months before. But experts say that advice is outdated now with the war in Iran driving up fuel prices, prices are expected to rise as we get closer to the holidays. Now for a look at what we're working on for 22 news starting at five Republican U. S. Senate candidate john deaton stopped by 22 news today for an exclusive interview with patrick berry on in focus. Find out his plans to cut down both health care and utility costs. Plus, we're continuing to track the latest developments in the Lindsay Clancy trial and we're just a few days away from Labor Day weekend, a time known for ramping up travel numbers. We'll have a look at this year's travel outlook and the best time to hit the road. If you're hitting the road right now, we've got traffic building through downtown Springfield, typical for this time of day and light back up at the end of 2 91 at 90 and the slight backup that was happening on I-91 near Mount Tom and Holyoke has since cleared up. So no major traffic problems. We could be dealing with a little bit of rain over the weekend. We'll update those chances on 22 news starting at five. Thanks brian and thanks for joining us this afternoon for 22 news at four. Join us on tv tonight starting at five. You can get all your local news and weather updates anytime on W. W. L. P. Dot com. The 22 news mobile app.