22News at 4: Digital Edition 9/15/26

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to 20 News at 4. I'm Christina DeMores. We'll get to your top four at four in just a moment. But first, a look at your commute of traffic and weather. 20 News Storm Team Meteorologist Brian Lappas is here with us this afternoon. Brian, beautiful weather again today. Yeah, pretty much a repeat of yesterday. We got down to 43-ish this morning at least at Westover Air Reserve Base, right? Chilly. You know what? If I remember, I'll show you the low temperature map when I do my little second visit here. That'd be great. Later. All right. We'd love to see it. What's going on with traffic? OK, we'll take a look at that right now. Got a bit of a backup now on I-91 southbound in the south end of Springfield, headed toward Long Meadow. That's something to be a little early for that kind of a backup here in downtown Springfield. But otherwise, traffic is moving normally the way it looks right now. Let's take a look at temperatures. And there they are, 74 in Greenfield, 71 Springfield, 68 Northampton, 69 in Westfield. So still a little brisk here for this time of year up and down the valley. Humidity remains low. There are a few scattered clouds off to the west and they'll be moving in tonight. So I'm expecting scattered clouds and temperatures in the 40s and 50s early tomorrow morning. We'll update with our 22 News Storm Team Skycast. Thanks, Brian. A man from Vermont has been sentenced to life in prison for the murders of two men from Western Massachusetts. According to court documents, Theodore Bland murdered 21-year-old Jaheim Solomon of Pittsfield and 21-year-old Eric White of Chicopee. The murder happened in the bedroom of a house in Lowell, Vermont, where Bland then tried to hide their bodies in a forest in Eden. After the murder, he stole cocaine, fentanyl and an assault rifle. In addition to his life sentence, Bland will also pay over $12,000 to a Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services. Three people are facing multiple charges in connection with an armed home invasion in Ludlow last week. Police responded to the incident at a William Street home around 930 in the morning on Thursday. They say two men broke in and hit two of the people living there. Police later identified the car they believed the suspects were driving, which was later pulled over by Chicopee Police. Officers found a gun and several other items believed to be connected to the home invasion. The suspects have been identified as 25-year-old Ajaya Gladden, 30-year-old Jayla Warren, and 26-year-old Shamal Thomas. All three were arrested in Chicopee and turned over to Ludlow Police. They were arraigned on Friday in Springfield District Court. Firefighters in Springfield this morning responded to a report of hazardous materials on Corondo Drive. Springfield Fire Captain Drew Piamonte told 22 News it was a Tier 2 hazmat response. Piamonte said a lid came off a five-gallon container. Firefighters are not sure what the chemical is at this time. No injuries have been reported. And this is a developing story. We'll bring you the latest as soon as more information becomes available. Firefighters are warning people to be careful with lithium-ion batteries after a device sparked a fire in Montague Monday afternoon. The fire was reported sometime between noon and one in the basement of a Montague Avenue home. The fire was contained to the basement and all residents were safely evacuated. The cause was found to be a lithium-ion battery that was charging on a workbench. Fire officials are reminding people that rechargeable batteries can fail even while charging and if there are no obvious signs of damage or wear. Now let's get another check of today's weather with Brian Lapis here. Brian, it was chilly this morning. I had all the windows up in my home. Felt nice to have all that breeze coming in. Yeah, kind of like a cleansing sort of situation, right? Yeah, very refreshing. Lows this morning got down into the low 40s. By the way, record low for, yeah, we'll come back to this. Oh, oh, oh, I'm still part of this. Hello. Brought to you by Dramamine. 31, the record low for this date at Westover Air Reserve Base. So we didn't get close to that, but it was still a fairly chilly start to the day. 43 this morning in Chicopee, 40 degrees in Orange, 42 Westfield, and 40 in North Adams. Right now, we are clear with scattered clouds and temperatures in the mid 60s to low 70s. Let's look into the future. A few more clouds here tonight than we had last night. So we'll call it scattered to variable clouds. Evening temperatures will be in the 60s and 50s. Overnight low temperatures, you know, early tomorrow morning will be in the 40s and 50s. So dry day here tomorrow, 7 o'clock tomorrow morning, partly sunny, sunshine at 10. A few clouds trying to meander in here during the afternoon hours, but another fair weather day is expected. A little bit warmer though. High temperatures of 76 to 80. We'll update our rain chances for Thursday on 22 News at 5. With the Big E just days away, the U.S. Navy has announced an immersive new experience coming to the fair. The Strike Group is a mixed reality experience providing realistic demonstrations of STEM careers within the Navy. Fairgoers can wear VR headsets and work together to launch an F-35 fighter jet. Participants can also work as a virtual Navy diver driving a boat and helping to fix a damaged pier. You can catch the experience at the Big E Fair from September 18th to the 20th. Health experts are now saying tennis is considered the healthiest sport to play. A sports medicine physician doctor at Columbia University says tennis has a powerful impact on the mind and body. A study published in Mayo Clinic also found tennis players live almost 10 years longer than people who are sedentary. They say tennis works the entire body, boosts cardiovascular health, in addition to helping with bone health and mental health. Now for a look at what we're working on for 22 News starting at 5. Registered nurses at Baystate Franklin are demanding new contracts. We'll have the latest on the requests and Baystate Health's response. Plus, the battle over a proposed data center in Westville continues this evening. We'll take you to tonight's planning board meeting. And the South Alley Fire Department has received a $50,000 donation. How this money will strengthen the department's emergency response capabilities. Traffic is running a little slow a little early in downtown Springfield on I-91 South. There's a backup there at the end of 291 and it's slow right through Forest Park in Springfield. So keep that in mind on I-91. Otherwise, traffic looks pretty good. A little bit of rain here before the end of the week. We'll update our chances on 22 News starting at 5. Hi, thank you Brian and thank you for joining us this afternoon for 22 News at 4. Join us on TV tonight starting at 5. Get all your local news and weather updates anytime on WWLP.com and the 22 News mobile app.