Chicopee crews investigate cause of residential fire on Circle Drive
Giant pigeons and Campbell's tomato soup can displayed in Springfield
Our 22News crews arrived on the scene just around 4:30 p.m., and could see multiple fire crews, as well as an ambulance, and police.
Significant damage to the roof and side of the home could be seen with multiple firefighters going in and out of the home. A cat also seemed to be rescued. We have reached out to Chicopee Fire for more information on how the fire started.
There is no word on whether anyone was home or injured. We will continue to update this story and bring updated information as soon as it becomes available.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
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Los Angeles Times
09-08-2025
- Los Angeles Times
‘Silence is violence': Teachers, retirees, first-time activists stand up to immigration raids
'Thank you so much for showing up this morning,' Sharon Nicholls said into a megaphone at 8 a.m. Wednesday outside a Home Depot in Pasadena. As of Friday afternoon, no federal agents had raided the store on East Walnut Street. But the citizen brigade that stands watch outside and patrols the parking lot in search of ICE agents has not let down its guard—especially not after raids at three other Home Depots in recent days despite federal court rulings limiting sweeps. About two dozen people gathered near the tent that serves as headquarters of the East Pasadena Community Defense Center. Another dozen or so would be arriving over the next half hour, some carrying signs. 'Silence is Violence' 'Migrants Don't Party With Epstein' Cynthia Lunine, 70, carried a large sign that read 'Break His Dark Spell' and included a sinister image of President Trump. She said she was new to political activism, but added: 'You can't not be an activist. If you're an American, it's the only option. The immigration issue is absolutely inhumane, it's un-Christian, and it's intolerable.' There are local supporters, for sure, of Trump's immigration crackdown. Activists told me there aren't many days in which they don't field shouted profanities or pro-Trump cheers from Home Depot shoppers. But the administration's blather about a focus on violent offenders led to huge demonstrations in greater Los Angeles beginning in June, and the cause continues to draw people into the streets. Dayena Campbell, 35, is a volunteer at Community Defense Corner operations in other parts of Pasadena, a movement that followed high-profile raids and was covered in the Colorado Boulevard newspaper and, later, in the New York Times. A fulltime student who works in sales, Campbell was also cruising the parking lot at the Home Depot on the east side of Pasadena in search of federal agents. She thought this Home Depot needed its own Community Defense Corner, so she started one about a month ago. She and her cohort have more than once spotted agents in the area and alerted day laborers. About half have scattered, she said, and half have held firm despite the risk. When I asked what motivated Campbell, she said: 'Inhumane, illegal kidnappings. Lack of due process. Actions taken without anyone being held accountable. Seeing people's lives ripped apart. Seeing families being destroyed in the blink of an eye.' Anywhere from a handful to a dozen volunteers show up daily to to hand out literature, patrol the parking lot and check in on day laborers, sometimes bringing them food. Once a week, Nicholls helps organize a rally that includes a march through the parking lot and into the store, where the protesters present a letter asking Home Depot management to 'say no to ICE in their parking lot and in their store.' Nicholls is an LAUSD teacher-librarian, and when she asks for support each week, working and retired teachers answer the call. 'I'm yelling my lungs out,' said retired teacher Mary Rose O'Leary, who joined in the chants of 'ICE out of Home Depot' and 'No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.' 'Immigrants are what make this city what it is … and the path to legal immigration is closed to everybody who doesn't have what, $5 million or something?' O'Leary said, adding that she was motivated by 'the Christian ideal of welcoming the stranger.' Retired teacher Dan Murphy speaks Spanish and regularly checks in with day laborers. 'One guy said to me, 'We're just here to work.' Some of the guys were like, 'We're not criminals … we're just here … to make money and get by,'' Murphy said. He called the raids a flexing of 'the violent arm of what autocracy can bring,' and he resents Trump's focus on Southern California. 'I take it personally. I'm white, but these are my people. California is my people. And it bothers me what might happen in this country if people don't stand firm … I just said, 'I gotta do something.' I'm doing this now so I don't hate myself later.' Nicholls told me she was an activist many years ago, and then turned her focus to work and raising a family. But the combination of wildfires, the cleanup and rebuilding, and the raids, brought her out of activism retirement. 'The first people to come out after the firefighters—the second-responders—were day laborers cleaning the streets,' Nicholls said. 'You'd see them in orange shirts all over the city, cleaning up.' The East Pasadena Home Depot is 'an important store,' because it's a supply center for the rebuilding of Altadena, 'and we're going out there to show our love and solidarity for our neighbors,' Nicholls said. To strike the fear of deportation in the hearts of workers, she said, is 'inhumane, and to me, it's morally wrong.' Nicholls had a quick response when I asked what she thinks of those who say illegal is illegal, so what's left to discuss? 'That blocks the complexity of the conversation,' she said, and doesn't take into account the hunger and violence that drive migration. Her husband, she said, left El Salvador 35 years ago during a war funded in part by the U.S. They have family members with legal status and some who are undocumented and afraid to leave their homes, Nicholls said. I mentioned that I had written about Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo, who was undocumented as a child, and has kept his passport handy since the raids began. In that column, I quoted Gordo's friend, immigrant-rights leader Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. 'Full disclosure,' Nicholls said, '[Alvarado] is my husband.' It was news to me. When the raids began, Nicholls said, she told her husband, 'I have the summer off, sweetie, but I want to help, and I'm going to call my friends.' On Wednesday, after Nicholls welcomed demonstrators, Alvarado showed up for a pep talk. 'I have lived in this country since 1990 ... and I love it as much as I love the small village where I came from in El Salvador,' Alvarado said. 'Some people may say that we are going into fascism, into authoritarianism, and I would say that we are already there.' He offered details of a raid that morning at a Home Depot in Westlake and said the question is not whether the Pasadena store will be raided, but when. This country readily accepts the labor of immigrants but it does not respect their humanity, Alvarado said. 'When humble people are attacked,' he said, 'we are here to bear witness.' Nicholls led demonstrators through the parking lot and into the store, where she read aloud the letter asking Home Depot to take a stand against raids. Outside, where it was hot and steamy by mid-morning, several sun-blasted day laborers said they appreciated the support. But they were still fearful, and desperate for work. Jorge, just shy of 70, practically begged me to take his phone number. Whatever work I might have, he said, please call.
New York Post
06-08-2025
- New York Post
Boyfriend arrested nearly 30 years after cold case murder of Officer Denna Campbell
A man charged this week with fatally shooting a police officer in her Maryland home nearly 30 years ago was the officer's live-in boyfriend and had blamed her 1995 killing on a burglary, police officials said Wednesday. Amir Jalil Ali, who was arrested Tuesday on a first-degree murder charge, initially was charged in 1995 with killing 24-year-old Denna Fredericka Campbell, an officer for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. But the charges against him were dropped two months later by prosecutors in Maryland's Montgomery County. Amir Jalil Ali, 62, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the 1995 fatal shooting of 24-year-old police officer Denna Fredericka Campbell. AP Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said he can't explain why the charges were dropped in 1995, when his office was led by a predecessor. 'I was not privy to, nor do I know, what the conversation was regarding why the charges were dropped at that point in time,' McCarthy told reporters at a news conference. Campbell, a four-year MPD veteran, was shot five times in her Silver Spring, Maryland, apartment. Her department-issued handgun was missing and hasn't been found. 'While this arrest won't erase the pain of losing Denna, we hope that it brings some resolution and sense of peace to everyone involved,' Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada said. Ali, 62, of Laurel, Maryland, was known as Kenneth Burnell Wonsom at the time of the killing. He legally changed his name in 2021, police said. Campbell was shot five times at her apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland, as she was a four-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. AP Ali told investigators that he had left their apartment after 3 a.m. on Sept. 16, 1995, to go to a store and found her body when he returned home, a police report says. Ali called 911 to report a burglary and said his girlfriend had been shot, according to the report. Officers who worked with Campbell told police detectives that she was afraid of her boyfriend and had been sleeping with her department-issued weapon under her pillow, the report says. Campbell said she planned to leave Ali, adding, 'If I don't show up for work Saturday, you'll know he killed me and buried me somewhere,' one of those colleagues told investigators. Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Detectives didn't find any evidence of a burglary at Campbell's apartment and believe she was shot with her own gun, according to the report. Based on DNA evidence, investigators believe Ali was bleeding after an altercation with Campbell. Ali remained jailed on Wednesday pending a bond hearing in a county court. Online court records don't identify an attorney representing him. Montgomery County Police Detective Paula Hamill said she spoke to Campbell's father on Tuesday and told him about Ali's arrest. 'And the only words that he could get out were 'thank God,'' Hamill added. 'It was a long time coming.' MPD Executive Assistant Chief Andre Wright said Campbell had a promising career ahead of her but had already proved herself to be 'a hero in the community she served.' 'In 1993, she selflessly pulled four victims out of a burning van on Pennsylvania Avenue,' Wright said. 'Those actions proved Officer Campbell was ready to place the safety of those in the community above herself.'
Chicago Tribune
12-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Country's rattiest city? Chicago sees 311 rodent calls drop as some seek more ecologically friendly forms of rat control
Dragging the weighted black bait box out from the brush with his boots, Ryan Campbell wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead. The 30-year-old service technician for Rose Pest Control was about halfway through his last rodent service call of the day in Ukrainian Village. He flicked the lid off the bait box, revealing an interior compartment containing dirt, dried leaves and, oddly enough, a blue Lindor chocolate truffle wrapper. Rats bring all sorts of treats into these boxes, which they sometimes use as shelter, he said. 'It's something about seeing all the nasty stuff that people don't see,' Campbell said of why he enjoys his job. 'And you just got stories.' Chicago has developed a reputation as one of America's rattiest cities, with one pest control company ranking it first for the last nine years. But recent 311 call data suggests Chicago might be making headway in reducing the city's rodent problems. While the number of rodent complaints to Chicago's 311 call center spiked in 2021 at almost 66,000, that number has decreased in the last three years, to less than 46,000 in 2024. In the first six months of 2025, the city has received about 19,000 rodent 311 complaints. Chicago's rodent control staff also seem to be taking less time to respond to 311 service calls, according to city data. The mean service request completion time decreased from about 11.5 days in 2021 to 5.3 days in 2024. The decrease in 311 calls shows the city's integrated pest management program is working, said Gloria Pittman, deputy commissioner of streets and sanitation. 'We've always used this type of process, but we've ramped things up because we weren't getting into many places,' Pittman said. The city provides baiting services to residents — putting out poison to kill off rats. It also sends teams to remove dead rats as well, Pittman added. The annual number of rodent service requests isn't a perfect measure of the city's progress in rodent control, said Maureen Murray, assistant director of the One Health Initiative at the Urban Wildlife Institute. At an individual level, many factors can influence who makes a 311 rodent call, and from where and when. Still, the data strongly correlates with other proxy measures of rat populations, especially at the neighborhood and community area levels, Murray said. Murray stressed that rodent populations can harm humans and wildlife. Rats often carry bacteria that can cause leptospirosis, a disease that can cause flu-like symptoms and organ damage, she said. And, rats can also affect mental health. Murray said her team found through surveys that people who report daily rat sightings are five times more likely to show signs of depression than other people, even when accounting for demographic factors like income and race. In Ukrainian Village, Campbell plucked the leaves and wrappers out of his bait box, and tapped the compartment a couple of times to shake off the grime. Then, he swapped out its rat poison, impaling 10 new packets on two metal rods before snapping the lid back on. 'Is it tedious? Yes,' Campbell said. 'But when it comes to a better method, my recommendation would be this: Pest control can't do it by themselves … For the maximum effort, the property owner and pest control have to work together.' Campbell's routine re-service of several residential and commercial units in the neighborhood is just one of the dozens of calls he fulfills every week. Campbell said he thinks the service area of which he's in charge, which covers parts of the West Town and Logan Square areas, have the rattiest neighborhoods. Based on total 311 rodent calls per community area between 2019 and 2024, he's spot on. West Town ranked first out of Chicago's 77 community areas, and Logan Square wasn't far behind at fourth place. They're also among the main sites where local organizations are looking for more ecologically friendly forms of rat control amid the constant struggle to tamp down Chicago's rat population. Special Service Area 33, the business improvement district for Bucktown and Wicker Park, launched a program in April to evaluate the efficacy of rodent contraceptives. It concludes at the end of the year, according to Alyssa Krueger, a spokesperson for Bucktown Wicker Park Chamber of Commerce. While preliminary results won't be available until the end of July, rodents in the area have been ingesting birth control bait, program manager Alice Howe said in an email statement. SSA 33's pilot uses Evolve, a soft bait about the size and shape of a miniature sausage. Its active ingredient is cottonseed oil, which decreases sperm production and ovarian follicle growth in rats, said Rochelle Paulet, marketing director for the company that manufactures Evolve. Paulet said using contraceptives addresses the 'other side of the equation' that traditional rat poisons, which are mainly anticoagulants that induce internal bleeding, don't. 'All of those survivors are breeding, and they're breeding constantly,' Paulet said. 'We address the reproductive side of it rather than the kill side of it.' Like with other forms of birth control, rats have to ingest Evolve regularly for it to work. The contraceptive's effects last for about six weeks at a time, Paulet said. One of the largest potential benefits of using birth control instead of rat poison is its lighter ecological footprint, Paulet said. 'Those poisons are so bad for the environment,' she said. 'Because if an owl were to come in and grab one of these rats that's consumed the poison, that anticoagulant is going to pass to the owl and cause the owl to bleed out as well.' Rat poison can have an outsized impact on urban wildlife food chains, researchers have found. Murray and her colleagues reported that 100% of the 93 raccoons, skunks and opossums they tested from Chicago were exposed to some sort of anticoagulant rodent-killer, according to a November 2024 study published in the journal . Field Museum study shows human impact on chipmunks and voles in ChicagoAt the same time, rat contraceptives probably won't be a 'silver bullet' for the rodent control industry, said Murray and Janelle Iaccino, marketing director at Rose Pest Control. For now, Iaccino said her business won't adopt the rodent contraceptives as part of their services, pointing to trials in other cities like New York where the method hasn't seen much success. 'They're not going to just bring this birth control and be like, 'Problem solved, now we won't have baby rats,'' Iaccino said. 'No, that's not realistic. Besides the products being used, it's about the knowledge. It's about reporting it — being diligent about preventing the attraction of them in the first place.' Other factors that could impede the success of rodent contraceptives include more attractive nearby food sources and how immediately people want rats to go away, Iaccino and Campbell said. Murray, who launched the Chicago Rat Project in 2018, said contraceptives need more rigorous, realistic study as a rodent control technique. While her research program first focused on tracking the microbes and diseases that Chicago's rats carry, it has zoomed out to examine the ecological impacts of rat control as well. Now, the project is in the planning stages of its own yearlong rat contraceptive pilot in partnership with Wisdom Good Works, an organization that studies humane animal control. Murray anticipates they'll get started in the fall and is hoping to see whether rat contraception might also affect the reproductive capacity of wildlife up the food chain. 'It's important to make sure that if we're putting these products out in the environment, that we exclude other animals and make sure that it's only the rats,' Murray said. And while Murray said she's excited to use new technologies to evaluate the safety and success of rat contraceptives, modifying habitats to be less rat-friendly is still the strongest form of rodent control. Those preventive measures include trimming overgrown yards and clearing out food that rats can easily access, Campbell said, gesturing at several green apples that had fallen from a nearby tree and were starting to rot. 'They got the apple trees,' he said of the neighborhood rats. 'So they don't have to eat my poison.' The city has also been trying to support these preventive measures, Pittman said. The Bureau of Rodent Control has been increasing collaboration with the Bureau of Sanitation to replace faulty garbage carts, which rats can exploit to obtain more food. And, the city is making more of an effort to service residential rat calls, she added. Between 2019 and 2024, Chicago has spent more than $80 million in rat control. In 2024 and 2025, the city earmarked more than $14 million annually toward its rodent bureau. The city's traditional rat control strategies can feel siloed off from private pest management, meaning at times, 'it's almost like we're fighting each other,' Iaccino said. Working more collaboratively could stop rats from ricocheting between private property and public alleyways, she added. Regardless of how much additional money Chicago spends on rat control or whether rodent contraceptives succeed, Campbell said from a bird's-eye view, Chicago's rats are here to stay. 'This ain't a war that anyone's gonna win,' he said after he finished pouring turquoise poison pellets down a rat burrow. 'None of us are going to eradicate rats.'
