Police and firefighter/paramedics from Batavia responded about 9:06 a.m. Monday, September 28, 2020 to a report that a worker was trapped underwater beneath a commercial lawnmower in the block of 900 Moorehead Drive in Batavia. The subject was freed from the mower and pulled to shore of a retention pond by Batavia police officers, Batavia firefighters and the subject's co-workers who were working in the area. During the rescue, it was unknown how long the victim was underwater. The victim was transported to Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The cause of death is under investigation, and no foul play is suspected. Initially the victim's name was not released pending notification of family members.  

State health officials announced on Monday 1,709 new cases of the coronavirus and 13 additional deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus. Over the weekend, the state added more than 4,000 new cases, marking the 4th time in a week the state reported more than 2,000 new cases in a single day. The statewide totals now stand at 289,639 confirmed infections and 8,614 known deaths. Another 2,489 probable cases and 244 probable deaths are not included in the official totals. Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned last week that Region 1 in the northwest of the state is seeing infections rise at "a concerning rate," with a positivity rate of 7.5 percent, just below the threshold that would trigger new restrictions on restaurants and other businesses.  

A semi struck a car two miles north of Mendota just after 6:30am Tuesday. It happened at Rt 251 and North 46th road and the impact pushed the car into the northwest ditch just short of a utility pole. The intersection is open to traffic as of 8:15am. Mendota Fire Chief Dennis Rutishauser says there was one person each in the car and the semi. Rutishauser cannot comment further at this time. After the accident, the truck involved was parked a few hundred feet west of the intersection as deputies investigated. LaSalle County Sheriff's office will write up the accident report.  

A fast-moving fire trapped three children inside a Bronx home on Monday morning. They had to be rescued by firefighters. Police said the girls' mother brought her 7-year-old son to the hospital for an unspecified injury and left the three girls, who range in age from 16 months to 6 years old, home alone. They were found on the second floor struggling to breathe, firefighters told CBS2's Alice Gainer. As smoke poured out the two-story building on Burke Avenue in the Allerton section of the borough, neighbors could only watch as firefighters streamed in. In all, approximately 60 first responders answered the call and the blaze was under control by 10:10 a.m. "Windows blown out, fire coming out," Miasotis Linares said. Linares was the one who called 911 at around 9:30 a.m. She said her stomach turned when she realized there were kids inside. "One of the firemen came out with a lifeless child, ran into the ambulance, put the child down and commenced CPR," Linares said.  

Philadelphia is about to promote its first Black female battalion fire chief. CBS3 spoke exclusively with the trailblazing firefighter for our Justice and Understanding series. "It kind of feels weird because I've been a captain for seven years so to hear chief, because people have already started, but I'm like no, that's not me yet," Capt. Lisa Forrest said. Not yet, but soon enough Capt. Forrest of Ladder 24 in West Philadelphia will be Battalion Chief Forrest. She will be the first Black woman to hold that title in the department's history. "The fire department has been in existence for 149 years so to hear that, it's not surprising and I'm going, to be honest, I didn't think that I would be the first," Forrest said. She says she fell into the career. Her original plan was to be a nurse. She enlisted in the Army after high school and a year at Penn State University. She was discharged due to an injury and when she returned home, the first department was hiring. She says she only planned on staying for five years.  

Gov. Gavin Newsom has approved legislation prompted by the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others in Calabasas earlier this year. The bill signed Monday makes it a crime for first responders to take unauthorized photos of deceased people at the scene of an accident or crime. Reports surfaced after the Jan. 26 crash that graphic photos of the victims were being shared by eight deputies. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the department has a policy against taking and sharing crime scene photos, but it does not apply to accident scenes. Vanessa Bryant has sued the sheriff in a lawsuit seeking damages for negligence, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. "This lawsuit is about accountability and about preventing this disgraceful behavior from happening to other families in the future who have suffered loss," Vanessa Bryant's attorney, Luis Li, said in a statement.  

An explosion related to an earlier reported gas leak in Dubuque was the source of a large fire on Monday evening along Loras Boulevard. Dubuque Fire Department Chief Rick Steines said that a house was destroyed in the explosion, but nobody who lives there was injured. One firefighter was hurt, though the extent of their injury was not released. Eyewitness accounts said that the explosion shook nearby structures. Video from the scene shows multiple emergency crews responding to the fire, which was still burning intensely over 40 minutes after reports came into the KCRG-TV9 newsroom. The fire was extinguished shortly after 7:00 p.m. At around 4:00 p.m., the Dubuque Fire Department reported a gas leak in the 400 block of Loras Boulevard. Officials described it as an "isolated" leak from a gas main and that crews were arriving to begin repairs. One home was evacuated in the immediate area.