Illinois
It's Wasp Season In Illinois: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Kill Them
![It's Wasp Season In Illinois: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Kill Them It's Wasp Season In Illinois: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Kill Them](https://townsquare.media/site/671/files/2024/06/attachment-gettyimages-1220967778-170667a.jpg?w=1200&q=75&format=natural)
I have very little trouble admitting that I’ve killed more than a few wasps in my time. I’ve always had a live and let live relationship with bees, but wasps have always been on my kill-on-sight list.
I even went so far as to order the most souped-up electric bug-zapping racket I could find on Amazon. This thing is a one touch-one corpse gadget, and it has left a pile of wasp bodies in its wake, let me tell you. I also added the salt shooting “Bug-A-Salt” gun to my backyard arsenal. Think of it as a shotgun that fires table salt that obliterates insect pests.
Bug-A-Salt, Facebook
Dead wasps The concept of a tired worker
It Turns Out That Wasps Do A Lot Of Good. Really.
So what good are these things that offer up painful stings, build nests under our eaves and decks, and seemingly do little else besides buzz around you and your family while you’re trying to enjoy a night on the patio?
A piece up at ThoughtCo.com says that wasps of all sorts offer some great ecological benefits like “pollination, predation, and parasitism.” I know what the first two are, but the last one sounds like a word that describes many politicians.
Wasps are apparently interested in more things than just stinging us:
For instance, paper wasps carry caterpillars and leaf beetle larvae back to their nests to feed their growing young. Hornets provision their nests with all manner of live insects to sate the appetites of their developing larvae. It takes a lot of bugs to feed a hungry brood, and it’s through these needs that both hornets and paper wasps provide vital pest control services.
Gallic polist forages a flower in summer.
So, wasps handle some of the much-needed pollination jobs, and they kill and eat all sorts of pests like caterpillars, spiders, and aphids. However, they are temperamental and territorial, and will happily sting you.
I’m not going to apologize for the ones I’ve “removed from the game,” but maybe I might not be so quick to grab my zapping racket and Bug-A-Salt gun in the future.
LOOK: 20 of the biggest insects in the world
Gallery Credit: Andrea Vale
LOOK: 20 of the strangest natural phenomena in America
Gallery Credit: Martha Sandoval
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Illinois
Vice President Harris calls family of woman shot to death in Illinois
![Vice President Harris calls family of woman shot to death in Illinois Vice President Harris calls family of woman shot to death in Illinois](https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best/mpx/2704722219/2024_07/1722036681736_nn_mve_sonya_massey_family_speaks_out_240726_1920x1080-svfbz0.jpg)
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Illinois
Sonya Massey, shot by Illinois sheriff’s deputy, died of gunshot wound to the head, autopsy finds
![Sonya Massey, shot by Illinois sheriff’s deputy, died of gunshot wound to the head, autopsy finds Sonya Massey, shot by Illinois sheriff’s deputy, died of gunshot wound to the head, autopsy finds](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/07/22/b71eb768-5b0d-4ca9-a933-4f20dd0d8d32/thumbnail/1200x630/709a3e0c69bff9527fe55e9a5ed3fcb9/sonya-massey.jpg?v=5501038cbc281520ff9fdc308faab7dc)
CHICAGO (CBS) — Authorities in central Illinois on Friday released an autopsy report that confirmed 36-year-old Sonya Massey died of a gunshot wound to the head, after she was shot by a sheriff’s deputy in Springfield earlier this month.
According to the autopsy report from the Sangamon County Coroner’s office, Massey was shot just beneath her left eye, and the bullet exited the back of her upper neck. The bullet caused a skull fracture, perforated her carotid artery, and caused bleeding in her brain.
Massey also suffered minor blunt force injuries to her right leg.
Sangamon County Sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and is being held in the Sangamon County Jail while he awaits trial. He was fired by the sheriff’s office after the shooting.
After learning of the autopsy results on Friday, Massey’s family said they are still struggling mentally and emotionally nearly three weeks after her death.
“I haven’t been able to sleep for real. The only time I really feel comfortable sleeping is when I’m just on the floor. I can’t even sleep in my bed,” said her son, Malachi Hill-Massey. “I really don’t have words. Like I’ve been said, I don’t have words for real.”
Massey’s uncle, Raymond, said her daughter has been “having nightmares to the point where we have to check the room.”
“It just makes me so angry to see my family hurt as they do,” Raymond said.
Bodycam video shows sheriff’s deputy shooting Massey inside her home
Authorities said Massey, a Black mother of two, called 911 in the early morning hours on Saturday, July 6, to report a suspected prowler outside her house near Springfield, Illinois.
The bodycam video shows Grayson and his partner, who are both White, arriving at Massey’s home, and searching outside the house and talking to Massey at the front door. They are later seen inside her home, and Deputy Grayson instructs Massey to check on a pot overheating on the stove, saying they don’t need a fire in the house.
Massey went to turn off the flame and picked up the pot. She asked where the deputies were going, to which Grayson replied, “Away from your hot, steaming water.”
Massey replied, “Away from my hot, steaming water?” and then twice said, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
“You’d better f***ing not. I swear to God, I’ll f***ing shoot you right in your f***ing face,” Grayson said. He then raised his gun and yelled at Massey to “drop the f***ing pot!”
Massey is seen apologizing and ducking for cover. Grayson opens fire—three shots are heard.
Massey’s family and friends claim authorities tried to cover up the fatal shooting
The family said if it weren’t for the bodycam video of the shooting that was released on Monday, no one would know the truth.
Massey’s friends and family have said police first suggested it was a neighbor who had a previous dispute with Massey who shot her, and then later suggested the shooting was self-inflicted.
Massey’s oldest son, Malachi, said no one from law enforcement ever told the family who actually shot Massey. He said he didn’t learn until he saw it on the news the next day.
Illinois
Sonya Massey shooting: Illinois State Police release bodycam
![Sonya Massey shooting: Illinois State Police release bodycam Sonya Massey shooting: Illinois State Police release bodycam](https://images.foxtv.com/c107833-mcdn.mp.lura.live/expiretime=2082787200/045f9857006d2eb25ae7074b1749b6a600ea53a841f23c4cc76101bb6923a28e/iupl/8AE/0F0/1280/720/8AE0F0486EE28D980F7D6F3489777EF8.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
National outrage continues after Illinois State Police released new bodycam video of a sheriff’s deputy fatally shooting a Black woman in her home. Two officers were at Sonya Massey’s home to investigate reports of a prowler in the neighborhood. Please be warned that the video may be disturbing for some.
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