Good morning, Springfield.

TJO Adoption Center — the local shelter — is struggling to manage rising pet surrenders as economic pressures force owners to give up their animals.

Staff urge locals to adopt pets today to ease overcrowding and provide better care.

The Springfield Business Improvement District and Springfield Thunderbirds are hosting Harvest Fest on Oct.

17 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Court Square where families can grab one of 500 free sugar pumpkins and enjoy face painting, games, and local vendors.

The Weight Band led by Jim Weider will perform at 52 Sumner on Friday, Oct.

16 at 8 p.m. The band will mix classic hits and original songs, and tickets cost $39 + $55.

Hampden Charter won a close boys' cross country race at Palmer on Tuesday, with key runners including Carter Blake finishing strongly.

Both teams will have one more meet before the Western Mass Championship Race on Nov. 7.

Western Mass. Football Top 20 rankings show Minnechaug moving to No. 4 after beating East Longmeadow and Frontier advancing to No. 14 following a dominant win, while a big Week 6 matchup will be held tomorrow in Wilbraham as the Bombers face the Falcons.

MassLive released the fifth WMass girls volleyball ranking on Oct.

14 and showed that Longmeadow held the No. 1 spot while Springfield Central stayed third and SICS joined the top 10 for the first time.+The report highlighted key plays by the teams' standouts.