In a win for activists who fight for affordable housing, downtown Brattleboro will get a new apartment building. “This project will provide beautiful new homes for folks wanting to live close to all the amenities available in downtown Brattleboro," Elizabeth Bridgewater told the Valley Post on March 8. She runs the non-profit group that will build the housing. Bridgewater's group has a web site at www.w-wht.org.

The building will be constructed at 23 Flat Street, which is now a vacant lot, and will have about two dozen apartments.

Workers in Northampton, Brattleboro, and Keene have a new union contract. They work at AT&T. Matt Arnts lives near Keene and works at AT&T. “It was a tough fight,” he told the Valley Post on January 30. “I'm proud that we stuck together to get a fair contract.”

The contract boosts wages. To win the contract, the workers went on strike for three days. They have a web site at www.cwa-union.org.

AT&T's CEO makes $28 million a year.

Bicycle and pedestrian rights activists in Brattleboro had two major victories recently. A bridge across the Connecticut River that officials had considered demolishing will be maintained for pedestrians and bicycle riders -- no motorized vehicles allowed. Cars will be banned when a new bridge opens near the existing one. That will happen five years from now. Construction is expected to start in 2020. Officials announced the news on January 18. Details are at:

www.nh.gov/dot/projects/hinsdalebrattleboro12210/index.htm

People who live in the Valley, eat eggs, cheese, or meat, and care about farm animals' quality of life may need to visit farms themselves. President Trump is weakening so-called “animal welfare standards” for organic food. Enid Wonnacott runs the Vermont chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association. On December 29, she told the Valley Post that Trump “has blocked the movement of the animal welfare standards that we have worked on for years.”

In Brattleboro on December 9, people held a downtown rally for peace. The focus was on Honduras and Palestine. “We speak out today at a time when the U.S. government fuels wars across the globe,” the Brattleboro event organizers said. “The longest war in U.S. history is currently in Afghanistan.” About 20 people were at the event. They will have another peace rally at the same location, Pliny Park at the corner of Main and High streets, on December 17 at noon. Details are at:

www.facebook.com/events/1550784861675928

Nearly 800 acres of land will probably be protected from development, 74 workers are forming a union, and activists had at least a temporary victory stopping a billion dollar bank from evicting a poor family from its home.

In Vermont, 539 low wage workers have formed a union. Fifteen of the workers are in Brattleboro. They are professors at the Community College of Vermont (CCV), which has campuses around the state. “I sometimes have trouble paying my rent. Other professors do too,” Kathleen Moore told the Valley Post in a telephone interview on October 14. She has taught at CCV for almost a decade.

In Brattleboro, president Donald Trump's employees are planning to deport a black man to Africa. A rally to support Mamadou Bah will be on October 14 at 4 p.m. at Pliny Park in Brattleboro. Bah does not want to be deported. He is from Guinea. He has been in the USA since 2002. He has never committed a crime.

The average life expectancy in Guinea is 59 years. In the USA it is 79. A powerful video of Bah talking about his situation, and more information about the rally, are at www.facebook.com/events/1929746080620559.

The Lonesome Brothers will perform public concerts near Brattleboro, in Northampton, and in other towns around the Valley. They have played at the Valley's best live music venue, the Iron Horse Music Hall.

On September 3, they will perform a public concert in Guilford, Vermont, near Brattleboro.

A video of the Lonesome Brothers performing live is at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFys8S71QRc

The Northampton concert is on December 31 at the World War II Club. Between now and then, the band will play several other concerts around the Valley. Details are at:

On July 29 in Northampton, there will be a march for universal health care. The march starts at 1 p.m. at Childs Park, which is bordered by North Elm and Prospect streets, and by Woodlawn Avenue. As of July 26, more than 65 people had RSVP'd at:

www.facebook.com/events/121333305132027