On September 5 at 4 p.m. in Springfield there will be a rally to protest the high on-the-job death rate for construction workers. The rally will be outside 122 Chestnut Street. Better enforcement of workplace safety laws could save the lives of some of the 5,000 or so people who die on the job annually in the USA. For example, workers are generally required to wear a safety harness when they are on a roof. For every worker who dies on the job, many more are seriously injured. One of the groups that's organizing the event has a web site at www.jwj.org.

********

The USA is on land stolen from Native Americans. Despite the best efforts of the government for the past 242 years to kill Native Americans, they are still alive, and fighting the system. Activists are calling on politicians to raise taxes on billionaires and give the money to Native Americans. In recent weeks, several people from the Valley were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience for Native American rights, and other issues, as part of the Poor People's Campaign.

Police in Springfield on June 4 charged 21 protesters with trespassing on state property. The protesters were using nonviolent civil disobedience to bring attention to politicians' failure to address air pollution that makes Springfield the nation's worst city for people with asthma. The same air pollution – largely from cars – causes climate change, which the world's leading scientists say is a major threat to earth's ability to support human life. Solutions include raising the gas tax to European levels, and improving public transportation, sidewalks, and bicycle paths.

Unless people get active to stop the plan, thousands of acres of Green Mountain National Forest that are about 10 miles from Brattleboro will probably be clearcut logged soon. “They are coming hard with the chainsaws to Green Mountain National Forest,” Chris Matera told the Valley Post. “What a sorry site it will be to look down from the top of Mount Snow and see clearcuts instead of that beautiful intact forest we see now.” A photo of that view is at:

www.valleypost.org/2013/01/16/photo-vermont-forest-and-lake

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.