On August 10, eight women were arrested at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for non-violent civil disobedience. They were calling for the reactor to be closed immediately. Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire.

The women were handcuffed and taken away in police cars at the same time as 16 Vermont elected officials and candidates for public office were taking a tour of Vermont Yankee. The protesters held a banner that read, “Shut It Down Now” at the afternoon protest.

Wal-Mart wants to build a massive new store and parking lot, destroying open space in Greenfield. The town Planning Board will hold a hearing about Wal-Mart's scheme on September 2. “Please save the date, and encourage your friends to come and speak out against this environmentally and economically valueless plan,” said Greenfield resident Al Norman.

The hearing will start at 7 p.m. at the middle school auditorium.

In Greenfield, Wal-Mart lost a vote by the people 17 years ago. The company wanted to build in town; it was rejected by a vote of the people.

On August 10 at noon, there will be a rally in Springfield to support a law that would help reduce the control that corporations have over politicians. The Fair Elections Now Act was introduced in the U.S. senate by senators Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter, and in the House by congressmen John Larson and Walter Jones, Jr. The bill would allow federal candidates to run for office without relying on big "donations" (also known as "bribes") from corporate lobbyists. The bill is supported by www.greenpeace.org and some of the nation's biggest labor unions, including www.afscme.org

The problem-plagued Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. The outcome of primary elections on August 24 in Vermont are likely to have a major impact on whether Entergy, the Louisiana corporation that owns Vermont Yankee, will get permission to run the reactor until 2032. The Vermont senate voted in February to close Vermont Yankee in March 2012. But Entergy officials are trying to get the senate to reverse itself when the senate reconvenes in January.

On August 10, there will be a public hearing about a government plan to provide better local bus service in the Keene and Brattleboro region. The relevant buses will serve Keene; Claremont, NH; Putney, Vermont; and other towns.

The Southwest (NH) Region Planning Commission will hold the hearing at the Charlestown, NH public library at 226 Main Street from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m.

Traveling by bus or train, rather than by car, reduces global warming, suburban sprawl, acid rain, lung cancer, and other problems.

This month, the state of Vermont gave the all-volunteer run Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association $591,000 to buy land near Brattleboro. The Pinnacle is the highest and most scenic peak in Westminster, Vermont, near Brattleboro. From the Pinnacle you can see Stratton Mountain, more than 20 miles away. The Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association owns 1,662 acres in Rockingham, Athens, Brookline, and Westminster, all of which is open to the public. There is a 14 mile hiking trail and a wildlife sanctuary. Details are at www.windmillhillpinnacle.org

Brattleboro residents defeated a plan by the administration of lame duck Republican governor Jim Douglas and lieutenant-governor Brian Dubie – the Republican who wants to be elected governor in November – that would have narrowed already-narrow sidewalks in downtown Brattleboro. The goal was to make cars, trucks, and SUVs drive faster through the world-famous, historic downtown on the shore of the Connecticut river. Dubie-Douglas also wanted to cut down trees on Main Street.

Pisgah State Park, with thousands of acres, is the biggest state park in New Hampshire. It is in the town of Hinsdale, and two other towns. Hinsdale is directly across the river from Brattleboro. The following article was written by Jeffrey Scott and Marti Hobbes of the group Defenders of Pisgah. It was posted on a bulletin board at one of the entrances to the park on June 27. The only contact info provided for the group was:

P.O. Box 31
Spofford, NH 03462

More than a third of some 11,000 eligible voters showed up to vote in Greenfield on June 8. They overwhelmingly vetoed the Greenfield mayor’s and city council’s support of plans by an incinerator corporation to build in Greenfield. The company is Madera Energy Corporation (MEC).

Janet Sinclair was a leader of the campaign against the incinerator. “This is a great victory,” she said.

An MEC spokesman said his company would seek to build an incinerator in Greenfield despite the will of the people.

Motorcycle noise is a problem every summer in the Valley, said Cliff Crowley. He is working to pass laws to limit the noise. He is a member of a national group, Noise Free America www.NoiseFree.org New Hampshire is one of the worst states for motorcycle noise. Keene has more motorcycles per capita than most cities in New Hampshire, according to the group.