These photos show people swimming in a lake at Pisgah State Park, and relaxing on the shoreline. Pisgah is the biggest state park in New Hampshire. It's about a 10 minute drive from Brattleboro, Keene, and Northfield, Massachusetts. The photos were taken on July 2. Mountain laurel flowers are visible in the second photo. To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "See full-size image." photos by Eesha Williams

Information on land use in the Valley is at www.valleypost.org/2008/01/09/place-open-space

This photo was taken on June 7. It shows an anti-nuclear banner that was hung from a bridge over Interstate 91 in Putney, Vermont, near Brattleboro. The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. More information on Vermont Yankee, and the movement to close it, is at http://valleypost.org/node/536

To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "See full-size image."

photo by Eesha Williams

Workers at a state-funded agency in Holyoke are asking the public to help them win a fair contract. "Our bosses want to take away some of our co-workers' health insurance," said April Elias. She works as a "parent aide" at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The union contract covers Elias and about 100 other workers at the Society's office in Holyoke.

The workers have elected a small group of their colleagues to negotiate a new contract. The negotiators met with management on June 1. The current three-year contract will expire on June 30.

In Springfield on May 7, dozens of activists occupied the Bank of America branch on Oak Street to protest the multi-billion dollar corporation’s decision to force poor people out of their homes. The action was organized by the No One Leaves Campaign, spokesman Malcolm Chu told the Valley Post.

The occupation followed a march up State Street with marchers chanting "Bank of America, Bad for America!"

More information is available at www.SpringfieldNoOneLeaves.org

To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "See full-size image."

In what could be a model for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and the nation, Vermont is poised to enact single-payer health care. On May 1, more than 2,000 people, including a large contingent from Brattleboro, marched on the Vermont statehouse.

The march was part of a movement that has earned the support of Vermont governor Peter Shumlin, and the state legislature. Shumlin lives in Putney, near Brattleboro. The insurance industry is working to kill the movement's momentum in the legislature.

This photo was taken on April 25. It shows goats watching rain fall outside their shelter at the New Leaf CSA farm in Dummerston, Vermont near Brattleboro. The goats are milked and the milk is made into cheese. To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "See full-size image." photo by Eesha Williams

In what could be a model for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and the nation, Vermont is poised to enact single-payer health care. A march and rally that will be held on May 1 in Montpelier is part of a mass movement that has earned the support of Vermont governor Peter Shumlin, and the state legislature. Shumlin lives in Putney, near Brattleboro. The insurance industry is working to kill the movement's momentum in the legislature.

This photo was taken on April 2. It shows the Connecticut river; Brattleboro; Hinsdale, New Hampshire; and Bernardston, Massachusetts. To make the photo bigger, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full-size image." photo by Eesha Williams

These photos were taken on March 27. They show rock carvings, made more than 200 years ago by Abenaki Native Americans, in Bellows Falls, Vermont. That's about 20 minutes by car or Amtrak from Brattleboro. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to the carvings from the train station.

In an interview with the Valley Post, Colin Calloway authenticated the carvings. Calloway is professor of Native American history at Dartmouth College, and the author of "The Western Abenakis in Vermont," among many other books. The paint was added much more recently.

More than 600 people attended a protest vigil at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant near Brattleboro and Greenfield on March 20. The action was organized by www.NukeBusters.org "NRC" usually stands for Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that has more than 1,000 employees and gets 98 percent of its money from the industry it regulates. There are 104 reactors at 65 locations in the U.S. Closing one of them would result in lay-offs at the NRC. More information on Vermont Yankee is at http://valleypost.org/node/536