The Indigo Girls will soon play near Springfield. Click "music" above for details. On October 24 the band played an excellent concert in Morristown, New Jersey. photo by Eesha Williams

Isaac Evans-Frantz lives in Brattleboro. Last year, he ran for U.S. senate and was endorsed by the Vermont Progressive Party (VPP). Vermont's current lieutenant governor is a member of VPP. On August 4, 2023, Evans-Frantz told the Valley Post that “dozens” of people attended a LGBTQIA rights march in Brattleboro on August 2.

About 100 people attended a rally in Springfield on July 17. Nurses are asking the community to join them in protesting corporate moves to make health care in the region worse. Nurses at Mercy Medical Center, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) union (www.MassNurses.org) held an informational picket outside the hospital on July 17 in response to Mercy's owner Trinity Health Corporation recently closing 20 intermediate care beds, “temporarily” closing other essential services without any indication they will be re-opened, and creating a staffing and patient care crisis.

A labor rally is set for July 17 in Springfield. Nurses are asking the community to join them in protesting corporate moves to make health care in the region worse. Nurses at Mercy Medical Center, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association union (www.MassNurses.org) will hold an informational picket outside the hospital on July 17 in response to Mercy's owner Trinity Health Corporation recently closing 20 intermediate care beds, “temporarily” closing other essential services without any indication they will be re-opened, and creating a staffing and patient care crisis.

In Springfield, 170 people marched on May 21 to protest a proposed fossil fuel pipeline. "It was amazing," Susan Theberge told the Valley Post. She is one of the organizers. The organizers have a web site at:

www.arisespringfield.org/springfield-climate-justice-coaliti

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In Brattleboro, about 10 people attended a rally for farmworker justice on May 21. The organizers have a web site at www.MigrantJustice.net.

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More than 100 people attended an abortion rights rally in Greenfield on May 13. The number one cause of climate change is overpopulation. Susan Triolo told the Valley Post that information about abortion rights will soon be at www.indivisible.org. Triolo was one of the organizers of the Greenfield rally. From the north Greenfield exit to the southern Brattleboro exit on Interstate 91 takes 15 minutes by car, according to Google Maps. Amtrak and Greyhound run between Greenfield and Brattleboro.

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About 350 workers in Springfield, Massachusetts had a major victory when they voted to approve a new union contract. “I feel great,” Iris Rivera-Medina told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on February 9. “We fought hard. Everyone is happy with the contract.” She has worked making breakfast and lunch for children at the public schools in Springfield for seven years. Rivera-Medina works for Sodexo corporation. “We won a raise of $3.50 an hour over the three year contract. New hires make $15.92 an hour now. People who have worked here for a long time make more.”

Despite snow falling, six African American people attended an outdoor rally in Springfield on January 12. A white man who allegedly killed a black woman in the city is free. “If a black man had killed a white woman, first degree murder, he would not be free,” Charles Stokes told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on January 13. He was at the rally with the victim's family. Police say Frederick Pinney killed TayClair Moore in 2014. In 2021 he was released from prison.

About 40 people attended a rally in Springfield on May 31. The goal was to stop a proposed fossil fuel pipeline that would go about six miles from Springfield to Longmeadow, Massachusetts. The pipeline would cost around $40 million.

Naia Tenerowicz is a spokesperson for the two groups that organized the rally. On June 1, she told the Valley Post that the groups were the Longmeadow Pipeline Awareness Group, and the Springfield Climate Justice Coalition.

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About 50 people attended a rally in Springfield on April 12. The goal was to get politicians to provide high quality homes for homeless people. The group that organized the rally has a web site at www.SpringfieldNoOneLeaves.org.

The most recent data for how many people in the USA are homeless comes from January 2020. At that time about 580,000 people were homeless. That data is from:

https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statist...