About 150 people marched in Brattleboro on February 17, despite extreme cold and deep snow along some of the route. They were protesting Trump's policies. Emilie Kornheiser of Brattleboro chairs the Vermont House Ways and Means committee. She wants to tax the rich and help the poor. She was at the march and helped promote it.

In Brattleboro on August 18, about 75 people rallied to call on Biden and congress to stop sending weapons to Israel. The organizers have a web site at www.sovt4palestine.org

With 4 percent of the world's population, the USA spends as much money on war as the rest of the world combined.

About 40 workers voted to form a union in Monson, Massachusetts. Monson is 10 miles from downtown Springfield. The workers work at Holistic Industries, a Washington, DC-based cannabis company. They are now negotiating their first union contract. “We will absolutely get a contract signed but it will be a long fight,” Jodi Madore told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on June 27. She has worked at Holistic in Monson for three years. Madore grew up near Worcester, Massachusetts.

In a victory for nature, farmland has been saved. Developers had planned to pave it. The land borders Brattleboro and the Connecticut river. It's in Dummerston, Vermont. It is 49 acres. The Dummerston farmland committee, appointed by the select board, led this effort. The deal was announced on December 14. Funding came from votes at the annual town meeting from 2003 until Covid. The meeting will resume in 2024. The next step is to convert the land to organic farming. More information is available via:

www.dummerston.org/boards/farmland.asp

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On December 10, there will be a 25 mile march from Northampton to Springfield to call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The march will start at 6 a.m. at 94 Pleasant Street in Northampton. Details are at:

www.instagram.com/25milesforpalestine

In Brattleboro, there will be Jewish Voice for Peace rallies at Pliny Park, daily December 8 – 14 at 5:30 p.m. More information may be available via www.jvp.org. The Valley Post learned of the Brattleboro rallies in a mass email from a group that has a web page at:

www.facebook.com/groups/373565940917979/

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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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