On July 29 in Northampton, there will be a march for universal health care. The march starts at 1 p.m. at Childs Park, which is bordered by North Elm and Prospect streets, and by Woodlawn Avenue. As of July 26, more than 65 people had RSVP'd at:

www.facebook.com/events/121333305132027

Eight people who were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience to stop construction of a fracked gas pipeline in the Valley will be in court July 18 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. They are asking the public to come to court to support them. “The trial starts at 9 a.m.,” Ellen Graves of West Springfield, Massachusetts told the Valley Post in a telephone interview. She is one of the people who were arrested on June 24 in Sandisfield, Massachusetts. “There is only one court in Great Barrington. I feel good about how the protest went. We succeeded in bringing attention to this pipeline.”

On July 8 in Northampton, there will be a march and rally against sexual harassment. President Trump has boasted of sexually assaulting women. Earlier this year, Trump defended a male Fox News employee who sexually harassed five women so severely that Fox paid the women $13 million to get them to agree to not take Fox to court.

The march will start at noon at 2 Parsons Street and will end at Pulaski Park, where there will be a rally. More information is at www.facebook.com/events/1168327906646279.

In Northampton on June 4, dozens of people protested a plan by President Trump and the Republican-controlled congress to eliminate health insurance for poor people. The activists staged a so-called “die in” to bring attention to the fact that thousands of people will die if the Republicans' plan is approved.

According to an article that appeared in the Washington Post on May 7, 2017, “A 2009 study in the American Journal of Public Health found that 45,000 deaths annually were linked to lack of health coverage.”

On June 3 in Northampton, there will be a march calling on President Trump to release his tax returns, and demanding that Congress investigate collusion between Russia and Trump to help him get elected.

“It is part of a nation-wide march demanding the truth,” Debby Pastrich-Klemer told the Valley Post. She is organizing the Northampton march. It will start at 11 a.m. at 2 Parsons Street. Fifty people had RSVP'd on Facebook as of May 31. More information is at:

www.facebook.com/events/406338116417417

Striking AT&T workers are asking the public to join them on the picket line in Hadley, Massachusetts. Hadley borders Northampton and Amherst. The picket line will happen on May 21, starting at 11 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. It will be at 359 Russell Street.

These photos were taken on May 14. They show the Connecticut river overflowing its banks at the 724 acre Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is in Northampton and Easthampton. In the second photo (lower left) two swallows can be seen catching flying insects. Most of the birds' diet consists of flies. To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click “see full size image.” The sanctuary is open to the public for hiking, canoeing, and kayaking. Details are at:

www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/arcadia

photos by Eesha Williams

Dozens of people attended a rally in Northampton on April 9 to protest President Trump's military attack on Syria. Sabine Merz spoke at the rally. "The way to help Syria is to open our borders to them," she told the Valley Post. The event was outside city hall. It was organized by the American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts www.afscwm.org.

In Greenfield, nurses are asking the public to join them at a rally for justice on March 9 at 4:30 p.m. The event will be at the town common. The nurses work at the Greenfield hospital, now known as Baystate Franklin Medical Center. They are members of a union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which is organizing the rally. The workers want fewer patients per nurse, and better wages and benefits.

Activists in the Valley who have fought to save the environment are seeing their work pay off. Government money that exists because of their work is being used to protect land near Keene, Northampton, and Brattleboro. “It's 182 acres of land along and around the West Cliff trail,” Emily McAdoo told the Valley Post in a telephone interview on December 28. She is on the board of the Putney Mountain Association, which “recently signed purchase and sale agreements” for the land in Brookline, Vermont, near Brattleboro, according to a letter from the group's president to its members.