In Holyoke on September 13, about 45 people attended a rally for tenants' rights. The event was organized by the group Neighbor to Neighbor. According to that group's web site, "An elite few have created a housing crisis here in Massachusetts. A handful of lawmakers -- and the real estate speculators, corporate developers and landlords that fund their campaigns -- jack up rents, destroy affordable options, and price us out of the neighborhoods we call home. No matter how much money you have in your wallet, you should be able to make a home in Massachusetts."

There will be a rally for tenants' right on September 13 at 3 p.m. outside Holyoke city hall. The event is being organized by the group Neighbor to Neighbor. According to that group's web site, "An elite few have created a housing crisis here in Massachusetts. A handful of lawmakers -- and the real estate speculators, corporate developers and landlords that fund their campaigns -- jack up rents, destroy affordable options, and price us out of the neighborhoods we call home. No matter how much money you have in your wallet, you should be able to make a home in Massachusetts."

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On August 25 in Hadley, Massachusetts, all the workers at the Barnes & Noble corporate chain bookstore walked off the job to protest the company's refusal to hire enough workers. Hadley borders Northampton. The walk-out lasted from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. Photos show dozens of people marching outside the store. The workers have a web site at www.ufcw1459.com.

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On August 18 Christian MilNeil told the Valley Post his thoughts about Northampton's plan to re-design Main street. He works for a group that has a web site at www.streetsblog.org. MilNeil said, “I encourage people to take a look at Concord, New Hampshire's Main street redesign, which was done about a decade ago. It's very similar to what Northampton is contemplating: they went from a four-lane roadway with fairly narrow sidewalks and diagonal parking to a two-lane street with diagonal parking on one side and parallel parking on the other, with much wider sidewalks and shorter crosswalks.”

About 95 people attended a rally in Northampton on August 13. "We called for the resignation of the officers involved in the incident, Officer John Sellew and Officer Jonathan Bartlett, as well as the resignation of Police Chief Jody Kasper," Miranda Groux told the Valley Post. She works for the Amherst Survival Center, but was speaking as a private citizen, not on behalf of the Center. The incident in question happened on April 4, when Bartlett and Sellew of the Northampton police department tackled and pepper-sprayed a 60-year-old woman because her car had a broken headlight.

Twenty people attended a peace rally in Greenfield on August 5. “We stood for peace and a ban on all nuclear weapons, just one day before the 78th anniversary of the US atomic bomb ‘test’ that destroyed Hiroshima. A second, plutonium, bomb was 'tested' on another civilian target three days later, destroying the city of Nagasaki on August 9,” Anna Gyorgy told the Valley Post. She works for a group that has a web site at www.traprock.org. The bombs killed about 200,000 people.

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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.

In Northampton on July 25, about 45 people attended a rally to protest Chase bank's support of the fossil fuel industry. The Brattleboro area was hit hard by floods this month. The floods were made worse by climate change. The Northampton rally organizers have a web site at http://climateactionnowma.org. Russ Vernon-Jones was one of the organizers. He told the Valley Post, "It was a great success.

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.

When N.L. Dennis was singing in a recording studio with Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley stopped by to listen. Marley praised Dennis's delivery. Today, Dennis lives in his native Jamaica and joins hundreds of Jamaicans who come to Vermont every summer in search of better paying work. Most of them work on vegetable farms and at apple orchards. Dennis works as a reggae musician. On July 16, he will play a free concert at the Putney, Vermont farmers' market at 11 a.m. Putney is near Brattleboro.